Metro New York published what appears to be a misrepresented image in its story, “Chinese letters reform explodes” on Oct. 21, quoting from another news source, RelaxNews.
“From the angle of the photograph, it appears that the Chinese letters were taken from a window, ” observed colleague Kaipo Leung. For that reason, the Chinese letters are inverted and incorrect.
The story delves on Chinese language reform, about simplifying a few dozen ideograms, without giving a point of reference for the word. Merriam Webster defines ideogram as a picture or symbol used in a system of writing to represent a thing or an idea but not a particular word or phrase for it.
In the second paragraph of the story, there are proposals to change 44 characters by “the government.” However, it did not point out which government it is referring to, leaving that hanging and for us to answer for ourselves, according to creative director Tuan-pu Wang.
Metro New York has not yet returned our phone call or responded to our email letter.
To view the image and read the story, click here: http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/10/21/06/2738-82/index.xml