Ta Kung Pao

Ta Kung Pao is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. It is based in Hong Kong and has been funded by the government of the People's Republic of China since 1949. Widely regarded as the mouthpiece of Communist Party of China, it covers a range of , and topics.

In June 2002, ''Ta Kung Pao'' newspaper celebrated its 100th anniversary despite rumours that the PRC Government would cut funding for pro-communist newspapers after the 1997 of Hong Kong.

History

Ying Lianzhi founded the newspaper in Tientsin, China on 17 June, 1902 in order to, in Ying's own words, "help China become a modern and nation". In contrast to its present editorial style, the paper put forward the slogan ''4-No-ism" '' in its early years, pledging to say "No" to any parties, governments, commercial companies, and persons.

It stood up to the repression at the time, openly criticizing the and the leaders in China in the early 1900s, and promoted democratic reforms, pioneering the use of the . Readership fell after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 and Wang Zhilong bought it in 1916. Still, the newspaper was out of print by 1925 due to the lack of readership. On 1 September 1926, however, Wu Dingchang , Hu Zhengzhi , and Zhang Jiluan re-established the newspaper in Tianjin. With "no party affiliation, no political endorsement, no self-promotion, no ignorance" as its motto, the newspaper's popularity quickly rose again because of its sharp political commentary, especially of the Japanese as the Second Sino-Japanese War/World War II began.

As the war waged on, the journalists fled to other cities, such as Shanghai, Hankou, Chongqing, Guilin and Hong Kong, to continue publishing, but local editions were abandoned as the Japanese captured more and more territory. After the war was won, Wong Wan San , the chief editor, re-established the Shanghai edition on November 1, 1945, in the original format and style of the old Shanghai edition. They had also planned to issue editions for other cities, including Guangzhou, but the Chinese Civil War forced this proposal to be shelved. However, in March 1948, the Hong Kong edition was re-issued. A major newspaper during the years, it continued to be influential after re-publication by Fei Yi Ming, the subsequent publisher in Hong Kongafter 1949, as one of few newspapers that survived foreign invasion and civil war.



The head office of ''Ta Kung Pao'' is located on Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, with many offices in mainland China, such as in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Inner-Mongolia and Guangzhou.

The paper was the earliest Chinese-language newspaper to establish a website "TaKungPao.com" in 1995.

Present

''Ta Kung Pao'' was regarded as a paper that published only positive news, to respect the PRC-HKSAR relationship. It has a favourable relationship with the Government, all Blue-Chips, and Pro- parties.

The exact circulation in Hong Kong is unknown, but it is among the three least popular newspapers with less than 10,000 copies being sold every day. Many people believe its quality is far below average, but in fact its readership is so small that very few, except a minority of old people, can actually tell how good or how bad it is.