Involving the efforts of over one hundred scholars for over fifteen years, the dictionary is now wrapped up in four giant volumes of more than one million printed words. Its publication not only fills a major void on the reference shelf of modern Chinese history but also thrusts upon scholarly attention many compelling issues by the collective presentation of the biographies of some six hundred Chinese leaders who were active in 1911–1949 in the fields of politics and the military as well as in business and banking, literature, the arts, the press and publishing, education, medicine, and religion. In response to the urgent need for Chinese Communist studies in mid-20th century America, the work covers the prominent figures in the People's Republic who appeared during the Republican (1912–49) period. The concern for contemporary development is also reflected in the omission of many important figures whose career had little relevance to the rise of the Chinese Communist state and in the emphasis on the military and politics. Many native Chinese writers contribute to the dictionary their intimate knowledge of the period as well as their biases, taboos, and myths. Since there is much room for improvement in terms of historical perceptiveness and scholarly balance, three proposals are given, aimed at adding the finishing touch to this monumental work.