The editing team for popular Chinese writer Han Han's magazine, Party, was dismissed Sunday, the magazine's executive editor-in-chief announced on his microblog Monday.

"I cannot believe it. I am confident we'll be back," Ma Yimu wrote on his microblog account at Sina.com.

Ma also thanked and apologized to the magazine's readers and writers.

Han Han's assistant confirmed the dismissal with a text message to Xinhua.

"The news is true," read the message.

The assistant did not say why the second issue of the magazine would not be published and why the magazine's editing team was dismissed.

Another member of the editing team confirmed the dismissal on the condition of anonymity, adding that the team feels sorry for the writers whose work was to appear in the second issue of the magazine.

One of the writers said he received an apology from one of the magazine's editors through his microblog.

The first issue of Party was published on July 6 and included part of Han Han's new novel, 1988 - I Want to Talk to the World.

The 120-page Chinese-language magazine also included essays, poems and opinion pieces by Hong Kong movie director Pang Ho-cheung, folk musician Zhou Yunpeng and blogger Luo Yonghao.

It sold nearly 1.5 million copies, according to Han Han's assistant.

The magazine was to be published on a bi-monthly basis.

Han Han, 28, is China's most popular blogger. He is also a race-car driver. Earlier this year, netizens voted him into the top 100 of Time magazine's 2010 World's Most Influential People list alongside Barack Obama and Lady Gaga.