More Chinese cultural and publishing companies are seeking to invest overseas as the government encourages the development of cultural industry abroad, according to government officials and entrepreneurs.

The Chinese government has policies to encourage more companies in the cultural sector to go overseas to seek international capital and market share, officials said. "China encourages publishers to develop overseas by exporting products, setting up joint ventures or going public on stock markets abroad," said Liu Bingjie, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

With the encouragement of these policies, "there will be more investment in the United Kingdom and other countries from China's cultural and publishing sector," said Liu, at the China-UK Publishing and Media Industry Investment Forum, held in London on Sunday.

Some say that while there are many English works translated into Chinese, not enough is happening the other way around.

The situation is changing. Several Chinese publishing companies have already started investing abroad. China Youth Publishing Group established its branch in London in 2007, and its yearly return on its investment has reached 20 percent to 30 percent, according to Xu Wenli, president of the company.

Diao Ying