The original English version of this set of books was published by the UK publisher Macmillan in 2007, it was the first time Shakespeare's first folio was comprehensively revised.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The British Council and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP) launched a new bilingual edition of Shakespeare's folio today, including the complete translation of Shakespeare's works in 39 volumes.

This bilingual edition is licensed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The full set contains 12 tragedies, 14 comedies, 10 histories, two plays not in the First Folio, poems and sonnets, with the Chinese translation done by some of the most eminent translators in China.

The original English version of this set of books was published by the UK publisher Macmillan in 2007, it was the first time Shakespeare's first folio was comprehensively revised. Based on this version, the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press began the translation project in 2008, with Gu Zhengkun,a professor at Peking University, as the chief editor. It took over 20 eminent translators and experts eight years to complete the task.