The Chinese character for dream

The Chinese character for dream — meng — has been named 2012 Character of the Year, Chinanews.com reported on Thursday.

Words were selected from print media, TV, radio and the Internet and the winner chosen by the National Language Resource Monitoring and Research Center, Commercial Press and China Network Television.

The award was first presented in 2006.

The character meng is considered to reflect the realisation of China' dreams — hosting the Olympic Games, space exploration, a China-made aircraft carrier, and a Nobel Prize-winning author.

Other top choices were Diaoyu, heng (check and balance) and xuanju (election).

Diaoyu, which indicates the Sino-Japanese tension over the Diaoyu Islands, reflects people's concern over national dignity.

The characters heng and the word xuanju were chosen as International Characters of the Year, as they reflect people's interests in elections across the globe in 2012 and their concern over the balance of power.

Previous winners of the Character of the Year include chao (speculation), zhang (price rise), he (harmonious), bei (passive) and kong (addicted).