BEIJING - The Chinese government has allocated a total of 1.1 billion yuan ($174 million) from the central budget to the National Publication Foundation since 2008, according to a statement from the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).

The foundation has supported 713 projects for 379 publishers and published 226 series at present, the GAPP said.

According to a GAPP official, the foundation, established in 2007, was the third national-level cultural foundation to be established after the National Natural Science Foundation and National Social Science Foundation.

A joint committee set up by the GAPP, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education to manage and supervise the foundation has been established, the official said.

The foundation will focus its efforts on supporting studies of Marxism, socialist core values, traditional Chinese culture, economic and social development, philosophy, communication and engineering in 2013, the GAPP said.