The CUV was translated by a panel with members from many different Protestant denominations, using the English Revised Version as a basis and original-language manuscripts for crosschecking. Work on the CUV began in 1890 and originally, three versions of the CUV were planned—two classical Chinese versions and a vernacular Mandarin Chinese version. The CUV was completed in 1919, with one amalgamated classical Chinese translation and one vernacular Mandarin translation. With the onset of May Fourth Movement, and the associated New Culture Movement, the CUV is the second translated work to be published in Vernacular Mandarin Chinese, after the first vernacular Chinese Bible, the Peking Committee Bible.