Construction work began on Wednesday on a national digital publishing base in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The Xi'an National Digital Publishing Base Demonstration Zone has been approved by the General Administration of Press and Publication.

The zone has been designed with investment of 900 million yuan ($144.5 million) from the management committee of the Xi'an Hi-tech Development Zone for the building of a modern digital publishing industry.

By 2020, the annual output value of the base is expected to be more than 30 billion yuan.