Across China: Chinese farm machinery expert abridges Marx's "Das Kapital"

A farm machinery expert in China's Shanxi Province undertook the bold task of shortening Karl Marx's iconic book "Das Kapital" from more than 1.8 million words to 340,000.

Li Zhongliang, a 73-year-old retiree, spent 11 years abridging the Chinese version of Marx's critical analysis of political economy, which helped set the groundwork for economic laws in capitalist society.

His shortened version was published last June.

Li says he was inspired to undergo the task after he borrowed the book from a friend in 1976 but had difficulty grasping the concepts.

"After reading it three or four times, I finally understood and was deeply impressed by Marxism. I felt my view to the world changed," Li said, animately explaining his passion for the topic.

Wanting to encourage others to explore the reasoning in "Das Kapital" he set out to simplify the message.

"Some contents can be deleted, which would not affect the understanding of the whole book. I thought perhaps I could work out an abridged version for Chinese people," he said.

In 2003, Li embarked on his ambitious dream after retiring from a new agricultural machinery technology and service center in Shanxi.

Li said abridged versions of "Das Kapital" can be found in China, but many ignore the logic and accuracy of the original work.

In order to overcome these shortcomings, he strictly followed his own rules, such as keeping essentials and not adding a single word to the content.

Three years later, he finished his first volume of the 1975 Chinese version of "Das Kapital" and sent the draft to a provincial institute.

His efforts were praised by scholars of the institute. "Although the original work is shortened, he maintained its logic and ensured all the information is accurate," said scholar Jin Gongyuan.

As the Chinese edition was continually updated, Li kept pace with his abridgements, finally publishing the shortened edition based on a 2009version.

He organized his shortened work by giving the equivalent page number of the original book on the edge of each page.

In the very beginning, Li's "strange hobby" worried his family. His wife said he would lock himself in a room at least seven or eight hours a day. "A wall cut off family affections," she said.

But now their attitude has changed as more people show support to Li's efforts.

Based on his abridged version, his granddaughter, who is an English major, published a shortened version of "Das Kapital" in English last week.

"I have realized my dream. 'Das Kapital' boasts many readers in the world. I hope more Chinese can read, understand and benefit through my efforts," he said. Endi