From 1996 to 2005, about 60,000 state-owned industrial corporations have been changed into private ones, according to a report recently released by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

By 2005, about 50 percent of state-owned industrial corporations have been privatized, and 26 percent have been merged or liquidated, said the IFC.

In 1996, China had about 114,000 state-owned industrial corporations, and in 2005, the figure dropped to 27,000. Over 70 percent have been partly or completely privatized, the IFC said.

In recent years, the reform process of China's state-owned enterprises has been accelerating, now covering almost all types of industrial enterprises.

The ownership of those corporations has been changed in various ways, including bankruptcy, going public, auctioning and being sold to domestic or overseas business persons.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2005)