A senior official said on August 11 that 23,500 lawyers have been recruited as legal advisers for governments at all levels in China, as part of an effort to facilitate the construction of a law-based government.

Vice Minister of Justice Zhao Dacheng made the remarks at a symposium in Beijing, adding that the figure accounted for more than 10 percent of the country's total lawyers.

Of them, more than 1,300 are employed by provincial-level governments, 8,100 are recruited by city-level and 14,000 by prefecture-level governments, according to Zhao.

They will also take part in drafting and amending governmental normative documents, negotiations on foreign-related projects as well as restructuring state-owned enterprises, he said.