BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China's General Administration of Press and Publication has urged further efforts to ensure the accessibility of dictionaries for the students in the country's rural and less-developed areas.
The administration's appeal came after earlier media reports that primary and secondary school students in rural areas in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are in bad need of authoritative Chinese language dictionaries.
Bookstores nationwide should cooperate with the publisher of the most authoritative Chinese dictionary "Xinhua Dictionary," or "New China Dictionary," in distribution, in order to ensure the timely supply of the dictionary at its bottom price, the administration said in a statement.
The statement also encouraged press and publication administrative agencies to donate dictionaries and other basic reference books for the rural students.
Moreover, the statement urged to step up the crackdown on piracy of dictionaries and reference books.
According to the statement, more than 215,000 copies of "Xinhua Dictionary" are now available in the 200,000 rural reading rooms set up last year across the country.