CRI听力:China to Make Xinhua Dictionary Available to Every Kid

The "Xinhua Dictionary" is widely considered the most authoritative Chinese language dictionary in China.

Under the government's education plan, all children above grade two should have their own dictionaries.

However, for poor children in villages in China's central and western provinces, having a Xinhua dictionary is a bit of a luxury.

Tang Jiuhong is a director with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, one of China's top charity organizations.

"Because of a lack of dictionaries, kids in rural areas struggle with their learning. Our country has exempted text book fees for primary and middle school kids, but dictionaries and other reference books are not yet free for them."

Tang Jiuhong says that in some rural schools the teachers have to share a single dictionary.

Because of this, many primary students don't even know how to use a dictionary.

The Soong Ching Ling Foundation is now working with the publisher of the Xinhua dictionary, the Commercial Press, to get more dictionaries in the hands of children in need.

Last year, the Commercial Press made an especially cheap version of the latest edition of the Xinhua dictionary for just this sort of idea.

That non-profit version has a price tag of nine yuan per copy, which is half the price of the cheapest paperback sold here in Beijing.

More than five million copies have since been delivered to the children in the central and western provinces.

Grade five student Jin Yuting from Henan Province is one of them.

"Now I have my own dictionary, and I don't need to ask my teacher every time I come across a new word."

All of the 5 hundred grade 5 and 6 students in Jin Yuting's school now have their own dictionaries.

Henan is currently on the list of destinations for the Soong Ching Ling Foundation's dictionaries.

Director Tang Jiuhong says one region that is no longer on their list is Guangxi.

"The local government followed the lead of our charity work. It bought dictionaries for over two million primary and middle school students who didn't have dictionaries in that region. Our dictionary project there has inspired the local government to invest more in education. I think that has set an example of our work in other provinces."

Tang Jiuhong says their goal of getting every child a dictionary is still a long way away, but charity organizations, companies, private donors and the government are making headway toward that ultimate goal.

For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.