China has published a large Mongolian idiom dictionary, the biggest in the Mongolian history.

The 1.9 million character dictionary, published by the Inner Mongolia Publishing House, contains about 30,000 Mongolian idioms.

A spokesman for the publishing house said most of the idioms were gathered from among the people and never appeared in other Mongolian dictionaries.

He said the compiling work began as early as 1977 and concluded in 1988, but the lack of funding support for printing delayed the publication of the dictionary until last year.

The dictionary is useful to learners and speakers of the Mongolian language and those studying the Mongolian science.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2002)