In the limelight of a party

A visitor inspects books on display at the China pavilion at BookExpo America on May 27 in New York. The convention floor's largest presence at BookExpo is China, this year's featured foreign publishing industry. [Photo/Agencies]

Imagine a book being the life of a party.

The five-book series China Today: Understanding the Communist Party of China has been getting a warm reception at the 2015 BookExpo America in New York.

"This unprecedented series is a milestone, marking the CPC's dual commitment to domestic renewal and international outreach, a confluence that is not coincidental," says Robert Lawrence Kuhn, an international corporate strategist and author, during a launch for the series at the Javits Convention Center in New York last week.

"Many do not understand the CPC－particularly its historic transformation from a 'revolutionary party' seeking power to a 'ruling party' exercising power," says Kuhn.

"China is at a crossroads, with its outcome to affect the entire world, and the only way to grasp China's current conditions and to anticipate China's future prospects is to understand the CPC."

These real-life expositions are what the CPC wants the world to know. Understanding the CPC is the story of the Party told by the Party. This is how the Party thinks, he says.

Comprising five volumes－The Good Fight, Serving the People, Governing China, Exploring the Miracle and China and the CPC－the series documents how the CPC led China to realize its present economic miracle, says Zhang Qiyue, China's consul general in New York, at the launch.

It gives a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the challenges the CPC faces and how it is responding to them, while documenting China's recent efforts to combat corruption, she says.

The series attempts to explain the CPC－its philosophy and policies, organization and governance, vision and challenges－while explaining the governance philosophy and the governance system that puts the philosophy into practice, Zhang says.

"The five books reveal in various ways the secret of China's rise, the philosophy of the CPC, measures taken by the Party in response to challenges and the Party's resolve on anti-corruption," she says.

"We believe the series will help readers across the globe better understand contemporary China," she adds.