Ta Kung Pao (大公報; formerly L'Impartial) is one of the oldest Chinese language newspapers in China or even the world according to xinhuanet. Articles are largely politically focused, covering news on international and domestic issues. The paper covers economics and cultural topics such as women's issues, book reviews, and education.
It was established in Tianjin on June 17, 1902 by Ying Nianzi. In April, 1946, the government of the Republic of China moves the capital to Nanjing. The chief editor, Mr. Wong Wan San (王芸生) immediately arrived at Shanghai and established the head administrative office of Ta Kung Pao. The paper was based on the format and style of the shanghai edition. Later, they plan to issue another edition for those in other provinces. At the beginning, the original plan is to issue the Guangzhou edition. Unfortunately, the start of the civil war forced the proposal to be shelved. Therefore, in March, 1948, the Hong Kong edition was re-issued.It was a major newspaper in the Republican years, and it continued publication in Hong Kong after 1949. It is one of few newspaper which still survive after the time of foreign invasion and civil war. It planted it root in Hong Kong during wartime. On June 2002, Ta Kung Pao newspaper celebrated its 100th birthday at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre New Wing. A number of celebators gave the speech in the celebration conference.
The purpose of founding the newspaper was, in Ying's own words, 'to help China become a modern and democratic nation.' It stood up to repression of the time, openly criticizing the Empress Dowager and the conservative leaders in China in the early 1900s, and promoted democratic reforms, pioneering the use of the vernacular language (báihuà).
The head office of Ta Kung Pao is in Hennessy Road, Hong Kong. Also, she got many offices in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Inner-Mongolia, Guangzhou and so on. Most significantly, her offices are also established in New York, London and Sydney too.
With the increasing popularity of using internet for searching information, Ta Kung Pao have established a "TaKungPao.com" in 1995 for the readers to catch up the latest news. It is one of the earliest established news media on web. It also follow the aim of the publication of Ta Kung Pao which is aiming at working with time and severing the readers with their best. In the net, they provide many sources about China. There are links which linked to webpages about China affairs. There are totally 14 major channels, 64 minor channels and 7 features focused channels. News, political situation, economics, sports, culture and entertainment are all included. According to statistics, for those who visit the homepage, 43% are Americans, 10% are Australians, 18% are Chineses and 16% are Hong Kong people.
"Speed" seems to be the most important thing in this newspaper due to keen competition in Hong Kong, according to a experienced editor Leung Sun Chun (who worked in Ta Kung Po for 5 years) in his article, the most exciting experience was that they have a special edition with 16 pages in total.
Nevertheless, one common comment is that Ta Kung Pao is somehow full of positive news, especially in respect of the PRC-HKSAR relationship. It may be explained by its background, unique development and its financial nature. Ta Kung Pao originated in China and experienced all the major events in China History. It is undoubtedly the reason the Pro-China or Pro-government. Her stand is supported by the rights to publish legal announcement granted by HKSAR Government. Nowadays, its readership covers a wide spectrum of society, particularly those in commercial and financial fields. Ta Kung Pao is also an ideal media for advertising and a gateway access to the Mainland China market. It can be revealed in the choice of news especially haedlines and the proportion of good news and bad news for both Mainland and HKSAR. They also have a large content about the Mainland China. They provide a more detail report on the events occurring in China. The news about Mainland China can be about some invention of new cars, business situation and many others. This is quite different from the most common newspapers nowadays which is seldom report every events happened in China in such a detail way.
The style of the Ta Kung Pao is different from the most popular ones. Today, some of the popular newspaper usually illustrate the news with lots of entertainement. On the contrary, Ta Kung Pao is rather serious on this point. The lauguage they use is much more formal and polished. Its infleunce is great in some south east china country, is the top－ selling Chinese newspaper in Philippines and its overseas edition is widely circulated in Europe and the United States.
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