Q&A booklet explains initiative

A booklet explaining keywords of the Belt and Road Initiative was released in 14 languages on May 5, a week ahead of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

Titled Keywords to Understand China: The Belt and Road Initiative, the booklet includes 59 entries, covering important concepts of the initiative's building blocks, cooperative mechanism and pilot projects.

The entries explain such questions as wu tong, or five approaches of the initiative; what the spirit of the Silk Road comprises; and how the countries along the Belt and Road are a community of shared interest, shared responsibility and a shared future.

"We want to answer such complex questions in a simple way," says Sun Jingxin, one of the Chinese editors of the book.

There are around 400 published books that touch on the topic, but only three use the question-and-answer format to explain the key concepts of the initiative, according to Sun.

"And this is the only one that targets the overseas audience," he adds.

All the Chinese expressions in the book come from official documents.

Every word and sentence have gone through many revisions, says Xu Mingqiang, one of the translators of the booklet's English version. "The aim is simple - to let foreigners understand the initiative without misunderstanding."

Xu also participated in the translation of the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China in 2015.

The booklet has 14 editions in different languages, including Arabic, English, French and Spanish. It is a featured supplement of a multilingual series Keywords to Understand China, which offers introductions on China's politics, economy, culture and society in similar format.

Sun Haiyan, director of the information center at the international department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, says that besides scholars who study Chinese politics, more businesspeople and youngsters are watching China closely, and they want to learn about the country quickly.

"What's happening in China? What all new concepts and new theories are about? How to interpret them?" she says. "The series is an authoritative source for such information."

The series was translated and published through joint efforts by the China International Publishing Group, the China Academy of Translation and the Translators Association of China in August.

The Arabic, Korean, Russian and Turkish copyrights for the Belt and Road supplement were sold to international publishers at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair earlier this month, according to Wang Gangyi, deputy director of the China International Publishing Group.

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn