New China (Xinhua) News Agency

Christopher H. Sterling

From its tentative beginnings in 1931 as the propaganda voice of the fledgling Chinese Communist Party to its status as the world's largest news agency by the early twenty-first century, the Xinhua News Agency has grown in importance along with the expanding global role of the People's Republic of China. From the very beginning, Xinhua has always been directed by the party—and later government—leadership. Originally known as the Red China News Service, the news agency was formed in November 1931 in the eastern province of Jaingxi. Most of its early news consisted of documents of the growing communist party movement and information about the areas controlled by its developing Red army. News was received and transmitted on equipment belonging to the army. The agency continued to receive but could not transmit news during the Long March of 1934–35. After the communists agreed to join the central (Chiang Kai-shek) government to ...

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