Type | Daily newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Broadsheet |
Owner(s) | Communist Youth League of China |
Founded | 1951 |
Language | Chinese |
Headquarters | Beijing, China |
Website | www.cyol.net |
The China Youth Daily (simplified Chinese: 中国青年报; traditional Chinese: 中國青年報; pinyin: Zhōngguó Qīngnián Bào) (中青报 for short) is the official newspaper of Communist Youth League of China (CYL) (共青团), and is a popular official daily newspaper and the first independently operated central government news media portal in the People's Republic of China.
In the 1980s, it was regarded as the best newspaper in mainland China with a circulation of 5 millions a day. Its present circulation is estimated to be nearly one million in 40 countries and regions.
It has been operated by the Communist Youth League since 1951. As of October 2006, the Party leader is Mr Wang Hong You; Publisher is Xu Wenxin; the current Editor-in-Chief is Chen Xiaochuan (陈小川). He replaces outgoing editor Li Erliang (李而亮).
The China Youth Daily was established in 1951, six years before the Chinese Socialist Youth League decided to change its name to Communist Youth League of China (CYL).
As the mission of CYL, at the present stage, is to unite and lead the young people in the country, hoping to transfuse new blood into the CPC, and recruit young personnel for the political party. China Youth Daily also tries to bring news, ideas, and information into nationwide circulation, following the CYL principles. Thus, China Youth Daily has helped the CPC, enabling them to project their voice to a wider public in China. In another perspective, the newspaper's content is, to some extent, regulated by the CPC.
Although China youth Daily is run by the CYL, it is also the first for profit newspaper in China. The profit enables the paper to support itself, and the paper welcomes individuals as well as companies to advertise in the paper.
Freezing Point (冰点 pinyin: Bing diǎn), a four-page weekly supplement of China Youth Daily was temporarily shut down by the Chinese government in early 2006, due to an anti-censorship letter posted by columnist Li Datong. According to the Washington Post, government censors accused the section of "'viciously attacking the socialist system' and condemned a recent article in it that criticized the history textbooks used in Chinese middle schools." Pressure from retired high-level party officials and senior scholars forced the government to allow publication again, but without its former editor and top investigative reporter, according to the New York Times.