The work of the Central Compliation and Translation Bureau
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The Central Compilation and Translation Bureau (CCTB) is under the jurisdiction of and is directly subordinate to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Its main duties and tasks include compiling, translating and researching classical Marxist works; preparing foreign translations of important documents of the Party and state and the works of Party and government leaders; researching the basic theory of Marxism and its development in the contemporary era, and the history, present state, theory and praxis of world socialism, with the focus on the theory and praxis of socialism with Chinese characteristics; and collecting and collating documents and information concerning research on Marxism and socialism.
CCTB currently employs 286 people, of whom 129 hold professional or technical posts at the level of associate professor or higher. It has 72 people chosen as experts who provide outstanding contributions and who enjoy Special Government Allowances from the State Council; 94 people who have been awarded the honorary title of Senior Translator by the Translators Association of China; and 6 people are on the Project Review Committee of the National Philosophy and Social Science Foundation.
The CPC has always attached great importance to compiling, translating and researching Marxist works. In the early days after the founding of the Party, some progressive intellectuals and Communist Party members translated Marxist works and introduced them to China. In 1938, the Party established the Marxism-Leninism College in Yan'an, under which a compilation and translation department was set up and tasked with organizing the translation of Marxist works. This was the organ set up by the Party at a relatively early stage for compiling, translating and researching Marxist works. On the eve of the founding of New China in 1949, the Party Central Committee established the Central Russian Compilation and Translation Bureau, which translated a large number of Marxist works. In 1953, upon approval of the Central Committee, the Central Russian Compilation and Translation Bureau was merged with the relevant department of the Central Publicity Department to establish the Bureau for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin Under the Central Committee of the CPC, or the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau for short, which began systematically translating all Marxist works in a planned way.
I. Translations of Marxist Works
Compiling, translating and researching Marxist works is a key task of CCTB. This task is carried out mainly by its Department for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. This department was established in 1953, and it currently has a staff of 38, 22 of whom are at the level of associate professor or higher.
The main task of the Department for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is to translate all Marxist works in a systematic and planned way to provide a reliable textual foundation for the study and dissemination of Marxist theory in China.
Over the past many years, CCTB has compiled and translated classical Marxist works, and its major accomplishments are the compilation and translation of the first edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels (50 volumes), the first edition of the Collected Works of Lenin (38 volumes), the second edition of the Collected Works of Lenin (60 volumes) and the Collected Works of Stalin (13 volumes). The completion and translation of these three collected works gave a relatively complete presentation of classical Marxist works for the first time, which is of great theoretical and political significance. In addition to these major collections, CCTB has published a large number of selected works, collections of monographs, collections of statements on various issues, selected readings and single-volume works. These include: the first edition of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels (4 volumes), the second edition of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels (4 volumes), the first edition of the Selected Works of Lenin (4 volumes), the second edition of the Selected Works of Lenin (4 volumes), and the third edition of the Selected Works of Lenin (4 volumes).
Since the adoption of the reform and opening up policy, CCTB received authorization of the CPC Central Committee to work on the second Chinese edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels making use of the most recent documents, materials and research results; taking the Marx-Engels Collected Works (MEGA) as the starting point; and consulting German, English and Russian editions of collected works of Marx and Engels. Plans call for the second edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels to comprise 70 volumes, 21 of which have already been published. This edition will have a more complete set of documents and classify them more systematically; all documents will be cross-checked against the original for accuracy; and the edition will fully reflect the latest domestic and foreign research and editorial results on the works of Marx and Engels. In May 1982, CCTB began to work on the second Chinese edition of the Collected Works of Lenin. It worked together with 12 universities and research institutes in China to cross-check the translations against the original for accuracy and supplement them with a variety of materials. In 1990, this second edition was published in its entirety, 60 volumes in all. It has more documents than any other edition of Lenin's collected works in the world.
