A great many of the new words and expressions reflecting technological development and changes in daily life have appeared in China in recent years. Many old Chinese words have had acquired new meanings and usage. The compilers of A Dictionary of the Modern Chinese Language, together with Dictionary Editing Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, have produced the enlarged edition to keep abreast with the changes.

It adds over 1,200 words to the dictionary last revised in 1996, including those relating to politics, like "Deng Xiaoping Theory", "Three Represents", "knowledge-based economy" and "quality-oriented education"; those reflecting technological development, like "broad band," and "transgenic"; and those concerning people's daily life like "sand storm" and "air quality".

The edition has also embraced many updated words with new meanings. In addition, over 140 alien words that frequently appear in newspapers were listed in the appendix

The compilers took the opportunity to correct some character patterns in the dictionary so as to better regularize the strokes of Chinese characters.

A Dictionary of the Modern Chinese Language published in 1978 underwent a major revision in 1983 and was then revised again in the 1990's. Over 40 million volumes have been sold in the past 20 years.

(china.org.cn by Unisumoon, June 29, 2002)