The park will create an open platform for knowledge-based services and become a major cultural base by taking advantage of the university's leading academic research and human resources, said officials with the university.

The park, designed mainly to develop the cultural sector, has drawn many companies from publishing, mass media, information technology and finance industries.

The park was approved by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and the Beijing Municipal Education Commission in July 2003.

China started building science parks, which are mostly funded and directed by institutions of higher learning, in 1990 and has set up 36 such parks at the national level by late 2003, said Chinese Vice-Minister of Education Zhao Qinping.

(China Daily November 9, 2004)