Cihai: 1999 Edition: Color Illustration Reduced Edition (Alphabetical Order) (Complete Five Volumes)

Author: Xia Zhengnong, et al / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: This book includes 17,523 head characters, with 6,129 traditional and variant characters attached. The head characters and the entries listed under them include both common words and encyclopedic terms, totaling over 105,400 entries. The Century Dictionary (1999 edition) was published as scheduled on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The two characters "Century Dictionary" on the cover were personally written by Comrade Jiang Zemin on December 7, 1998. The Century Dictionary is a large-scale, comprehensive dictionary that functions as a dictionary, language dictionary, and encyclopedic dictionary, organized by characters. It was first published in Shanghai by the Commercial Press in 1936. In the autumn of 1957, Comrade Mao Zedong accepted the proposal of one of the chief editors of The Century Dictionary, Shu Xingcheng, and decided to revise The Century Dictionary, entrusting this task to Shanghai. At that time, the Commercial Press had already moved to Beijing, so in the spring of 1958, an independent editorial and publishing organization—the Commercial Press The Century Dictionary Editorial and Publishing Institute (renamed Shanghai Century Publishing House in 1978)—was established in Shanghai. In the summer of 1959, the The Century Dictionary Editorial Committee was established, with Shu Xingcheng and Chen Wangdao serving as chief editors successively. On April 1965, the Commercial Press The Century Dictionary Editorial and Publishing Institute published The Century Dictionary. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, in December 1978, the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to restore and strengthen the The Century Dictionary Editorial Committee, with Xia Zhengnong appointed as chief editor. After revision, on the occasion of the 30th and 40th anniversaries of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Shanghai Century Publishing House published the 1979 edition and 1989 edition of The Century Dictionary, respectively. These two editions each had three-volume editions, abridged editions, supplementary editions, and subject-specific volumes. Among them, the three-volume editions and abridged editions had a cumulative circulation of over five million copies. In 1992, Shanghai Century Publishing House collaborated with Donghua Book Company to publish the 1989 edition of The Century Dictionary in Taiwan. In 1993, The Century Dictionary won the highest award of the first National Book Award—the Honor Award. To celebrate the publication of the 1989 edition of The Century Dictionary, Comrade Jiang Zemin inscribed: "Develop the spirit of The Century Dictionary—meticulous, word-by-word, and rigorous work style—to improve the cultural quality of the Chinese nation." The 1999 edition of The Century Dictionary appeared before readers with new content and form. This edition is slightly larger in size than the 1989 edition, with a large number of entries revised, primarily to reflect changes in domestic and international situations and the development of cultural science and technology, to fill gaps, correct errors, and streamline a small number of entries and definitions. This edition also introduced a color-illustrated version, featuring over 16,000 images, with a redesigned layout divided into four volumes, plus appendices and an index volume. At the same time, the popular edition (three volumes) continued to be published, and on this basis, abridged editions were also published, along with subject-specific volumes and CDs. Since 1957, the revision of The Century Dictionary has been supported by the three generations of leaders of the Communist Party of China and the sincere cooperation of the national academic community. All compilers have adhered to the spirit of seeking truth from facts, been conscientious and strive for excellence. Through continuous revisions, The Century Dictionary has played its due role in the construction of China's two civilizations and will continue to make its contributions.