There has been a rise in wrong usage of Chinese characters found in test papers of China's National College Entrance Examination, gaokao, in Beijing, the Xinhuanet.com reported.

Qi Yongxiang, the vice-head of the evaluation panel of the Chinese language papers in Beijing said he saw a rise in mistakes in the use of Chinese characters among exam takers this year.

Qi blamed the Internet for falsifying phrases and giving a bad influence on youngsters. He also said the TV hosts and the wrong usage of characters set a negative example.

The paper evaluation panel responsible for test papers in Beijing includes 320 staff teachers from six colleges, who will oversee 68,000 papers in the city. The results are reported to be announced on June 23.