Alongside China’s booming economic development, the Chinese government has started to promote its culture to the outside world in various ways, aiming to help construct a positive national image. Publishing translated Chinese works can be considered a significant strategy for the construction of such an image; however, this endeavor itself is problematic in many aspects. There are thorny issues such as what is to be translated, how it is to be translated, and the unpredictable question of how the translated works are received, disseminated and accepted. Based on data from four large-scale nationwide translation projects, namely the “Promotion Project of Chinese Books to Overseas Markets” (China Book International, 中國圖書對外推廣計劃, 2006), “Publication Project of Translated Chinese Classics” (經典中國國際出版工程, 2009), “Publication Project of Translated Chinese Cultural Works” (中國文化著作對外翻譯出版工程, 2009) and “Translation Project of Chinese Academic Works” (國家社科基金中華學術外譯項目, 2010), this paper analyses the processes involved in these translation projects and some of the problems that result from the translations themselves. It is concluded that the construction of China’s national image in another country can only be realized through successful intercultural communication, in this case, the production of translated works and their reception, so what really matters is quality rather than quantity, and what really matters is what the outside world is interested in rather than what China is interested to promote.
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