Wenhua Zongheng – New English Edition of Quarterly Journal of Chinese Thought launched
Wenhua Zongheng is a newly launched international publication bringing together articles originally produced in the mainland China magazine of the same name in Chinese.
It is jointly published in English, Spanish and Portuguese, by Wenhua Zongheng, the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and Dongsheng – which produces the newsletter News on China.
The appearance of the international edition of Wenhua Zongheng is a landmark moment for the global left. The reason for this is not only the high quality of the individual articles, which are excellent, but what it signifies for the present and future orientation of the entire international left.
It makes available for the first time in a regular fashion, in excellent translations, key analyses from the Chinese left – allowing it to speak with its own voice and not through the interpretation or comments of others. In addition to showing the extremely high level of discussion in the Chinese left, the significance of this can be clearly seen by placing it against the entire trajectory which is reorganising the global left.
In Chinese, the word ‘Wenhua’ (文化) means ‘culture’ as well as ‘civilization’, while ‘Zongheng’ (纵横) literally means ‘verticals and horizontals’, but also alludes to the strategists who helped to first unify of China, roughly 2,000 years ago through diplomacy and alliances. It is impossible to translate the journal’s title into English while retaining its historical meaning and significance, therefore, we have chosen to keep the pinyin romanisation of the title to remind our readers: China has a complex history and culture that is challenging to translate and navigate, and this project seeks to bridge this understanding.
Source:
- Learning from China, March 28, 2023. https://learningfromchina.net/the-first-international-issue-of-wenhua-zongheng-is-a-landmark-event-for-the-global-left/ John Ross, Senior Fellow Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, March 28, 2023. https://thetricontinental.org/wenhua-zongheng-1-new-international-order/