Overview
People’s Daily Online, founded on January 1, 1997, is a publicly traded media and culture company, with People’s Daily having a controlling stake. Chinese leaders attach great importance to the development of People’s Daily Online. On February 19, 2016, Xi Jinping, Chinese president, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an inspection tour of People’s Daily. In a People’s Daily Online studio, he held a video talk with residents of Chixi village, Ningde city, southeast China’s Fujian Province. On January 25, 2019, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a group study session on the all-media era and integrated media development at People’s Daily Online. President Xi presided over the study and delivered an important speech. On June 20, 2008, Hu Jintao, then Chinese president, visited People’s Daily and interacted with Internet users through People’s Daily Online’s Qiangguo Forum. On April 26, 2000, Jiang Zemin, then Chinese president, referred to People’s Daily Online for related reports on his trip abroad while on a visit to South Africa. On July 1, 2006, the www.cpcnews.cn (cpc.people.com.cn), operated by People’s Daily Online, was rolled out, becoming the official website for introducing and promoting the ideas, theories, policies and information of the CPC. People’s Daily Online constructed the official websites for the press centers during the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th CPC national congresses, while also establishing a series of official websites featuring themed educational activities for Party members. In 2021, People’s Daily Online launched the official website and WeChat account for the CPC history learning and education campaign to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. Under the leadership of the People’s Daily editorial board, the leaders of People’s Daily Online have rallied all company employees to strengthen their consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and remain aligned with the central Party’s leadership. They have also enhanced their confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. They firmly uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping's core position in both the CPC Central Committee and the Party as a whole, and respect the CPC Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. People’s Daily Online always takes reporting on General Secretary Xi Jinping and the promotion of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its top political task and most important political responsibility. By giving full play to its role as the flagship platform under People’s Daily for promoting in-depth integrated media development, People’s Daily Online strives to expand its influence to reach more places and more people, while ensuring that the content it produces becomes increasingly wide-ranging in its coverage. It also strives to take the initiative in leading and guiding public opinion, while strengthening its flagship role in the online media domain. Linking the Party and the people and taking content as its core, People’s Daily Online has taken steps to further refine and strengthen its content creation, and expand its business activities in the areas of operations, risk control as well as the aggregation and distribution of content. In addition to its Chinese version, People’s Daily Online also publishes versions in seven ethnic minority languages and in 15 foreign languages, including English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, German, Portuguese, Kiswahili, Italian, Kazakh (Cyrillic script), Thai, Malay and Greek. People’s Daily Online has endeavored to develop its content business in four fields: opinion and commentary, in-depth stories, policy analysis and policy recommendations. The database of Xi Jinping’s speeches has been visited 1.18 billion times, making it an important source of information for foreign media outlets in their reports on China. People's Daily’s overseas social media platforms, which are operated by People’s Daily Online, have continued to rank among the top 10 social media accounts of mainstream international media outlets in terms of influence and follower numbers. The Leaders’ Message Board, launched by People’s Daily and operated by People’s Daily Online, is an online service platform where people can leave messages for heads of central departments and local Party committees. In the past decade of the new era, millions of messages left by individuals and business entities have been answered and addressed. It was authorized to be one of the online platforms for soliciting public suggestions for the 20th CPC National Congress and the 14th Five-Year Plan. In 2021, the platform was inscribed in the white paper titled “China: Democracy That Works” as an innovative case in the implementation of whole-process people’s democracy. People’s Daily Online has more than 780 million readers on various media platforms, including its websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms, among other formats. Using the mobile app “People’s Daily Online Plus” as an umbrella platform, People’s Daily Online operates the Leaders’ Message Board, People’s Doctors, People’s Video, a Party building app, a shopping app, and a consumer rights protection platform, providing various services for people to pursue better lives. People’s Daily Online is a 41-time winner of the China Journalism Award, winning the Special Award once and the First Prize 16 times. On April 27, 2012, People’s Daily Online went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (code: 603000). Through its market operations, People’s Daily Online has further optimized its business layout, having primarily established a ConTech system, becoming one of the top state-owned media and culture companies in China in terms of market value. To date, People’s Daily Online has established 33 branches on the Chinese mainland and set up 14 subsidiary companies or representative offices outside the mainland. People’s Daily Online has a number of subsidiaries, including Peopleyun.cn, Haiwainet.cn, Huanqiu.com, People’s Health, People’s Video & Audio, People’s Information Technology, People Video, People’s Venture Capital, People’s Sports, and People’s Technology. The industry funds under the management of People’s Daily Online have already been invested in dozens of different projects. Over the last few years, People’s Daily Online has continued to advance its technology-driven ConTech business. It has focused research and development on an AI-empowered “Risk Control Brain,” jumpstarting a technological engine based on AI technology to provide technology services for online content management and information security. People’s Daily Online has established the State Key Laboratory of Communication Content Cognition. It’s an important move and a major project to act comprehensively on President Xi’s important speeches, to be consistent with the trend of developing highly-efficient media which runs around the clock, to be available in diverse formats and fully engages with the public, and to promote the deep integration of the media industry. In 2022, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology listed the laboratory among the first batch of key national laboratories. The laboratory is oriented to the major needs of the country, works on application-oriented basic research, and characterized by interdisciplinary approaches. The laboratory converts the Party’s and government’s emphasis on politics, public opinions and values into an AI-powered system that can be computed, perceived, recognized and applied, through the precise dissemination of mainstream values, smart content review and situational awareness of content in cyberspace. It has accomplished several notable milestones, including developing a system that analyzes data from the Leaders’ Message Board, as well as "Zhixiaozhu," a new-generation intelligent content risk control platform. People’s Daily Online adheres to the principle of the Party exercising leadership over talent management and reinvigorating the company through human resources. It offers three directions for career development, allowing employees to choose a path towards becoming management personnel, specialists, or entrepreneurs. People’s Daily Online has fostered Party building brands, such as “Reading Books Recommended by Xi Jinping”, “Reading the People’s Daily Newspaper in the Morning”, “Experience Center for Smart Party Building”, and “Ordinary Heroes”. People’s Daily Online has won a number of national-level honorary titles such as “Outstanding Grass-roots Party Organization”, “National Role Model Organization”, and “National March 8th Red-banner Collective,” and more. The strength of People’s Daily Online lies in its unique political, communication, technology, platform, and investment value. In the new social division of labor in the content industry, People’s Daily Online, as an important resource and vehicle for the CPC in national governance, plays an essential role in leading, linking up and formulating industry standards. It will build up core capabilities in guaranteeing that the Party exercises leadership over the management of data, and become a leading player in the ConTech business. People’s Daily Online will also accelerate the in-depth integration of media development, as well as push for the integration of Party building and business development in order to build itself into a new type of mainstream media outlet with strong influence and competitiveness. (Data as of April 2023)
