The State Press and Publication Administration is to encourage
the development of large-scale press and publication groups.
According to the
administration's 10th Five-Year Plan for the year 2001 to
2005, five to 10 publishing groups and five to 10 newspaper
groups will be formed.
The organization
anticipates an annual sales volume of 2 billion yuan (US$240.1
million) for publishing, and an annual revenue of over 1 billion
yuan (US$120.5 million) for the newspaper groups.
The plan also includes
the development of chains of bookstores across provinces,
and urges cooperation between bookstores and publication centers
in each province, to cater to the market need.
The move is aimed
at upgrading the nation's publishing ability, Administration
Director Yu Youxian told a conference in January.
There are currently
seven newspaper groups in China, including Guangming Daily,
Economic Daily and Guangzhou-based Guangzhou Daily, as well
as three distribution groups in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Sichuan
provinces.
Electronic publications,
such as CD-Roms and software, are also being encouraged, as
they are seen as the future trend in the publication industry,
Yu said.
Under the plan,
two electronic publication bases will also be formed by the
year 2005.
So far, the administration has issued regulations concerning
the electronic publications.
Seven electronic publishers participated in a Beijing Publication
Subscription Fair for the first time recently.
In the past two
years, the administration has suspended a number of newspapers
affiliated to government departments to cut the number of
the publications which are not of high quality, and has also
upgraded printing facilities.
These efforts paid
off, for the industry made 116.7 billion yuan (US$14 billion)
in profit in 1998, an increase of 17.3 percent over 1997,
according to official statistics.
(China Daily 02/12/2000)
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