# People's Daily

The People's Daily (Chinese: 人民日报; pinyin: Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple languages.
As of September 2024, the Media and Journalism Research Center evaluated the People's Daily to be "State Controlled Media" under its State Media Matrix.

## History

The paper was established on 15 June 1948 and was published in Pingshan County, Hebei, until its offices were moved to Beijing in March 1949. Ever since its founding, the People's Daily has been under direct control of the CCP's top leadership. Deng Tuo and Wu Lengxi served as editor-in-chief from 1948 to 1958 and 1958–1966, respectively, but the paper was in fact controlled by Mao Zedong's personal secretary Hu Qiaomu. The newspaper is the official "mouthpiece" (Chinese: 喉舌; lit. 'throat tongue') of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It is often viewed as most representative of the mainstream perspective of China's government.$^{:77}$
A large number of articles devoted to a political figure, idea, or geographic focus is often taken as a sign that the mentioned official or subject is rising. Editorials in the People's Daily are regarded both by foreign observers and Chinese readers as authoritative statements of official government policy. Distinction is made between editorials, commentaries, and opinions. Although all must be government approved, they differ sharply on the amount of official authoritativeness they contain by design – from the top. For example, although an opinion piece is unlikely to contain views opposed to those of the government, it may express a viewpoint, or it may contain a debate that is under consideration and reflect only the opinions of the writer: an editorial trial balloon to assess internal public opinion. By contrast, an official editorial, which is rather infrequent, means that the government has reached a final decision on an issue.
During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the People's Daily editorial of 26 April, which condemned "unlawful parades and demonstrations," marked a significant moment in the newspaper's history. The editorial increased tension between the government and protesters, and top CCP leaders argued about whether to revise it. An article that compiles the most important editorials was released by the People's Daily during the student movement.
An analysis of the wording of all the issues of the People's Daily from 1995 to 2000 was used in the writing of The First Series of Standardized Forms of Words with Non-standardized Variant Forms.$^{:3}$ In March 2018, People's Daily won the Third National Top 100 Newspapers in China.
The People's Daily maintains a unit called People's Data that conducts overseas social media data collection and analysis for police, judicial authorities, CCP organizations. People's Data also has data sharing agreements in place with various companies such as DiDi and Temu's parent company Pinduoduo. In 2022, the People's Daily launched a commercial software service called Renmin Shenjiao (People's Proofreader) that provides outsourced content censorship. The People's Daily also provides artificial intelligence companies in China with training data that CCP leaders consider permissible. In 2024, the People's Daily released a large language model-based tool called Easy Write.

### Overseas editions

The People's Daily also maintains a multilingual internet presence; and established the People's Daily Online (人民网) in 1997. The website of People's Daily includes content in Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and English. In comparison to the original Chinese version, the foreign-language version offers less in-depth discussion of domestic policies and affairs and more editorials about China's foreign policies and motives. Haiwainet (海外网) is the website of the overseas edition of the People's Daily.
The People's Daily in recent years has been expanding on overseas social media platforms. It has millions of followers on its Facebook page and its accounts on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. An unusually high proportion of its followers are virtually inactive and are likely to be fake users, according to a study by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The People's Daily also maintains agreements with foreign newspapers to republish its content.

## Organization

The People's Daily is published by the People's Daily News Agency, a ministerial-level institution. The agency is also responsible for the publication of the nationalist tabloid Global Times.