In 2004, when the CPC Central Committee decided to carry out the Project to Study and Develop Marxist Theory, CCTB organized a number of experts to select important works from classical Marxist works, verify the accuracy of these translations on the basis of the most authoritative and reliable foreign editions, and revise the translations accordingly. After six years of hard work, they published the Selected Works of Marx and Engels (10 volumes) and the Selected Works of Lenin (5 volumes). These two collections of selected works are landmark accomplishments of the Project to Study and Develop Marxist Theory and fully manifest the scientific system of Marxism, and they constitute authoritative teaching materials for Party members and cadres' study of classical Marxist works.
At present, CCTB is devoting all its energies to the second Chinese edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels, the third Chinese edition of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels, the second enlarged Chinese edition of the Collected Works of Lenin, the third revised Chinese edition of the Selected Works of Lenin and a variety of single-volume works of Marxism and Leninism to make its contribution to publicizing and disseminating Marxism and to promoting the sinicization, modernization and popularization of Marxism.
II. Translation of Documents of the Central Authorities
Translating documents of the central authorities is a key task of CCTB. This work is mainly done by CCTB Central Document Translation Department. This department was established in 1961, and it has a current staff of 55, 28 of whom are at the level of associate professor or higher. Its main responsibilities are to translate the works of Party and government leaders; the main documents of National Party Congresses, national Party conferences, and sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as well as documents of the Central Committee and State Council into foreign languages.
Over the course of many years, CCTB has completed the translation of the works of prominent Chinese leaders into English, Russian, French, Spanish, Japanese and German: the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi, Selected Works of Zhu De, Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping and Selected Works of Chen Yun. CCTB has also done an outstanding job translating the documents of National Party Congresses, sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and other important conferences into English, Russian, French, Spanish, Japanese and German. The documents of the sixteenth and seventeenth National Party Congresses were also translated into Arabic. Each section of the Central Document Translation Department compiled a large Chinese-foreign political and economic dictionary for translation purposes. Beginning in 2006, CCTB began translation of the Collected Works of Jiang Zemin. Volume I has already been published; volume II is nearly finished, and work has already begun on translating volume III.
Over the past several decades, CCTB has translated nearly 100 million words of Chinese into English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and German. In addition, it has translated more than 100 volumes of literature, philosophy, economics, history and biography.
III. Theoretical Research
Theoretical research is a key task of CCTB. This work is mostly done by its Institute of Contemporary Marxism and Institute of World Socialism.
Together these two institutes have a staff of 61, 43 of whom have the title of research fellow or associate research fellow or are at the level of associate professor or higher. On the basis of the guiding thought for promoting scientific research decided on at CCTB's 2010 meeting on the work of scientific research, personnel and talent, the main task and development orientation of our theoretical research work is: follow the lead of the Central Committee's Project to Study and Develop Marxist Theory; and make full use of CCTB's strengths in compiling and translating classical Marxist works, the unique nature of its theoretical research and its abundance of document resources to actively conduct research on Marxist documents and library collections, basic Marxist theory, Marxism abroad, world socialism, political parties and politics, socialism with Chinese characteristics, and China's reform and development strategy.
Over the past decades, CCTB has assembled the rudiments of a research team that has rigorous academic discipline and broad vision with a good mix of research strengths and foreign-language abilities, and that has made considerable achievements in research in the areas of basic Marxist theory, the theory and praxis of world socialism, socialism with Chinese characteristics, comparative politics and economics, and Chinese local democratic politics. CCTB has undertaken or participated in more than 200 large investigation and research projects entrusted by the Central Committee, financed by the National Social Science Foundation, and commissioned by departments of the Central Committee. It has published more than 400 monographs, compilations and translations, as well as a large quantity of high-quality academic papers.
In recent years, CCTB has integrated its research resources and established the Russia Research Center, Center for Comparative Politics and Economics, Center for Research on Marxism and Practical Problems in China, Center for Research on Political Parties, and Center for Research on Overseas Theory and Information. These centers have played a positive role in promoting cooperative research and strengthening academic exchanges with foreign partners.
IV. Marxist Document and Information Resources
CCTB has an abundance of Marxist document and information resources. The work of collecting these resources is mostly done by the Marxist-Leninist Document and Information Department. This department was established in 1949 and has a staff of 30, 15 of whom have the title of research fellow or associate research fellow of library science. The main duties of the department are to build collections of document and information resources (including work archives) concerning Marxism, socialism and the work of CCTB and provide services in this regard; informationize CCTB and edit and maintain its website; and compile, translate and research theoretical and public information.
