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 asked him to translate it into Chinese.
Chairman Mao Zedong decided in September 1957 to revise the old Ci hai and appoint Professor Chen Wangdao as editor-in-chief.
Chen Wangdao, born in Yiwu in 1891, went to Japan to study in 1915, and successively studied literature, philosophy and law at Waseda University, Toyo University, and Chuo University, and obtained a bachelor's degree in law from Chuo University. After the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, Chen Wangdao returned to the motherland and actively participated in the May Fourth New Culture Movement.
In 1919, he returned to his hometown to translate the Communist Manifesto. In a dilapidated firewood house next to his house, he overcame various difficulties such as the cold and worked day and night to translate. In late April 1920, the translation of the Communist Manifesto was finally completed, and after being proofread by Chen Duxiu and Li Hanjun, in August, the Chinese translation of the Communist Manifesto was officially published by the Shanghai Socialist Research Association as the first Chinese in the small series of socialist studies.
The translator of the new 1978 translation of the Communist Manifesto, Cheng Fangwu, wrote in his Afterword: "The Japanese translation at that time was probably very crude, and the Chen (i.e., Chen Wangdao) translation was inevitably very inaccurate. But it played a very important educational role for the Chinese revolutionary cadres and masses before the revolutionary storm, and only the 'propertied', 'proletarians', 'class struggle' and 'proletarians of the whole world, unite!' Such words give the revolutionary masses, who are looking for light in the darkness, an incalculable force.
At the end of April 1920, Chen Wangdao was invited by Chen Duxiu to Shanghai to participate in the editorial work of the magazine "New Youth". Later, Chen Wangdao presided over the editing of "New Youth".
In August 1920, China's first "Marxist Research Society" (also known as the Communist Group) was formally established in Shanghai, with the secretary Chen Duxiu, and the members participating were Chen Wangdao, Li Hanjun, Li Da, and so on. Chen Wangdao also served as labor minister for a time.
On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, marking the official birth of the Communist Party. Chen Wangdao was one of the first five members of the Chinese Communist Party and was also elected as a delegate to the Shanghai congress. However, due to his dissatisfaction with Chen Duxiu's paternalistic leadership style and Chen Duxiu's behavior that damaged his reputation based on untrue facts, Chen Wangdao was indignant and made a request to leave the organization, so he was unable to attend the first congress of the Communist Party of China.
After the first congress, the Shanghai Local Committee of the Communist Party of China was established in Shanghai, and Chen Wangdao served as the first secretary and actively did a lot of work for the Communist Party of China. However, Chen Wangdao did not serve long as secretary of the Shanghai Local Committee of the Communist Party of China, and formally submitted his resignation around the second half of 1922.
In August 1923, Chen Wangdao left the party organization, but continued to work hard to complete the tasks assigned by the party organization.
From the autumn of 1923 to 1927, he served as the head of the Chinese Department, the provost, and the acting director of the university affairs of Shanghai University. He led teachers and students into the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, and participated in the "May Thirtieth" Movement in 1925 to participate in the third armed uprising of the Shanghai workers.
On January 17, 1932, the Chinese Writers Association was founded.
After the 1932 "January 28" incident, 43 elites in Shanghai's cultural circles, including Mao Dun, Lu Xun, Ye Shengtao, and Chen Wangdao, jointly published the "Shanghai Cultural Circles' Message to the World" declaring that "we resolutely oppose the imperialist war to divide China, oppose any oppression imposed on China's subordinates, oppose the Chinese government's compromise with Japan, and oppress the revolutionary masses." He also gathered to discuss the organization of the "Anti-Japanese Association of Chinese Writers", elected 17 people to form an executive committee, and Chen Wangdao was elected as the secretary-general.
In 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, Chen Wangdao, together with Wei Wei, Zheng Zhenduo, and others, organized the Shanghai Cultural Circles Anti-Japanese Friendship Association.
In the autumn of 1940, he taught in the Department of Chinese of Fudan University in Beibei, Chongqing, and from 1943, he served as the head of the Department of Journalism of Fudan University.
In the autumn of 1946, Chen Wangdao returned to Shanghai with the teachers and students of Fudan University, and professors from colleges and universities in Shanghai established the "University Professors Association", and Chen Wangdao was elected as the chairman of the organization.
After the autumn of 1948, the Kuomintang Ministry of Education planned to move Fudan University to Taiwan, the Communist Party organized the whole school teachers and students to resolutely oppose, Fudan University teachers and students set up a response committee, Chen Wangdao as the vice chairman, and strive to do a good job in protecting the school to welcome liberation.
In April 1949, the Kuomintang arrested and massacred patriots, and Chen Wangdao was blacklisted.
After the liberation of Shanghai in May 1949, Chen Wangdao served as a member of the East China Military and Political Committee, deputy director of the Cultural and Education Committee and minister of culture, and a member of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.
On New Year's Day 1956, Chairman Mao Zedong cordially received Chen Wangdao in Shanghai.
In June 1957, at the request of Chen Wangdao himself, the Central Committee directly accepted him as a member of the Communist Party of China after the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for approval. He returned to the party and fulfilled his vow to "fight for the cause of communism all his life." After Chen Wangdao rejoined the party, the Party Central Committee took into account his historical situation and the specific political environment and work needs at that time, did not disclose his party membership, and did not disclose his party membership until the Tenth National Congress of the Party, and was elected as a deputy to the Tenth National Congress.
In early 1962, Chen Wangdao's Cihai edition was published, and in 1965, a new Cihai Unfinished Manuscript was published, and he personally wrote the title of the dictionary and distributed it internally. In 1979, the three-volume Cihai was officially published, and the title was still his, and it was replaced after the 1989 edition.
In October 1977, Chen Wangdao died of a lung infection at the age of 87.