The 12th edition of Xinhua Dictionary, published on Monday after nine years since its last edition, has added new words and definitions shaped by the internet and social progress, reflecting the development of the country and characteristics of the times.

The new edition of the dictionary has mainly revised eight contents, such as prefix additions, new words, new definitions, new usages, and improvements to the "Index of Chinese Character Radicals." In addition to these regular revisions, the 12th edition has a QR code on each page, allowing readers to scan the code to learn how to correctly write a character and hear the correct pronunciation. This is the first time the Xinhua Dictionary has simultaneously launched an app and printed copies.

The 12th edition of the dictionary does not include too many new characters, but it does include more than 100 new words and expressions, many of which are from the internet era, such as "chu xin" (original aspiration), "fen si"(fans) , "jie ping" (screenshots), "er wei ma" (QR code), and "dian zan" (click the 'like' button). In addition, the new edition has added 50 new definitions and usages, including "mai meng" (acting cute), "pin che" (carpool), "pin gou" (shopping pool), and "bei hui yuan" (involuntarily being a member). Again, they are popular in internet vocabulary.

Xinhua Dictionary, published by China's Commercial Press, was recognized by the Guinness World Records in 2016 as the "most popular dictionary" and the "best-selling regularly updated book." Since its first edition in 1953, the dictionary has sold more than 600 million copies globally -- about 14 million copies are sold every year.

"As the crystallization of painstaking work and wisdom of many scholars, Xinhua Dictionary has been a tool for several generations of Chinese people, bearing the culture of a great country and impacting the linguistic lives of billions. The dictionary has made great contributions to cultural popularization and educational enterprise of the Chinese nation and has become a symbol of Chinese culture," the Guinness World Records stated in its press release.

It was the first dictionary written in modern Chinese, as opposed to the classical Chinese widely used before the May Fourth Movement in 1919. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, 11 editions of the dictionary have been published. Most, if not all, Chinese people use the reference book in primary schools when they start learning Chinese characters.

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