China's Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday it would revitalize 1,000 "old Chinese brands" in the coming three years, picking from the existing 5,000.

A ministry statement said the majority of "old Chinese brands", once seen as the pride of domestic commerce have lost much of their competitiveness in the market economy partly due to a sharp decrease of business outlets and lack of talents and innovation.

The ministry will inject new capital into and give necessary policy support to the brands so as to "bring new life into them and achieve effective protection and development," it said.

The ministry will step up efforts to publicize these famous brands and boost measures to support their technical upgrading, the statement said.

Editor: Yan