The management institutions in China's newspaper industry are now making a transition from a ”provising system” to a ”non-profit (shiye) media organizations operating as profit-making (qiye) media organizations.” In general, reform has moved step by step from re-carrying advertisement, offering extra pages and editions, establishing spinoff mass-appeal papers, and formatting press conglomeration to absorbing private capitals. By applying the institutional change approach, this paper points out that the reform was initiated automatically by primary action groups after evaluating costs and benefits. As a newspaper owner, the state consents, even encourages the same things as primary action groups have. Thus, reform has followed a succession of marginal adjustment and the rule of maximization of profits, i.e. from re-carrying advertisement to absorbing private capitals.