China will intensively develop its printing industry in the upcoming five years, but with a moderate pace,a senior official said Saturday.

Long Xinmin, director of the General Administration of Press and Publications, said that China should turn itself into one of the printing giants in the world.

China was the inventor of movable-type printing in the 11th century, some 400 years earlier than Johan Gutenberg discovered the similar technology in Europe.

Long made the remarks at the on-going Second China International Cultural Industry Fair in China's southern city of Shenzhen, with an aim to restore the country's time-honored cultural glory.

According to the official, the total output value of China's printing industry in 2005 scored 330 billion yuan (about 41 billion US dollars), accounting for 2 percent of the GDP.

Long said the output value of the sector is expected to grow by 8 percent annually in the next five years, and it will account for 2.5 percent of the GDP in 2010.

Statistics show that China in 2005 published 6.402 billion copies of books of 224,800 titles, 2.751 billion copies of periodicals of 9,423 kinds and 40.402 billion pieces of newspapers of 1,939 varieties. However, many of them have become stockpiles in warehouses.

China has some 180,000 printing plants with 3.4 million workers.

The Chinese government every year gave licences to dozens of overseas printing companies which hoped to establish branches in the country.

Source: Xinhua