A boy in East China who raised questions about a Chinese myth from his Chinese textbook triggered a flood of discussion on Chinese social media that resulted in China's authoritative press agency making a response to the public. 

The 8-year-old boy, surnamed Feng, in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, asked his mother how the mythical character Hou Yi could have "waded 99 rivers" when previous paragraphs mentioned that "the rivers had been dried out by the sun", according to a report in The Paper on Friday. 

Neither the boy's mother nor his teacher could answer his question. 

Finally, People's Education Press, the press agency that published the textbook, replied on its official Sina Weibo account that the word "wade" was indeed not appropriate. 

"The child raised a very good question. The editing group of the press agency is still discussing the word and will make appropriate modifications to the textbook. The problem will be solved in the next version of the textbook," it posted on Weibo. 

Many netizens praised the boy for thinking while learning on Weibo.

"The boy is very brave to question the textbook. Well done!" one netizen commented. 

"The press agency should reward the boy for his achievement in making the textbook better," another joked. 

Global Times