It was March 1999. A cool day in Beijing, China. I was with Fr. Tomás Langarica in a tour. We decided to mingle with the people in a downtown market. Soon a boy and a girl, about 20 years old, approached us and began to talk; they wanted to practice English. We learned that they were students of art at the university.
The two youngsters could not be more polite and friendly. The paintings they showed us were indeed beautiful. As a way of excuse I told the girl that what I needed was a logo. I tried to explain the meaning of the new company: "Pastoral Bible Foundation". She had probably never been in personal contact with a Christian before; maybe never heard the word "bible" before!
The work began. After a long hour she gave up. But she said: "My master is not too far away. Allow me to call him up to help us". After a while the master was there. Again I tried to explain to him the kind of logo I needed for the PBF.
The master started to skillfully handle the brush. But he also stopped, apologized and ask us to come back the following day. When we mentioned that early morning the following day we were leaving China, he asked for the name of our hotel. "I will work tonight and tomorrow, before you go, I will be there."
Early morning the next day, the master was waiting for us. He showed his work - the result of a night of work. He explained it to us. "The two characters are very ancient Chinese Characters and very seldom used nowadays.
Separately, the first one means 'ear' and the second one 'a thousand'. So, a thousand ears." Not bad for the idea of a Bible. He continued: "If we read them together, the meaning is 'a pathway in an immense rice field.'" Not bad at all, we thought. "There is also a hidden and very remote meaning to those characters - he added -, it means the way to the tomb."
Now, if we look carefully at this artist's creation, we can easily see the "P", "B" and "F" and also a cross: giving meaning to life and death! A perfect logo. Exactly what we wanted. - Alberto Rossa, Director of the Pastoral Bible Foundation