Chinese-language newspapers

[chrix]

"I have a similar problem, I can't seem to find newspapers in East Asia with interesting articles that engage the reader and are not overly parochial, such as the New York Times for English, Süddeutsche Zeitung for German, or Le Monde for French."

"Hong Kong's Ming Pao (明報) is a fairly credible and objective paper, in my opinion. Their website is a bit confusing, and they use 繁體字 (of course), but that might be the type of paper that you're looking for.

http://www.mingpaonews.com/ "

Wushijiao, I'll try that. From HK, I've only tried the magazine 亞洲週刊 so far.

Other newspapers I've tried:

- 南方周末 http://infzm.com/ Actually quite liked it

- 自由時報 www.libertytimes.com.tw pro-DPP. I find their website confusing to navigate, but if you're into Taiwan politics their reporting is good.

- 聯合報 www.udn.com pro-KMT, they have a good mobile platform and easily accessible from your cell phone. They also host a lot of blogs.

Taiwanese newspapers usually have a political stance and don't pay too much attention to Chinese politics unless it affects cross-Strait relations. Chinese newspapers will not discuss anything from the grapevine, which can make it a boring read. (But even Japanese newspapers don't provide as much background analysis, they usually just report on what the government said, what the opposition said etc!)

Also, global coverage by own correspondents is hard to find in these newspapers. Usually they translate news from wire services.

I thought it might be nice to open a new thread, maybe others can chime in.

So what are your favourite Chinese-language newspapers, and why?

Edited November 30, 2009 at 12:19 AM by roddy

[gato]

I've been reading 《21世纪经济报道》 on my mobile and like it quite a lot. They have a lot of in-depth articles.

http://www.21cbh.com/

Their mobile-friendly site is at: http://m.21cbh.com

I don't read the mainland Chinese newspapers/magazine for international news or issues as they are usually either quite biased or quite naive about such topics.

[heifeng]

I like to read www.bjnews.com.cn. Reason: I like to keep up to date with what's happening in Beijing, I like the articles, letters sections, and the general newspaper seems well done to me. I use to read this paper when I was in Beijing, so old habits die hard...

www.legaldaily.com.cn: I like reading articles on crime and politics, law Q&A, etc. This way I can keep up with all the high profile cases in China!

Other: I usually also read the headlines on www.rbc.cn first thing in the morning after I wake up to catch the goofy headlines and play the internet radio on their site.

Oh, also, I usually end up posting a short paragraph also on the langdu thread I have on here somewhere too from one of the articles I read during the day:)

[wushijiao]

I also like 亞洲週刊, and I used to have a subscription (don't now, but mainly because their little cost saving in doing so). As far as magazines (politics), I also like 爭鳴，動向, 開放...but those are a bit specialized, and not necessarily trust-worthy.

I read the tabloid 蘋果日報 every morning (the paper is certainly anti-establishment, anti-CCP, and somewhat smutty and populist, but it's sometimes funny, and it's good to read with Canto-fish, since it has a lot of Cantonese. The website is easy to manage as well. Just go to the main page and click on 目錄 to see the day's coverage). I agree with Heifeng about legal daily, and 南方周末, is great.

I also check into Xinhua quite often.

Besides the above, I kind of feel that in reading Chinese "news", it's good to kind of copy the way many Chinese people (news junkies) read news. People focus on topics in the same way that 5-year-old plays soccer (football)- that is, 22 bodies all hovering around the ball. In other words, popular attention shifts from one topic to the next really fast, and the news may or may not pop up in a given paper in a given day (although they'll certainly follow it by day two, unless barred from doing so). Websites like ChinaSmack, ESWN, and Danwei do a good job of covering some of that and translating it into English, but the best way to follow this stuff, I think, is to follow some of the most famous/active Chinese writers on Twitter. Granted, the number of people following them pales in comparison to famous news people in th e US (a few thousand compared to more more than a million), but these people, to some extent, set the agenda for what is covered in the independent/commercial media. In that respect, I suggest following: ranyunfei （冉云飛- famous blogger), aiww (aiweiwei- famous artist/activist), tengbiao (famous rights lawyer), wenyunchao (北风- famous blogger, media guy, Twitterer), 长平 (famous Op-ed guy). If you follow these people for a while, you can see who they re-Tweet, and from there, you can follow other people. One other advantage (for Chinese learners) is that all Tweets are limited in character length!

[chrix]

Thanks for all of these suggestions!

Also, wushijiao, the thing with twitter is a great idea, I've gone ahead and set up a list with all of the twitterers suggested by you: http://twitter.com/chinesischblog/chinesebloggers

[imron]

I like to read www.bjnews.com.cn.

I don't like their new format as much as the old one.

[H.Kleberson]

I like the one that gato mentioned.

[heifeng]

ok, first I had to check the link b/c I may have totally miss linked it to something else, which would have been funny, in that special chinese-forums way.

but alas, the link is correct, phew. Actually I also usually jump straight to this link so I don't get blinded by the flashing, scrolling things: http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/ and can print full page pdf if I need some reading material for the road.

[imron]

Nah, the link's correct. It used to be http://www.thebeijingnews.com but they underwent a makeover a few months back, changing the url, the layout and the format, and hiding all the sections I used to read

[wushijiao]

Also, wushijiao, the thing with twitter is a great idea, I've gone ahead and set up a list with all of the twitterers suggested by you

Great! Follow those guys for a while, and see if you think it's useful/interesting.

[Gleaves]

Thank you, wushijiao and chrix. I've been reading the twitter page that was set up. I'm finding it quite challenging, but interesting.

