The first two volumes of the new and improved version of China's first encyclopedia have been unveiled at the Shanghai Book Fair. The public had a flick through the Philosophy and Medical Science volumes, but the complete encyclopedia is not expected to hit the shelves for another seven years.

The so-called Grand Word Encyclopedia is one of the most ambitious projects of Shanghai's publishing industry. It will comprise 38 volumes, covering 250,000 entries and 50 million characters. The revised version will double the information carried by the 1999 edition. New expressions like the Three Represents and SARS will all be included in the new edition. So far, the public has seen two volumes on philosophy and medical science. Volumes on ancient Chinese history, linguistics and law will be published over the following few days. But it's a massive project and the total 38 volumes will not be finished until the end of the year 2010.

(CCTV.com August 14, 2003)