With rapid changes in information technology, the press, as the major, traditional instrument of the mass media, faces a great opportunity for development.

Fierce competition means newspapers have to lessen publishing time and smarten their content. Better, more efficient proofreading and lower production costs have become the key to staying competitive for the whole industry.

Fuji Xerox, the largest document processing provider in the Asia-Pacific region, has developed a new type of laser printing system for the Chinese press.

Currently, proof printing is the bottle-neck in the publishing system. Standard laser printers can only produce A4 or A3 sized proofs, which had to be cut and pasted to match the actual size of a newspaper.

Statistics show that in China, one newspaper needs 200 pieces of A3 proof sheets every day, while newspapers with more pages may need 400 pieces.

The Fuji Xerox printer can print an A1 size proof sheet. Newspapers of various sizes may print whole pages of an edition, avoiding the old tedious cut-and-paste procedure.

The printer has a separate selenium holder and cartridge, which has changed the traditional way of replacing both at the same time when either doesn't work.

So far, the People's Daily has adopted the new system, which costs two thirds of the old.

Statistics show in 2001 the daily circulation of China's press exceeded 50 million.

( May 18, 2002)