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The Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House has published Lieguo Zhi (Guide to the World States), which is being hailed as an equal of the historically acclaimed Haiguo Tuzhi (The Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Countries), written in 1842 by Wei Yuan (1794-1856), a scholar and minor official of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The new book is a series delivering a comprehensive presentation of almost all of the countries and major international organizations in the world today.

The set contains 180 volumes, each for one country or several countries. Issues on Britain, France, the Netherlands, Tunis, India, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Ukraine, Australia and the Baltic Sea Countries (namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) were released late last month.

Before the end of this year, another 10 volumes will be released.

The rest are scheduled to be published within five years, said Xie Shouguang, director of the publishing company, who expects to speed up the work. Xie said the volumes have "filled in a void in the publishing industry" because Chinese historians and geographers knew little of many of the world's less well-known countries.

In Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu (The Encyclopedia of China) published in 1998, there is no volume specifically dealing with single countries.

Over 160 years ago, Wei Yuan published his The Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Countries to educate the imperial court and Chinese scholars about the rest of the world.

It was the first book in the history of modern China to introduce the history and geography of other nations, and is considered a landmark in China's relations with the West, since it represents the first systematic attempt to provide educated people in China with a realistic picture of the outside world.

Accompanying the process of China's gradual integration into the world in the following years, the book was highly valued and widely accepted, according to historians.

In 1998, Xie's company, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), set out to compile Guide to the World States.

Most of the writers and compilers the company has invited come from CASS and its 11 research centres and other major institutes and universities in China. They are experienced scholars on world history, geography and international politics.

In addition, the company has invited some Chinese diplomats to join.

Besides its reference value, Xie said the set also has distinguished academic value.

"In the books, the authors also raise academic views illustrated by their research, making the set much more than handbooks or travel guides that are easily found in book stores," he said.