A project was launched on Friday to help build 200 libraries for primary and middle schools in China's quake-hit areas.

The China Writers' Association, the China National Tobacco Corporation and the China Literature Foundation plan to build 90 libraries in the southwestern Sichuan Province, the area worst hit by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12.

There are also plans to build more than 100 libraries in other affected provinces including Gansu and Shaanxi.

The project is expected to be finished before the end of the year, said the sponsors.

This isn't the first big project by the three organizations. They have previously built 800 libraries and donated 1 million books for schools and welfare homes throughout the country.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2008)