In the TV series "The Age of Awakening", Chen Duxiu handed over the English text of the "Communist Manifesto" collected by Li Dazhao from Beijing to the young talent Chen Wangdao and translated it into Chinese copy. Some people say that it was not Chen Duxiu who directly handed over the foreign -language Communist Manifesto to Chen Wangdao and asked Chen Wangdao to translate it into Chinese, but Dai Jitao or Shao Lizi or someone else gave it to Chen Wangdao for translation. So, who exactly made Chen Wangdao translate the Communist Manifesto?
This is a commemorative stamp taken on August 22, 2020 at the Handan Branch of China Post Group Co., Ltd. "The Centenary of the Publication of the >Chinese Full Translation of the Communist Manifesto of the <". Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Hao Qunying)
In order to complete the translation of the Communist Manifesto, at least three conditions must be met: first, they must have a deep understanding of Marxism; second, they must be proficient in at least one of the three foreign languages of German, English, and Japanese; and third, they must have a high level of Chinese language and literature literacy. As early as during his study in Japan, Chen Wangdao began to contact Marxism, got to know the early Japanese socialists such as Kawakami Zhao, Yamakawa Jun, and gradually understood, became familiar with and accepted Marxism. After returning from Japan and undergoing the baptism of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, he further realized that "without fundamental changes in the system, all reform measures will be futile." In addition, his profound english and Japanese skills and good Chinese language and literature have made Chen Wangdao the perfect candidate to translate the Communist Manifesto.
At this time, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao planned to translate the "Communist Manifesto" into Chinese as soon as possible, so as to facilitate the spread of Marxist ideas in China. In June 1919, the Weekly Review was launched in Shanghai, which at the time was known for its research and introduction of socialism, and the editorial board soon put the translation of the full text of the Communist Manifesto on the agenda. When discussing the candidates, Shao Lizi recommended Chen Wangdao, a fellow villager who was 29 years old at the time. He said: "The person who can undertake this task is none other than Chen Wangdao in Hangzhou. ”
Soon, Chen Wangdao received a letter from Shao Lizi from the Weekly Review asking him to translate the Communist Manifesto and a Japanese version of the Communist Manifesto. Chen Wangdao gladly agreed. At the same time, Chen Duxiu provided Chen Wangdao with an English version of the Communist Manifesto.
In order to concentrate on this task, in February 1920, Chen Wangdao specially returned to his hometown of Fenshuitang Village in Yiwu and began to translate the Communist Manifesto without distraction. Chen Wangdao, who had always longed for socialism and admired Marxism, studied the Communist Manifesto attentively and translated every sentence carefully. Seeing him work so hard, his mother was very distressed and brought him rice dumplings and brown sugar. My mother shouted outside, "You have to add brown sugar water to eat rice dumplings, do you eat them?" He said, "Eat it, it's very sweet." As a result, when his mother entered the door, Chen Wangdao buried his head in writing a book, and his mouth was full of black ink. But he didn't realize that "the taste of truth is very sweet." Under extremely difficult and difficult conditions, Chen Wangdao finally "took five times as much effort to translate the book as usually in late April to translate the whole text."
In May, Chen Wangdao went to Shanghai with a translation, but the Shanghai authorities carried out postal inspections of the Weekly Review, causing the magazine to be suspended, making it impossible to fulfill the plan to serialize the Communist Manifesto in the journal. Therefore, he entrusted Yu Xiusong to submit the full translation of the Communist Manifesto to Chen Duxiu for proofreading. At this time, Vyshinsky, a representative of the Communist International, came to Shanghai and learned that chen Wangdao's translation of the Chinese edition of the Communist Manifesto had been completed but the publication was difficult to publish, so he immediately expressed his willingness to fund the publication. To this end, the early Communist Party organization in Shanghai secretly established a small printing house named "Youxin" at No. 12 Chengyuli on Laifeld Road (now Middle Fuxing Road) to print the book. In August, after many efforts, the Communist Manifesto Chinese published in its entirety. This was the first full translation of the Communist Manifesto to be published publicly and officially in China. As soon as chen Wangdao's translation came out in Shanghai, it became popular and was warmly welcomed by the working class and advanced intellectuals.
In September 1920, the second edition of the Communist Manifesto was printed Chinese full translation, correcting the wrongly printed title on the cover of the first print, and changing the title and portrait of Marx on the cover from red to blue.
The picture shows the complete translation of the Communist Manifesto published in August (left) and September 1920 at the Memorial Hall of the First Congress of Chinese the Communist Party of China on June 23, 2021. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Ying
Chen Wangdao's translation of the Communist Manifesto coincided with the period of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and early Communist Party organizations were established across the country. Since then, this pamphlet of less than 30,000 words has become the ideological starting point for the Chinese Communist Party to establish its revolutionary belief. It has made countless Chinese benevolent people see the hope of China and volunteer to join the ranks of the Communist Party.
Source| Beijing Daily