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Two editors suspended after Xiamen newspaper spells Xi Jinping incorrectly
Hsu Shang-li and Staff Reporter 2013-06-29 17:02
Xiamen's West Strait Morning Post used the wrong characters to spell Xi Jinping's name on June 26. (Internet Photo)
People's Daily printed an incorrect spelling of China's former premier Wen Jiabao in 2010. (Internet Photo)
A local paper in Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian province was forced to buy back copies of its paper on June 26 after it was discovered that their report on China's Communist Party general secretary and president, Xi Jinping, used the wrong characters to spell his name. Two of the editors responsible have since been suspended following the incident, our sister paper Want Daily reports.
On discovering the mistake, officials at the West Strait Morning Post immediately withdrew the copies and ordered a reprint of the issue but several thousand copies had already been sent to subscribers, the report said, citing reports from internet users.
The paper, founded last year in September, was forced to buy back thousands of its copies for 50 yuan (US$8) each, said internet users.
It was not the first time Xi's name has been spelt wrong. On July 3, 2011, the Nanning Evening News made a similar mistake during a headline story on the president, forcing the newspaper to withdraw all of its copies.
In May 1989, Hainan Daily spelt former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping as Deng Xiaozi. Fortunately, Cheng Kai, the paper's editor-in-chief at the time, got a call from the printing department at 4 am about the mistake. Cheng immediately suspended printing and intercepted the copies that had already been sent out.
On Dec. 30, 2010, Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily also made an error in its spelling of Wen Jiabao, China's former premier. The mistake triggered widespread discussion online, with some internet users speculating that the newspapers 17 editors and related staff will face punishment.
Wu Hengquan, then editor-in-chief of People's Daily, said that premier Wen, who had heard of the rumors, called him to make sure that no one would be punished for the oversight.
