Karl Marx made easy for US youths

Han Yuhai, author of Karl Marx for Young Readers, discusses his work at the 2015 BEA in New York. Mei Jia / China Daily

A popular book for teens in China on the life of Karl Marx may also stir the same zeal among American youth, despite the ideological and historical differences between the two countries.

The biography of the German philosopher was written by a veteran Chinese scholar, and its English version was launched at the 2015 BookExpo America on Friday by US publisher Benchmark Education and China Children's Press and Publication group.

The book tells a story about Marx that readers in China and the US may not be familiar with: A man who experienced many setbacks and frustrations, but also a man who valued love and family, who wrote beautiful poems, and who fought for social justice his whole life.

Maxwell Pan Smith, an American teenager, says his view on Marx was shaped by Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba.

In a book Smith read, Ma says he learned much from Marx's way. "Ma said if he wants to be successful, he has to let the people make the decisions and let the people earn the money," the youngster adds.

That, however, is not why the Marx book was published, Li Xueqian, president of the Chinese publisher says.

"I was so impressed by the Marx book when I first read it in 1973 that his fury toward social injustice has impressed me until today," Li says.

Li believes Marx isn't outdated for today's readers, because his theory relates to China's past and present.

US scholar Peter Button agrees, saying, "especially for younger Americans, the book can help them better understand a country like China, whose modern history has been so profoundly shaped by Marxism."