Jiang Zemin, former Chinese President and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).(Xinhua Photo)

     The Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, former Chinese President and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will be distributed to the country's bookstores on August 9.

    "It offers a powerful weapon of ideology for China's construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics and increases the spiritual strength of Chinese people to build a well-off society in an all-round way," an editorial of People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the CPC, hails the publication.

    The three volumes comprise 203 of Jiang's reports, speeches, articles, letters, inscriptions and decrees from August 1980 to September 2004, sources with the Party Literature Editing Committee of the CPC Central Committee said Wednesday.

    Many of the articles in the selection are for the first time made public, according to an editor of the book, who did not give his name.

    Jiang, born on Aug. 17, 1926, was also former Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

    The books, compiled by the Party Literature Editing Committee and published by the People's Publishing House, systematically elaborate on the important thoughts of the Three Represents, said the editor.

    As the core of the CPC third-generation leadership, Jiang initiated the thoughts that the CPC must always represent the development requirements of China's advanced social productive forces, the progressive course of China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people, known as the "Three Represents".

    The publication of the book, an important political event of the party and state, will further encourage the people to study the Three Represents, according to the editor.

    The decision to compile the books was made by the CPC Central Committee in November of 2003.