For the fifth year in a row, China can lay claim to having the highest number of daily newspapers in the world but, according to a mainland report, the industry still faces serious challenges.
The General Administration of Press and Publication released figures at the weekend putting the total number of mainland newspapers up to last month at more than 1,900.
Guangdong led the nation in mastheads with 100 newspapers printed throughout the province, while Ningxia lagged with just 15 province-wide.
Papers run by the Communist Party made up the biggest single newspaper category, followed by evening and metropolitan papers. Together, the three types accounted for more than 70 per cent of the mainland's newspapers.
The report said that in the past year, 90 newspapers were published in 13 ethnic languages, and 13 were produced in foreign languages like English and Russian.
As with economic development, newspapers tend to be concentrated in the country's east and central southern regions. The Yangtze River and Pearl River delta areas were home to more than 40 per cent of all of the country's newspapers.
And more than 60 per cent of newspaper publications were concentrated in 36 main cities, with four municipalities owning one-fifth of the titles.