BEIJING - China on Thursday published a dictionary on Marxism to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx.

The dictionary has four parts, namely Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and the Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. It has 2,094 entries covering fundamental concepts, principles, masterpieces, representative figures, historical events, key conferences and school of thought regarding Marxism.

With China's social development and deepening of academic research, it was necessary to have a dictionary which reflects the complete content of Marxism, said Xu Guangchun, chief editor of the publication.

It will be a help to Party officials, teachers, students and the public to study when reading Marx' works, said Mei Rongzheng, deputy chief editor of the book.

Nearly 100 scholars from 44 institutions spent five years on the dictionary project, led by the Center of Cooperative Innovation for Marxist Theory and Chinese Practice at Wuhan University in Central China's Hubei province.