Senior officials from Chinese publishing institutions and universities stressed the need to interpret core socialist values from both historical and practical perspective, according to a launch seminar of the core socialist values book series held on June 19.

The publicity and interpretation of core socialist values reflect the country's right of discourse, said Han Zhen, head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee of Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU).

"Our core values is based on value consensus, but China has a long way to make it to the world. The book series titled Core Socialist Values•Key Words is only our initial exploration," said Han. 

The book series, titled Core Socialist Values•Key Words was published by China Renmin University Press under Han's editorship. It is also translated into English for international distribution.

Comprised of twelve volumes - Prosperity, Democracy, Civility, Harmony, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, and Friendship, Core Socialist Values•Key Words explains China's pursuit of the core socialist values with the latest guidelines issued by the government.

"The series gave an in-depth academic analysis of China's values in the past and at present. It is significantly important for Chinese new think tank construction." Wu Shulin, the former vice minister of General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, said in the seminar.

Several scholars from School of Marxism of Tsinghua University, Peking University and Beijing Normal University discussed both format and content of the book series in the seminar. They also suggested publishing a summary volume of the twelve core socialist values.

The English version of the series got a warm reception at the 2015 BookExpo America in New York this June. "We hope more people will know about China's core socialist value so as to understand and eventually appreciate Chinese culture," said Han.

Peng Ping, a BFSU professor and one of the translators of the book series said that their team adopted the strategies of domestication and foreignization to narrow the gap of expression between Chinese and English. "We want our English readers to resonate with China's core values. And we leave it to the market."