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The manager of a publishing house in Hubei Province has been suspended after millions of dictionaries given to rural students were found to contain numerous errors.

Dictionary scandal leads to manager's suspension.[File photo]

An earlier CCTV report revealed Chongwen Publishing House provided Hubei's Department of Education 3.2 million volumes of a Chinese language dictionary filled with errors under a nationwide government aid program cost 1.7 billion yuan (US$275 million).

Changjiang Publishing & Media Co Ltd, Chongwen's parent company, yesterday announced Huang Chengyong, general manger of Chongwen, has been suspended pending an investigation.

An initial investigation showed Chongwen breached its contract with the provincial education authority, replacing the dictionary with an inferior edition, it said.

Changjiang said the error-riddled dictionaries have been recalled and will be destroyed with its subsidiary covering all the costs. The editing and printing process is being reviewed, Changjiang added.

The Hubei education authority on Monday announced it would investigate to determine whether there have been any disciplinary violations.

According to the CCTV report, the dictionaries were pirated copies of Xinhua Dictionary, the most widespread reference book in the world. Entitled "Student Xinhua Dictionary," the error rate was 0.2 percent, nearly 20 times more than allowed.

Lexicographic experts also found the copies were made from ordinary paper rather than customized paper for dictionaries, CCTV reported.

The error-riddled Chongwen 2013 edition chosen by Hubei's education department cost 14 yuan per copy while the 2012 version, with better quality, sells for 8 yuan each.

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