## Writing practices

The People's Daily employs "writing task groups" (Chinese: 写作小组; pinyin: xiězuò xiǎozǔ) of various staff to compose editorial pieces to signal the significance of certain pieces or their relationship to the official views of the CCP. These groups are published under "signatures" (i.e., pen names: 署名 shǔmíng) that may correspond with the topic and weight of a piece, and what specific government or CCP body is backing it, often with homophonous references to their purpose.
Selected notable People's Daily pen names :
| Pen name | Etymology/symbolism | Usage | Example articles |
| Ren Zhongping 任仲平 | From 人民日报重要评论 Rénmín Rìbào zhòngyào pínglùn 'important People's Daily commentary' | Used to represent the view of the People's Daily as an organization. | "Hong Kong scores brilliant achievements after return", June 2017 "Keeping original aspiration, CPC creates glorious achievements", September 2019 |
| Zhong Sheng 钟声 | Homophone of 中声 Zhōng shēng 'voice of China' | Commentary on major international affairs by editors and staff. | "U.S. practice to claim compensation for COVID-19 outbreak a shame for human civilization", May 2020 |
| Guo Jiping 国纪平 | From 有关国际的重要评论 yǒuguān guójì de zhòngyào pínglùn 'important commentary on international [matters]' | According to China Daily, Guo Jiping is "used for People's Daily editorials meant to outline China's stance and viewpoints on major international issues." Guo Jiping articles are rarer and generally longer than Zhong Sheng articles. | "Losing no time in progressing – grasping the historic opportunity for common development", December 2019 |
| Guo Ping 国平 | Unclear. Guó means 'country' and píng 'peace, calm'. Píng is also the last character in Xi Jinping's name. | Articles that focus on Xi Jinping and his political thought. | "在改革中更好掌握当代中国命运: 六论习近平总书记治国理政新思想新成就" ('Better Grasp Contemporary China's Destiny during Reform: On the New Thought and New Achievements of Xi Jinping in Governing the Country'), February 2016 |
| Zhong Zuwen 仲祖文 | From 中共中央组织部文章 Zhōnggòng Zhōngyāng Zǔzhībù wénzhāng 'articles from the Central Party Organization Department' | Pieces from the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party, covering topics related to the Party principles and ideology. | "Moral standards for officials' personal life necessary", July 2010 |
| Zheng Qingyuan 郑青原 | Taken from the saying 正本清源 zhèngběn qīngyuán 'clarify matters and get to the bottom of things'. | Used to comment on political reform, particularly in attacking Western-style liberal democracy. A writer from the Beijing Morning Post (now part of The Beijing News) speculated that it represented the Politburo in an article that was taken down within a day in China. | "China to promote reform with greater resolve, courage", October 2010 |
| Tang Xiaowen 唐晓文 | Similar to 党校文 dǎngxiào wén 'Party School writing' | Central Party School editorials written during the Cultural Revolution by a group under the leadership of Kang Sheng. | "孔子是'全民教育家'吗?" ('Is Confucius really an 'educator for the entire people'?'), September 1973 |
| Yue Ping 岳平 (historical) | For special guest commentator 特约评论员 tèyuē pínglùnyuán | Used from March 1978 to December 1985 to republish select articles from the internal Party periodical Theoretical Trends (理论动态) under the direction of Hu Yaobang. | "实践是检验真理的唯一标准" ('Actual Practice is the Sole Criterion for Judging Truth'), May 1978 (originally published in Guangming Daily) |

## List of presidents

* Zhang Panshi (张磐石)
* Hu Qiaomu (胡乔木)
* Fan Changjiang (范长江)
* Deng Tuo (邓拓)
* Wu Lengxi (吴冷西)
* Chen Boda (陈伯达)
* Hu Jiwei (胡绩伟)
* Qin Chuan (秦川)
* Qian Liren (钱李仁)
* Gao Di (高狄)
* Shao Huaze (邵华泽)
* Bai Keming (白克明)
* Xu Zhongtian (许中田)
* Wang Chen (王晨)
* Zhang Yannong (张研农)
* Yang Zhengwu (杨振武)
* Li Baoshan (李宝善)
* Tuo Zhen (庹震)

## Reactions

During the AIDS epidemic, the People's Daily downplayed the epidemic domestically while "presenting AIDS as a relatively innocuous social problem for the country."
A 2013 study of the People's Daily coverage of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak reported that it "regurgitated triumph and optimism" and framed the outbreak as an "opportunity to showcase China's scientific achievements, and the strength of national spirits, as well as the wise leadership of the party and effective measures to protect the lives of ordinary citizens."
In February 2020, the People's Daily published an article stating that the novel coronavirus "did not necessarily originate in China." In March 2020, the online insert of the People's Daily, distributed by The Daily Telegraph, published an article stating that Traditional Chinese medicine "helps fight coronavirus." In May 2020, the People's Daily stated that the novel coronavirus had "multiple origins." In November 2020, the People's Daily published a claim that COVID-19 was "imported" into China. In January 2021, the People's Daily inaccurately attributed deaths in Norway to the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
In 2020, the United States Department of State designated the People's Daily a foreign mission, thereby requiring it to disclose more information about its operations in the U.S.
In 2021, ProPublica and The New York Times reported that the People's Daily was part of a coordinated state propaganda campaign to deny human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
In 2023, the People's Daily sparked a backlash on Chinese social media for exhorting citizens to not complain about their own poverty or boredom.