[Photo/people.com.cn]

BEIJING - A survey of all levels of government websites found 6,373 of them inactive or dormant as of July 27, People's Daily website reported on Thursday.

The government will either shut down the dormant websites, or urge them to improve through mergers or a revamp, concerned that inactive information disclosure may undermine government credibility, according to the People's Daily website.

According to initial results of the survey, there were a total of 85,737 government websites by July 27, including 3,226 from the central government.

The survey found that websites of the central government and provincial governments were well-managed in general. websites of grassroots governments, especially those under the county level, still need much improvement.

The survey will continue till December.

China's e-government has developed rapidly since the central government website (www.gov.cn) officially went online on Jan. 1, 2006.