PRESS, PUBLISHING, BROADCASTING, FILMS AND TOURISM 249
The Time and Life magazine organization and the New York Times both maintain bureaux in Hong Kong.
The number of editors, correspondents, broadcasters and tele- vision units visiting the Colony continues to increase year by year. In 1958 there were about 300 of these visitors.
PUBLISHING
The vast majority of books printed in Hong Kong are in the Chinese language, the most notable exceptions being the English publications of the University Press and a number of business guides and directories. Of the Chinese books registered, the largest single category consist of text-books for use in Chinese Primary and Middle Schools in Hong Kong and South-East Asia. Some twenty per cent of all books locally registered tend to fall into this category. The second largest group are the religious publica- tions of the various churches and missionary bodies, many being translations from the English; these make up about fifteen per cent of the total. Roughly ten per cent could be classed as fiction, mostly of a very ephemeral nature, while another ten per cent deal with scientific or technical subjects. Bulletins and reports constitute another five per cent, while the remainder are a miscellany of a generally popular and transitory nature.
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICE
Official information services are centred in the Government Public Relations Office. As is customary in most official informa- tion departments, the main work of the Public Relations Office is the supplying of information for dissemination through press and broadcasting channels, both domestic and foreign. As well as issuing statements of policy and information on behalf of the Government as a whole, the department handles the press rela- tions of all other departments of the Government.
Apart from its published output and regular daily contact with local newspapers and the foreign press corps, the department's staff are active in assisting and providing local contacts for visiting correspondents, broadcasters, film units and the like.
During 1958 there was considerable expansion of the Govern- ment's general publicity programme, particularly in the field of