[gato]

Those of you who can access Twitter may want to try brizzly. It's supposed a Google Reader-like interface for Twitter and Facebook. Those of us in mainland China will still need to use a proxy to get over the Wall.

http://brizzly.com/__getting_started

[wushijiao]

Thanks for all of these suggestions!

Also, wushijiao, the thing with twitter is a great idea, I've gone ahead and set up a list with all of the twitterers suggested by you: http://twitter.com/chinesischblog/chinesebloggers

If you notice, Beifeng has been detained, and everybody is trying to put attention on his plight!

[mcgau]

Reading newspaper in China can be quite boring. Some writing style is too redundant and badly written.

Look at this one: (Introduction paragraph)

　　昨天上午10点，记者接到读者电话，反映有一位睡在南京市雨花台区安德门地铁站高架桥下的男子死亡，死因可能是冻死的，而且该段高架桥下，每天晚上都有大量外来民工睡在这里，有的民工已经在这里睡了几年。现在临近年关，天气越来越冷，希望媒体和社会能够关注一下都市里的这些民工兄弟，毕竟他们也在以不同的方式为我们的城市建设与运转作着贡献。

(source: http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2009-12-18/051719285224.shtml --- I just picked it up randomly)

This is a typical introductory paragraph on social news, but...come on! Who cares when a reporter received a call from a reader.

Then he proceeded to report the details in this way:

　　记者上午10点10分左右赶到现场，发现安德门地铁高架桥下还有一些民工在睡觉，而更多的民工兄弟早已收拾好被褥，出去寻找工作了，旁边137路公交车站内的公交车也是进进出出忙个不停。

Again, he told you that he arrived in scene at "about 10:10am" (redundantly accurate) and it's a waste of time to read these irrelevant information. I was often wondering if a reporter in China has a different salary scheme and get pay based on word count?

Worst yet, he worried that a reader is stupid so he made the lesson in this way:

"希望媒体和社会能够关注一下都市里的这些民工兄弟，毕竟他们也在以不同的方式为我们的城市建设与运转作着贡献。"

Who are you, Mr. Reporter? Even if you're going to teach us a lesson, better put the words in a mouth of some scholars. The message delivered in this way look hypocritical and ...lazy.

Here is another news article:

11月26日凌晨，30岁的上海海事大学特困生杨元元死了——她用两条毛巾自缢于宿舍盥洗室内。在自缢于宿舍之前，一向以坚强示人的杨元元最后感慨：知识为什么没有改变她的命运？

尽管她笃信“人不可以被打败”，但在这个单一崇拜“成功”的时代里，她是一个标准的“失败者”。她一生奋斗却无法为自己在理想与现实之间找到一丝容身之地。从这个意义上来说，杨元元之死，并非她一个人的悲剧。

http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2009-12-18/115019288816.shtml

This is typical piece of yellow journalism but reporter seems to have a chance of interviewing with a spirit and try to write a biography for the deceased. Pretty scary but very unconvincing.

Anglicized Chinese is also phenomenon in Chinese journalism and i feel itchy to read it.

Like this one:

12月16日，本报记者从接近人力资源和社会保障部（以下简称人社部）知情人士处获悉，上述两办法最终出台时点尚未明确。个中原因在于，是否单独出台一个针对农民工的养老保险制度，是否尽快建立一个打破城乡分割的大一统的社保体系等议题，仍存在争议。

( source: http://www.21cbh.com/HTML/2009-12-21/158566.html )

Edited December 18, 2009 at 09:25 PM by mcgau

[chrix]

this is certainly true, and one of the reasons why I started this thread, to complain about bad writing. But check this human-interest article out, I think it's written better, though it also exhibits the same tendency towards going too much into detail at times: http://www.infzm.com/content/38831

[zhouhaochen]

hello,

try 南方周末 for some - if not non, but at least not as much as the other papers - government controled opinions on China.

Quite interesting as well.

At least thats what I find it..

[mcgau]

I seldom buy newspaper but read it in a news portal, especially the social news section:

http://news.sina.com.cn/society/

News is juicy, eye-catching, weird and politic-free and it's often raised the noise in the society. Very good for killing time and making a talking point with your friends in a bar.

[chrix]

Yes, the article I linked was from 南方周末. But check out the other recommendations above as well, they're quite nice to read.

[Kenny同志]

昨天上午10点，记者接到读者电话，反映有一位睡在南京市雨花台区安德门地铁站高架桥下的男子死亡，死因可能是冻死的，而且该段高架桥下，每天晚上都有大量外来民工睡在这里，有的民工已经在这里睡了几年。现在临近年关，天气越来越冷，希望媒体和社会能够关注一下都市里的这些民工兄弟，毕竟他们也在以不同的方式为我们的城市建设与运转作着贡献。

昨日，在南京安德门地铁站高架桥下一名宿夜的男子死亡， 可能是冻死的。这段段高架桥下，每晚都有大量民工睡在这里，有些已经睡了几年。

记者上午10点10分左右赶到现场，发现安德门地铁高架桥下还有一些民工在睡觉，而更多的民工兄弟早已收拾好被褥，出去寻找工作了，旁边137路公交车站内的公交车也是进进出出忙个不停。

上午安德门地铁高架桥下还有一些民工在睡觉，但大多数早已收拾好被褥，出去找工作了。

The news may be better this way.

Many Chinese people, like me years ago, have the wrong idea that a good writer is one who can compose lengthy articles and many are ashamed of failing to do so. After reading 思果's works and Joan Pinkham's "The Translator's Guide to Chinglish", I am totally convinced that redundancy is a "crime", because it wastes your time.

PS: I do feel it compelling that some organisation should kick off a succinct Chinese campaign.

Edited December 19, 2009 at 11:45 AM by kenny2006woo

[gato]

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