Restructuring of publishing sector won't mean closures

Beijing - The number of newspapers and periodicals will not decrease as the industry consolidates, a senior official said on Monday.

Liu Binjie, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, said, however, that the number of publishing houses would decrease as more government-owned publishing houses are turned into companies this year.

"The industry intends to merge the small houses into larger publishing groups," Liu told Beijing News.