[The "One Hundred Thousand Whys" of the Chinese Communist Party] Why did this misprinted "Communist Manifesto" become a national first-class cultural relic?

　　China News Service, Beijing, April 21 (Reporter Kan Feng) "Wang Dao, you have done a very important thing for the Chinese revolution. I believe that history will never forget you." In the hit drama "Awakening Age" After Chen Duxiu received a stack of documents from Chen Wangdao, he couldn't hide his excitement.

　　This document is the full Chinese translation of the "Communist Manifesto" translated by Chen Wangdao, a classic handed down to nourish generations of Chinese Communists with a spark of fire.

However, few people know that the title of this "Red China First Book" was printed for the first time.

　　In February 1848, the "Communist Manifesto" co-authored by Marx and Engels was published in London, England. This crudely bound German pamphlet became the first programmatic document of scientific communism.

　　Seventy years later, in eastern China, among the Chinese "new youths" who are eager to find a way to save the country, the doctrine of Marxism is quietly spreading.

　　In the spring of 1920, Chen Wangdao, a native of Yiwu, Zhejiang, translated the "Communist Manifesto" in the dilapidated firewood room of his hometown. This was the first time a Chinese translated the "Communist Manifesto" in full.

Due to the difficulty of translation and difficult working conditions, the 29-year-old young man devoted himself to "translation five times as much as usual".

　　Because of sleepless nights and food and concentration, Chen Wangdao dipped the rice dumplings that were supposed to be dipped in brown sugar water and ate them with ink. This also made the story of "the taste of truth is very sweet", which was widely circulated since then.

　　In August 1920, the "Communist Manifesto" translated by Chen Wangdao was published in Shanghai, with the first printing of 1,000 copies.

The first translation is 18.1 cm high and 12.4 cm wide. The cover is printed with a red bust of Marx. The top of the portrait is printed with the words "First Type of Socialist Studies Series", "Co-authored by Margus and Angles, translated by Chen Wangdao", etc. .

The inner pages are in vertical type with No. 5 type, no title page and preface, no table of contents, and simple style.

　　However, due to negligence in typesetting the first Chinese translation of the "Communist Manifesto", the cover book name "Communist Manifesto" was mistakenly printed as "Communist Manifesto", and there were more than 20 errors in the text.

In September 1920, the Chinese translation of the "Communist Manifesto" printed the second edition, minor errors were corrected, and the cover was changed to blue.

　　100 years ago, the two editions of the "Communist Manifesto" produced strong responses among revolutionary youth and intellectuals at that time. This iconic work of scientific socialism was spread in China and was of great significance to the birth of the Communist Party of China.

　　100 years later, on June 27, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote to all the members of the volunteer service team of the Communist Manifesto of Fudan University, saying: "100 years ago, Comrade Chen Wangdao translated the first full Chinese translation. The Communist Manifesto played an important role in guiding a large number of people with lofty ideals to establish the lofty ideals of communism and devote themselves to the cause of national liberation and rejuvenation."

　　Today, the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China also contains the August 1920 edition of the "Communist Manifesto", a booklet that is a national first-class cultural relic, and only 12 copies have been found nationwide.

The "episode" with the wrong title of the book was also commented by later generations: This may mean that the road of revolution was tortuous from the beginning and needs to be progressed in continuous correction.

　　As the commentary said, for a hundred years, the courage to face problems and self-revolution has become the most distinctive character and greatest advantage of the Communist Party of China. Moving towards the future, the Communist Party of China is still enhancing its self-purification, self-improvement, self-renovation, and self-revolution. Improved ability.

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