Cihai, or "sea of words," the most authoritative encyclopedic dictionary of the Chinese language, will publish its latest edition ahead of the National Day on October 1, also the country's 60th anniversary.

The sixth edition is due out in mid September.

It has five volumes and about 22 million Chinese characters, a 10-percent increase compared with the fifth edition, published in 1999. It will be sold at a price of 1,000 yuan (146 U.S. dollars), the report said.

The dictionary has more than 130,000 vocabulary entries, of which there are about 10,000 new entries. It also has removed about 7,000 outdated or rarely used terms, the report said.

"The new added items, mainly referring to fields of politics, economy and science, reflect the new trend of Chinese people's lives," the newspaper quoted Tang Kemin, the deputy editor-in-chief of the dictionary's publisher, the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing house as saying.

It adds political items like "Three Represents" and "Scientific Outlook on Development," the important thoughts put forward by a government to guide the country's social and economic development, the report said.

Legal terms such as administrative reconsideration, hearing system and international human rights law are included, as well as some medical words such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

It also lists spacecraft such as "Shenzhou I" to "Shenzhou VII", which have carried out the country's space exploration missions since 1999, the report said.

Newly-built landmark sites in Beijing are also added to the dictionary, such as Bird's Nest (National Stadium), "Water Cube"(National Swimming Center) and National Center for the Performing Arts.

The first edition came out in 1936. It has been revised every 10 years and published ahead of the year's October 1 for the celebration of the National Day.

The comprehensive Chinese encyclopedia records new words demonstrating the latest developments in the social and natural sciences, such as biology, electronics, computer science and economics.

But for some buzzwords, Zhu Zhiling, heading the media section of the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing house, said it needed time for them to be included in the dictionary unless it was popular among the public for a long time.

(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)