With over 5,000 employees and five billion yuan (602 million U.S. dollars) of assets, the group has incorporated leading publishers, including the People's Publishing House, the Commercial Press, Zhong Hua Book Corporation, China Encyclopedia Publishing House, China Translation and Publishing Corporation, Xinhua Bookstore and China National Publications Import & Export Corporation.

The group aims to complete restructuring in two or three years,by making better use of resources, improving management and upgrading the quality of its publications.

Establishment of the group represents the efforts of China's publishing industry to enhance competitiveness and better promote international cultural exchanges in the new century, said an official attending the group's inauguration ceremony at the Great Hall of the People Tuesday.

Ding Guangen, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of its Publicity Department, congratulated the group on its establishment.

(People's Daily April 10, 2002)