Xinhua Dictionary has bagged two Guinness World Records for the "most popular dictionary" and the "best-selling book (regularly updated)." To mark the event, SVP Records Marco Frigatti welcomed Tan Yue and Yu Dianli, President of China Publishing Group Cooperation (CPG) and President of The Commercial Press, Ltd. (CP) respectively, to their London headquarters to present them the certificates of recognition.

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As of July 28, 2015, the dictionary is "estimated to have sold a staggering 400 million copies from its first edition in 1953 to 2004 and has been verified to have sold a further 167,007,232 copies." Currently, it is being published by CP.

Yu Dianli noted that CP, which is China's first modern publishing, also holds the recognition as a "Stronghold for Academic Publishing" and "Kingdom of Dictionary."

"The two Guinness World Records titles held by Xinhua Dictionary confirm the international influence of this famous title, and will bring more opportunities for cooperation between globally famous cultural institutes, such as GWR, and our press," he said in a statement published on Guinness's official website.

Frigatti said that their teams have been doing "extensive data investigation, collection and examination" over the past year to confirm whether or not Xinhua Dictionary qualifies to get the Guinness World Records credit. He further stated that he is "delighted to verify" that its is indeed "the most popular dictionary and the best-selling regularly updated book."

Rowan Simons, President of Greater China, Guinness World Records also recognized the achievement of the dictionary.

"We publish one of the world's most successful reference books and yet we stand in awe before this little dictionary," Simons said. "To sell over half a billion copies is an amazing achievement and one can easily imagine how important it has been in promoting learning of Chinese language."

TagsGuinness World Records, Xinhua dictionary, Xinhua dictionary Guinness World Records