New Chinese light shines on Hegel

"Many previous works in China were based on versions that had been translated into English, French or Russian rather than on the German originals. So there was a great deal of divergence from what Hegel in fact said."

The four newly published volumes are: The Phenomenology of Spirit; Philosophy of Mind; and Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, which is divided into two parts. The next volume to be published, Works during the Jena Period, will mark the first time for Hegel's manuscripts written during that period (1801-07) to be translated into Chinese.

The 20 volumes are directly translated from the Theorie-Werkausgabe edition first published by Suhrkamp Verlag in the 1960s, which is widely considered the most reliable and the most-used version in Germany. Twenty scholars from such institutions as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and Renmin University of China have contributed to the project.

"It's impossible to get it absolutely right when you are translating," says Wang Shuren, an editorial board member of the series for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Hegel's works are notorious for their ambiguity, and many concepts are highly abstract and fiendishly hard to translate."

Nevertheless, Wang says, everyday language that will engage the general reader is used in the latest Chinese translations－that task being achieved with the help of ordinary readers going over the drafts.