In this landmark project, Professor Zhang and Professor Moratto piece together the history of how conference interpreting developed as a profession in China after the reform and opening-up of the late 1970s. Based on interviews with the alumni of the early efforts to develop conference interpreting capabilities between Chinese and English (and French), the authors illuminate the international programs and relationships which were instrumental in bringing this about. While paying tribute to the earliest interpreters who worked with first-generation CPC leaders including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, they track key cooperative projects between Chinese ministries and both the United Nations and European Union, as well as China’s domestic efforts which developed into today’s formal programs at major universities. An essential resource for scholars and students of conference interpreting in China, alongside its sister volume Conference Interpreting in China: Practice, Training and Research.

In this landmark project, Moratto and Zhang evaluate how conference interpreting developed as a profession in China and the directions in which it is heading. Bringing together perspectives from leading researchers in the field, Moratto and Zhang present a thematically-organised analysis of the trajectory of professional conference interpreting in China. This includes discussion of the pedagogies used both currently and historically, the professionalisation of interpreter education, and future prospects for virtual reality, multi-modal conferences, and artificial intelligence. Taken as a whole, the contributors present a rich and detailed picture of the development of conference interpreting in China since 1979, its status today, and how it is likely to develop in the coming decades. An essential resource for scholars and students of conference interpreting in China, alongside its sister volume The Pioneers of Chinese Interpreting: Insiders' Accounts on the Rise of a Profession.