Academic publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP), UK, has announced the launch of a new publishing venture, The Cambridge China Library. Launched at the London Book Fair, The Cambridge China Library gives China the chance to speak for itself, in unprecedented detail, about its long and fascinating cultural evolution.
The volumes in the library represent an unusual offering - originally written for Chinese university students and academics, the texts represent a rare opportunity for the Westerner to listen in on the Chinese talking to themselves about themselves, with no interference.
In his introduction to The History of Chinese Civilisation, Volume 3, David McMullen, Professor Emeritus of Chinese at the University of Cambridge, notes that publications like this are one of the indications that, 'Chinese scholarship is entering a new phase of unprecedented freedom'.
The texts cover a wide range of subjects in the arts and humanities, the social sciences and the history of science. According to CUP, the series aims to foster intellectual debate and to promote closer cross-cultural understanding by bringing important works of Chinese scholarship to the attention of western readers.
