PRAGUE, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The real author of the award-winning novel "The White Horse, the Yellow Dragon" that deals with the problems of ethnic Vietnamese in the Czech Republic was not a Vietnamese girl, but a Czech man, local media reported Tuesday.

    The Czech Republic's largest publishing house, Euro media, published the book, which was allegedly written by Lan Pham Thi, a19-year-old Czech girl of Vietnamese origin, earlier this year.

    The book criticized Czech society's treatment of its Vietnamese minority, one of the largest ethnic groups in the Czech Republic. It has been awarded a literary prize by Euro media.

    However, local media have revealed that the real author of the novel was Jan Cempirek, a 39-year-old Czech man, who also admitted last weekend that it was he who wrote the book.

    Cempirek said the book garnered an award only because its author pretended to be a member of a national minority. People just wanted to prove they were "multinationals," and they would award the prize simply to anybody who would present himself as a member of a national minority, he said.

    The event has caused a controversy in Czech society. The publishing house Euro media contends that Cempirek only wanted to become famous, while members of the jury said that Cempirek would gallop away with the prize even if the novel were written under his own name.