Linux-focused firm Canonical is working with the Chinese government to promote and develop a version of the company's Ubuntu operating system.

The China Software and Integrated Chip Promotions Centre announced a new reference architecture for Chinese operating systems. CSIP, which is a part of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has apparently selected Canonical's Ubuntu as the basis for that reference architecture in order to provide a flexible, open, widely-used and standardized operating system.

The announcement is part of the Chinese government's five year plan to promote open source software and accelerate the growth of the open source ecosystem within China.

Additionally, CSIP, Canonical and the National University of Defense Technology have formed the CCN Open Source Innovation Joint Lab in Beijing. The Joint Lab hosts engineers from each organization who will accelerate the development of a China-focused version of Ubuntu for desktop and cloud.

The initial work of the CCN Joint Lab is focused on the development of an enhanced version of the Ubuntu desktop with features specific to the Chinese market. The new version is called Ubuntu Kylin and the first version will be released in April 2013 in conjunction with Ubuntu's global release schedule. Future work will extend beyond the desktop to other platforms.