Palace Museum apologizes over wrong words

The Palace Museum inside the Forbidden City issued a public apology on May 16, 2011, for using an incorrect Chinese word on a silk banner thanking policemen who arrested a suspect in a museum theft.

The Palace Museum said in a published apology letter that the banner made by its security department was not checked by supervisors before it was presented to the police.

Shrewd Internet users discovered some errors in the apology letter, such as punctuation and grammar. "After reading this apology letter, I guess the Palace Museum has to go on apologizing again and again," one user wrote.

Others say the museum was shunning responsibility. "The banner was presented to the police by a head of the museum, but the letter said the security department was to blame."