The nationwide protection of Ci Hai took more than two years to close.

"We are here to celebrate the success of the battle and challenge the pirates as well as support our strong legal force and public supervision," said Gui Xiaofeng, deputy administrator of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Gui is also the director of the Office of National Anti-piracy and Pornography Working Committee, which took on the piracy of Ci Hai as one of the key cases for the year.

The Ci Hai took 40 years of hard work of more than 5,000 experts in the country, said Li Weiguo, director and editor-in-chief of the book's publisher.

Three generations of the State leaders have attached great significance to its compilation.

President Jiang Zemin wrote the name of the latest edition of the dictionary, which was published by the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House in October 1999.

The edition has sold over 20,000 copies due to its comprehensiveness and authoritativeness, which attracted pirates in many areas soon after the publishing of the original.

The pirated editions are of inferior quality, some even miss as many as 80 pages, said Li.

"It is a national humiliation and a great deterioration to the benefits of the writers, publisher and even the users," Li said.

The compilers, led by Editor-in-Chief Xia Zhengnong, issued an appeal letter to society in May 2000 to fight piracy.

The publisher even offered up to 150,000 yuan (US$18,160) for clues about the piracy of the Ci Hai.

The publisher suffered more than 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) in economic losses as well as worsened fame. Several other dictionaries of the publishing house still face piracy, Li added.

"Protecting intellectual property rights is not only our commitment but also a necessary task to encourage creativity and boost our national renaissance," Gui said.

(China Daily August 28, 2002)