Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

In step with China

By Wu Jingshu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-02 11:08

Twenty seven years of China Daily present a sharp contrast, from the June 2, 1981 edition (right) to a May 26, 2008 edition (left), and the online version (center).

Thirty-two years ago, when the disastrous Tangshan earthquake hit the Chinese people amid the chaos of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), none would have expected that their country would someday become the fourth largest economy in the world.

The key to this great achievement was the Chinese Communist Party led by the late leader Deng Xiaoping who initiated the country's opening-up policy and economic reforms in 1978.

On May 12, China was hit with an even more devastating earthquake in Sichuan province. But the Party leadership shown by President Hu Jintao will surely inspire the 1.3 billion Chinese people to overcome the disaster and greet a successful Beijing Olympics as well as continued economic growth.

Today, both the Chinese and foreign media are sending a barrage of news reports from the rescue operations in Sichuan in response to the worldwide concern for the victims. In doing so they are creating a timely link of information from the disaster-hit zone to the rest of the world.

As the country's largest English-language newspaper, China Daily is sparing no effort to distribute the news of the latest development to the outside world. It immediately dispatched reporters and photographers to the epicenter soon after the earthquake struck.

Birthday

In late 1970s following the reform and opening-up policy there emerged an urgent need for a better channel of communications with the new friends and business partners whose native language is English, and that was why China Daily made its timely debut in June 1981.

China Daily has since helped promote and propel the reform and openin-up drive that inspired its creation.

It was realized thanks to the strong support of the Party and the Chinese government. A team of veteran journalists was organized to prepare for the publication of the first national English-language newspaper in China. As the China Daily project was made known to the public, it received immediate support from both local and international media circles.

Particularly noteworthy was the assistance offered by the UK-based Thomson Foundation, an international media development NGO. The Thomson Foundation sent over experts to help train scores of newly recruited domestic staff who were familiar with the English language but knew little about journalism. The brief training course was vital in building the first group of professionals who later became the backbone of China Daily's editorial staff.

   Previous page 1 2 3 Next Page  

   Previous page 1 2 3 Next Page