Recently, a self-media blogger exposed that there were multiple typos and errors in the conversion between simplified and traditional Chinese characters in the book “Three Hundred Tang Poems” published by the Zhonghua Book Company. Following this revelation, the Zhonghua Book Company subsequently recalled the book. It is noteworthy that just 9 days prior, the same company had to take down the book “New Tales of the World (Student Edition)” due to various errors.
On December 2nd and December 9th, Mr. Sheng Dailin pointed out on his personal WeChat public account that the book “Three Hundred Tang Poems” in the “Chinese Classic Reading” series published by Zhonghua Book Company (book number 978-7-101-08686-7, 7th reprint in 2017) contained errors in the simplified (simplified Chinese) and traditional (traditional Chinese) character comparisons. On December 14th, the educational self-media channel “Guo Wen Little Master” relayed the related content in a video.
On the evening of December 15th, Zhonghua Book Company Limited responded through its official WeChat public account, stating that this version was first printed in 2012. At that time, in order to meet the teaching needs, traditional characters were annotated below the simplified poetry text, which led to numerous errors during the re-versioning and conversion between simplified and traditional characters. Furthermore, despite major corrections being made in the comprehensive revision during the 1st edition print run in 2019, two errors in the conversion of the character “曾” and one error in the character “擊” were still overlooked.
Zhonghua Book Company stated that they have initiated the recall process for all copies of this book as of now, expressing deep remorse for the errors caused by the conversion between simplified and traditional characters. In the future, they will strengthen the entire manuscript review process and strictly implement the “three reviews and three proofreads” system.
Earlier on December 2nd, educational blogger “Teacher Fifteen” posted tweets and videos claiming that the book “Romance of the Western Chamber” in the “Guoxue Collection” series published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House contained multiple errors. “I only glanced through it quickly and found over 300 various strange errors.”
On December 5th, the blogger stated, “I am not targeting Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. To avoid bias accusations, today I’ll talk about Zhonghua Book Company first. As one of the ‘two giants’ in the field of ancient texts, Zhonghua Book Company has just as many low-level errors as Shanghai Ancient Books! In the ‘Recommended Reading Series for Chinese Language Classes,’ ‘New Tales of the World,’ a small booklet of just over 100 pages, has at least 30 errors!”
On December 6th, Zhonghua Book Company issued a notice to distributors to take down the book “New Tales of the World (Student Edition).”
This incident has since sparked public attention.
Member of Weibo TV Team and Weibo influencer “Gossip Variety Jun” said, “As an established publishing house, Zhonghua Book Company should not have made errors in the comparison between simplified and traditional Chinese characters. ‘Three Hundred Tang Poems’ and ‘New Tales of the World’ are classic works, widely used by many parents and students.”
Weibo influencer “Global Lens” remarked, “It’s the same old saying – cultural workers should have cultural literacy. Zhonghua Book Company is known for publishing traditional cultural books, yet despite such a prestigious reputation, they have made such basic errors.”
Internet media personality and Weibo influencer “Internet Promising Clairvoyant” commented, “In an era where print media is declining severely, it is fortunate to see readers who are so serious and meticulous. The books published by Zhonghua Book Company are akin to the ‘Tsinghua University – Peking University’ in the minds of scholars. Readers able to find errors in them indeed display a high level of discernment.”
AI Internet analyst and Weibo influencer “Battle Camp” expressed, “What surprised me the most is that many netizens claim they have also found errors in the books. I never expected that there are still so many people who diligently read paper books, scrutinizing each character carefully; they can even detect issues in the comparison between simplified and traditional characters. This shows how serious these readers are about reading.
“It is precisely because of this that publishers must live up to this level of seriousness. For a renowned publishing house like Zhonghua Book Company, proofreading and quality control should be tighter, as classic texts do not tolerate carelessness. Readers willing to spend time reading meticulously show respect for books. We hope that publishers can strictly adhere to the ‘three reviews and three proofreads’ system, ensuring quality and avoiding disappointing serious readers.”