Over the past many years, CCTB has already created a relatively systematic and complete specialized document system. Its library now has 500,000 volumes (documents) of all kinds, more than 60% of which are in foreign languages, and many of them are rare volumes of high academic value. Areas in which the library has strong holdings are: original editions of collected, selected and single-volume works of classical Marxist authors and biographical materials concerning them; documents disseminating Marxism in China; documents and historical materials in foreign languages concerning socialism, the international communist movement and the international workers' movement; documents and materials concerning modern and contemporary Chinese history, original editions of foreign books and periodicals in philosophy and the social sciences; and dictionaries and reference books in different languages.
Relying on its abundant document resources and strong research capability, CCTB publishes four academic journals: Marxism & Reality, The Contemporary World & Socialism, Comparative Economic & Social Systems, and Foreign Theoretical Trends. They are all core national journals in the area of philosophy and the social sciences and have a significant impact on the Chinese and foreign academic world.
Since it was established, the Central Compilation & Translation Press published 2,384 books of different kinds that have been well received by readers.
V. Foreign Exchanges and Cooperation
Earnestly implementing the strategic principle proposed by the Central Committee of "philosophy and the social sciences going global," increasing the intensity of international academic exchanges, broadening their fields, expanding the scope of international academic exchanges, and actively developing foreign exchanges and cooperation have been the main tasks of CCTB in recent years. Over the past five years, CCTB arranged for a total of 182 delegations to visit foreign countries and received 305 groups of foreign visitors, which involved a total of 757 people. The government and CCTB also dispatched 35 people to study abroad. By actively developing foreign exchanges and cooperation, we have created closer and deeper contacts and cooperation between our bureau and the main academic institutions of various countries, broadened the horizons of our bureau's research personnel, enhanced our bureau's international academic status, and at the same time, further strengthened the competitiveness and influence of our bureau in research fields, including the basic theory of Marxism, sinicized Marxism and the development model of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
For many years now, CCTB has been committed to developing foreign exchanges and cooperation. Since the founding of New China, CCTB has employed more than 360 foreign experts who have participated in the work of compiling and translating classical works and translating documents of the central authorities. Famous foreign experts who have long participated in compilation and translation work at our bureau include Sidney Rittenberg, Harutaka Kawagoe, Yaeko Kono, and Eike Kopf. We have consolidated and expanded exchanges with institutions including the International Marx-Engels Foundation, the Marx Memorial Library in Britain, and the International Editorial Board of the complete edition of Marx-Engels Collected Works (MEGA), which has boosted the bureau's work of compiling and translating classical works and translating documents of the central authorities. For years running we organized for researchers from the bureau and relevant institutions to attend the Global Left Forum in the US and the International Conference on Marxism in France, as well as the World Political Forum in Russia and the Sino-Russian Forum on Comparative Economic and Social Development, actively carry out exchanges, and disseminate the latest theoretical achievements of sinicized Marxism. We have forged close exchanges and cooperation with the major think tanks of various countries, and established solid cooperation with the Brookings Institution in the US, the British European Policy Centre and the United Nations Development Programme. We have also constantly advanced cooperation with institutions including the Gabriel Péri Foundation in France, the Burr Foundation and Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Germany, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Asia Foundation.
By actively developing foreign exchanges and cooperation, and objectively and rationally expounding the development results, challenges and future prospects of socialism with Chinese characteristics, CCTB has won the praise of numerous foreign academic bodies and research institutions for its academic exchanges.
In recent years, apart from our exchanges and cooperation with developed countries, such as the US, Russia, Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan and Italy, and with developing countries, including India, Brazil and South Africa, CCTB has also established close cooperation with domestic academic institutions, local governments and the media through research on specific topics and workshops, and actively promoted its compilation and translation of Marxist works, its translation of documents of the central authorities and its theoretical research to society, to the masses and to reality.
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