China's Ministry of Culture will launch its first official cultural website in English (www.chinaculture.org) on Jan. 1, 2004 to celebrate 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

The website will be sponsored by the ministry's Bureau for External Cultural Relations and constructed by chinadaily.com.cn.

With its parallel Chinese website launched last year, the English website would aim to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English cultural website about China, said Ding Wei, director general of the bureau.

The website would include cultural exchanges, knowledge about China, Chinese culture and cultural news, with full coverage of Chinese cultural relics, natural heritage, folk customs and artworks.

"The website not only endeavors to disseminate China's 5,000-year-old culture in depth and extensively, but also provides information on the current prosperity of Chinese culture, building a highly efficient platform for cultural exchange and cooperation," said Ding.

The website would serve sinophiles, and those who wanted to invest in China's cultural industries, said Ding.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2003)