Readers flock to find errors in books, get free copies

However, the event was not only about Chinese language and characters. Spontaneous discussions about Chinese characters and grammar were also held both at the event and over social media.

Zhang Qixi, 26, was at a bookstore for the whole afternoon and got two books in the end.

"At first when I was trying to pick a wrong character, I was nervous but later I calmed down and read peacefully."

He Li, another participant, was attracted by Chinese author Wang Xiaobo's Love You with My Life.

She went through more than half of the book at one sitting, she says.

Though she failed to find an error, she kept reading and enjoyed the book.

The publishers will be informed of the errors spotted in 217 books and hopefully corrected versions of words will be published in future editions, Guo says.

SogouInput will launch a similar event in Shanghai in September.

The company, along with the Ministry of Education and the Communist Youth League, initiated the "no-errors" drive in June.

People are being encouraged to take photos of wrongly written characters discovered in daily life, such as micro blogs, blogs of celebrities and media outlets, and subtitles of films and TV dramas, and upload them on Zimeiti, an online platform of SogouInput.

Over the past two months, more than 84,000 participants have uploaded photos and more than 30,000 of them were valid entries.

Contact the writer at fangaiqing@chinadaily.com.cn