China has collected more than a million ancient ethnic books and published more than 5,000 of them during the 10th "Five-Year" Plan period (2001-2005).

The published books include three of the most recognized ethnic heroic epics: the Biography of King Gesar, the Tibetan; the Life Stories of Janggar, the Mongolian; and the Manas of the Kirghiz, according to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) on Friday.

A massive catalogue of extant ancient books of the 55 ethnic minorities are being compiled.

China publishes over 50 million copies of books in ethnic languages each year. There are also 99 newspapers and 223 periodicals published in 10 ethnic languages.

Twenty-one ethnic groups have their own written language.

Han people account for more than 90 percent of China's total population.

Source: Xinhua