China Clamps Down on Foreign Magazines

China has imposed a limit on the number of foreign magazines being sold in China in a blow to publishers hoping to cash in on the country's booming media market.

Beijing said it would not enter into any further partnerships with foreign publishers wanting to launch titles in China in a bid to help indigenous media firms to expand.

"We have no plans to add more copyright cooperation with foreign media companies," said a director of China's general administration of press and publications, who wished to remain anonymous.

The official would not say how long the measures had hasbeen in effect or when it might end, although the Asian Wall Street Journal reported that the moratorium had been in place for about a year with an exception allowed for new science titles.

But he said that magazines that already are licensed by the Chinese government and those that are mailed into the country will not be affected.

Foreign publishers are eager to tap into a Chinese market with potentially hundreds of millions of increasingly affluent readers. But in order to publish in China they must have a local partner.

Such partnerships have already been formed to publish Chinese editions of titles ranging from Hachette Filipacchi's Elle and Car and Driver, to Emap's men's magazine FHM and Newsweek.

The most high-profile possible victim of the new policy is the Chinese edition of Rolling Stone. The publishing venture in Shanghai for the US music and pop culture magazine was ordered to dissolve last month after it had put out just a single issue.

Time Warner, which publishes Sports Illustrated, also last month announced plans for a Chinese sports title.

China's government is worried about the social impact of western pop culture and has tightened media controls in recent years, including restrictions on foreign television programming and internet content.