(Zhou Shan)
In recent years, a lot of children’s encyclopedias have appeared on the market, but the poor quality of some have met much complaint. After founding many mistakes in a children’s book, a parent wrote an article that has aroused public concern.
Low quality books not only waste parents’ money, but also give wrong information to children and adversely affect their mental growth. The Chinese Encyclopedia Press vowed to remedy the situation by a recent publication, a series of encyclopedia especially tailored for children.
Mr. Gao, a university teacher, said that encyclopedias by domestic publishers often copied one another and good ones are seldom; meanwhile, those by foreign ones are expensive and carry less information about Chinese culture. A lady said that she had spent 800 yuan on a set of foreign encyclopedias, but her son did not find a single word of the Dragon Boat Festival. Most festivals introduced had a Christian background, and the only two traditional festivals in China mentioned were the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival.
The new encyclopedia has many illustrations and photos, facilitating children’s understanding and interest in the course of study.
The publisher have invited scholars to make sure the accuracy and fitness of its contents for children.
All the information, especially that in the fields of history, ethnicity and culture, emphasize its condition and development in China.
Another feature of this series is being very up-date, gene patterns, cloning and micro-science being examples.
(CIIC by Feng Yikun 04/10/2001)
