2,367 of China's national archives, 76 percent of the country's total, have so far made official documents, previously accessible only to government officials, available to the public, Guangming Daily reported on Tuesday.

Mao Fumin, director of the State Archives Bureau said that archives in China are no longer a storehouse for old and disused documents, but an information portal for ordinary citizens who want to know more about national policy and participate more actively in political affairs.

"Official documents displayed in the archives also help the government to serve its people better," Mao added.

The report also quoted Wang Gang, a senior official with the Communist Party of China, as saying that archive departments at all levels should do what they can to make it more convenient for the public to access and use official documents.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2005)