U.S. Encyclopaedia Leaps Forward Into China

It took six years, 500 translators, 150 scholars and a round table to settle disputes, but the Encyclopaedia Britannica has made its wordy way to China.

A 10-volume edition of a concise version of the reference work is rolling off the printing presses in China to become the first non-Marxist reference work allowed in that country.

On Tuesday, the feat was hailed in a formal unveiling ceremony at the Library of Congress, where Librarian Daniel J. Boorstin accepted a copy for the library’s collection and acclaimed it a “brilliant symbol” of developing relationships between the East and West.

“We’re happy it came to fruition,” said Frank Gibney, vice chairman of the board of editors of the Chicago-based Britannica.

In the end, all disagreements about the contents were resolved but one--no reference to Soviet leader Josef Stalin is included.

Selling ‘Like Hot Cakes’

And the reception in China, where accessible information about the West is meager, has been resounding. The volumes have been selling “like hot cakes,” said Xu Weizeng, managing editor of Chinese Britannica in Peking.

Since the complete set was officially unveiled in Peking last month, 50,000 copies have been sold, many to state agencies. The set costs about $90, or $55 for a version on cheaper paper. Britannica invested about $500,000 in the project, and will receive royalties from sales in China and can market the edition elsewhere.

“We don’t expect to make any money off of it for years,” said Robert P. Gwinn, Britannica’s chairman.

But he said the effort produced other benefits including good will between the countries and access by researchers to previously closed Chinese archives. “We think it’s a bargain,” Gwinn said.

Project Conceived in ’79

The project was conceived in 1979 after Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping received a gift set of encyclopedias and decided that China, as part of its national modernization effort, should have its own such reference work. Officials of Britannica, which already had editions in six languages, volunteered their expertise and a joint arrangement was sealed. But editing and translating the Micropaedia, the encyclopedia’s short-entry index, was no easy task, according to Britannica officials.

The Chinese agreed to provide 2,500 condensed articles on China, while the Britannica staff updated versions of articles, illustrations and maps. On more than a few occasions, progress was interrupted by different interpretations of world events, and a special editorial board was created with equal representation of Chinese and American scholars to insure a translation that was fair and objective.

Sometimes the disagreements could be settled quickly. “It’s amazing what the elimination of adjectives can do,” Gibney said.

But there were long debates over sensitive topics including Taiwan, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and Stalin. On the entry on the Korean War, American representatives insisted that the text indicate that North Korea invaded South Korea. The Chinese disagreed, and following “considerable discussion,” the final version said simply that the North Korean forces pushed forward, Gibney said.

As for Stalin, the Americans could not accept the high esteem in which he is held by the Chinese. When neither side would budge, they reached the only acceptable compromise: They left him out.