上海市教委就“外婆”改“姥姥”致歉 Shanghai education authorities issue apology for textbook term change

The education authorities in Shanghai have issued an apology(道歉) for changing(更改) the term for the word grandmother in an article(文章) included to the Chinese textbook(课本) for local second grade(二年级) students.

The notice was issued(发布) on Saturday by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission together with the Shanghai Educational Publishing House.

It said they were sorry for changing the term of 'grandma' from "Waipo(外婆)" to "Laolao(姥姥)" without gaining approval(同意) from the author(作者) of the article and not taking expressions(表达) in the local dialect(方言) into consideration(考虑).

The authorities have promised to change it back as soon as possible and to reflect(反思) on the incident, protecting(保护) the right(权利) of the author and guaranteeing the quality(质量) of the textbook.

The incident drew much attention on the internet after photos of the textbook were posted on Sina Weibo, a popular China's social media platform, on Wednesday.

"Waipo" and "Laolao" are both Chinese expressions for grandmother and it's believed that people in Shanghai use "Waipo" more often.

词汇 Words:

[dào qiàn] 道歉 apology
[gēng gǎi] 更改 change
[fā bù] 发布 issue
[bǎo hù] 保护 protect
[nián jí] 年级 grade
[wén zhāng] 文章 article
[kè běn] 课本 article
[zuò zhě] 作者 author
[fāng yán] 方言 dialect
[quán lì] 权利 right
[tóng yì] 同意 approval

Words relevant to grandparent:

• (maternal)grandparent
  [wài pó] 外婆
  [wài gōng] 外公
  [lǎo lao] 姥姥
  [lǎo yé] 姥爷
  [wài zǔmǔ] 外祖母
  [wài zǔfù] 外祖父

• (paternal) grandparent
  [nǎi nai] 奶奶
  [yé ye] 爷爷
  [zǔ mǔ] 祖母
  [zǔ fù] 祖父