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China Newspapers
In 1987 China had two news agencies, the Xinhua (New China)
News Agency and the China News Service (Zhongguo Xinwenshe)
(see The Media
, ch. 10). Xinhua was the major source of news and
photographs for central and local newspapers. The party's
newspapers Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) and Guangming
Ribao (Enlightenment Daily), and the People's Liberation Army's
Jiefangjun Bao (Liberation Army Daily) continued to have the
largest circulation. In addition to these major party and army
organs, most professional and scientific organizations published
newspapers or journals containing specialized information in fields
as varied as astronomy and entomology. Local morning and evening
newspapers concentrating on news and feature stories about local
people and events were extremely popular, selling out each day
shortly after they arrived at the newsstands. In June 1981 the
English-language China Daily began publication. This
newspaper, which was provided for foreigners living or traveling in
China but which also was read by a large number of Chinese literate
in English, offered international news and sports from the major
foreign wire services as well as interesting domestic news and
feature articles. Cankao Xiaoxi (Reference News), an
official news organ that carried foreign news items in Chinese
translation, was available to cadres and their families. In 1980 it
enjoyed a circulation of 11 million, but, with the subsequent
proliferation of other news sources, its circulation dropped to 4
million in 1985, causing the subscription policy to be changed to
make it available to all Chinese. Another source of foreign
reporting was Cankao Ziliao (Reference Information), a more
restricted Chinese reprint of foreign reportage available only to
middle- and upper-level cadres. Both of these publications often
included foreign reports critical of China.
Data as of July 1987
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