Thirty hotels owned by the state-owned China Postal Group (CPG) were put up for sale on the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange on Thursday.
"This is another major move in the group's reform after the establishment of the postal savings bank," said Ren Yongxin, a senior CPG official.
A CPG source told Xinhua that bidding would start only after the hotels had undergone asset evaluations, but declined to reveal how the sales revenue would be used.
The hotels are all described as profitable and include three four-star and 13 three-star establishments. They are scattered in Beijing, Chongqing,Gansu, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Jilin, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Hubei and Zhejiang.
Some of the hotels are situated at popular tourist destinations, such as Jinggangshan, a popular historic area, and Suzhou, an ancient city known for its classical gardens.
The majority of more than 1,000 businesses CPG owns nationwide are hotels.
CPG announced on Tuesday the opening of China Postal Savings Bank (CPSB), the country's fifth largest bank, marking a substantial step in China's financial reform to help rural areas.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)