The Chinese consulate in the northern German city of Hamburg has protested against a locally published children’s book, which said that COVID-19 came from China.

The picture book “Ein Corona Regenbogen für Anna und Moritz,” meaning “A Corona Rainbow for Anna and Moritz,” was created by Constanze Steindamma under the “Reading Mouse” series by publisher Carlsen. It was released on June 11 last year at 3.99 euros (US$4.75).

In the book, the father of Anna and Moritz told them that the coronavirus came from China and then spread to the rest of the world. Those infected would cough and get a fever, and sometimes their lungs would be sick, making it hard to breathe, the father said.

The content has angered some Chinese people in Germany, who took to the book’s Amazon page to leave poor ratings and comments.

The Chinese consulate in Hamburg said it was closely monitoring the incident and has lodged its discontent to the publisher.

Provocation, discrimination and hate speech were not in line with Germany’s mainstream values, the consulate said, and reminded Chinese citizens to be cautious and calm

when facing such acts.

A page about German news on Chinese messaging app WeChat carried a report that included an email complaint from a Chinese man to Carlsen.

The report said Carlsen responded by saying that it was an unintentional, thoughtless and insensible choice of words, and promised to make relevant changes in the next print. But the reply was insincere, the report said.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play