English-Language Media in ChinaDevelopment and Language Styl
Abstract
This paper discusses the development and language style of the English-language media in China since 1978. On the basis of extensive interviews among the chief executives of almost all the major English-language media in China, the paper first provides an overall review of the development of the English-language media (radio, magazine, news agency, newspaper, TV and internet) in mainland China, which also includes a case study of 21st Century, an English-learning weekly published in Beijing. The paper then turns to analyze the linguistic style and the use of English over the English-language media via a content analysis on the sampled news stories of China Daily from 1981 to 1999, first national English-language daily in the country. In the end, the paper makes an assessment on the English media in the nation in terms of their development patterns, ownership and investment, roles and functions as well as the written style of China English, as proposed by the two writers.
Introduction
Just like the English-language media in Hong Kong or in any other Chinese community in the world, the English-language media in mainland China have always been minority media in terms of circulation and influence in the Chinese society (Chan, 2000: 323). The marginal role of the English media in China is well demonstrated in the fact that China has, as of 1999, only one English TV channel (CCTV-4), one English radio service (part of China Radio International, CRI) and nine English dailies and weeklies and about ten English magazines (estimate based on personal communication), as compared with 352 Chinese TV stations, 299 Chinese radio stations (Zhao, 2000: 505-506) and 2038 Chinese newspapers (China Journalism Yearbook, 2000: 567).
However, despite its marginal role, the existence of the English media in China can be traced back to 150 years ago when foreigners began to establish foreign language media inside China (Huang, 2001:23). Even after the North China Daily News (one of the most influential foreign-owned newspapers in Shanghai) left mainland China in 1951, Radio Peking (now CRI) continued its services in foreign languages including English (Huang, 2001:278) while English magazines such as Beijing Review and China Construct (now China Today) were published. English dailies and weeklies and the English TV channel did not emerge until after 1978 when China began to open up and took on a reform policy to modernize the nation, during which English-language media, like Chinese-language media, saw the fastest development since 1949 and grew more influential even though still limited.
On the basis of extensive interviews among the chief executives of almost all the major English-language media in China, this paper first aims to provide an overall review of the development, basically after 1978, of the English-language media (radio, magazine, news agency, newspaper, TV and internet) in mainland China, which also includes a case study of 21st Century, an English-learning weekly. The paper then turns to analyze the linguistic style and the use of English over the English media via a content analysis on the sampled news stories of China Daily from 1981 to 1999, first national English-language daily in the country. In the end, the paper makes an assessment on the English media in China in terms of their development patterns, ownership and investment, roles and functions as well as the written style of China English, as proposed by the two writers.
One English-language Media in China: Review
For the sake of easy discussions on the development of the English-language media in China since 1978, the writers have divided their discussions on the English media in China in relevance with three traditional media and the new medium: internet. By dividing into Radio Era, Newspaper Era, Television Era and Symbiosis Era, the writers do not maintain that one medium can negate or overshadow other media. In fact, the division has been made simply to follow the sequence of radio- -newspaper-television-internet as they emerged in the international communication in China.
In addition, even though it is extremely necessary, the writers do not make clear starting and ending points for each era because, first of all, it is difficult and even impossible for the two writers to do so, and secondly the writers assume all the English-language media in China have, in fact, played their respective and unique roles in the process of China’s international communication.
1. Radio Era
Although the international communication in China in this Era may be characterized by radio services, particularly the English Service, the English-language media can still include English magazines and even the English news release of Xinhua News Agency. It may include the media organizations both at the central level and at the regional level.
1.1 Radio
Inaugurated on December 3, 1943, China Radio International (CRI, formerly Radio Beijing) has in fact been the major channel and the only international radio service available in China that targets foreign ers all over the world, (Zhang Zhenhua, former director of CRI, personal communication, 2000), particularly when new China was blocked off from the outside since 1949 by foreign countries and later by such kind of campaigns as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
Now with a total daily programming of 192 hours in 43 languages with English and Chinese broadcast globally, CRI reaches about 240 million listeners [1] in more than 200 countries and regions through 10 transmitting stations in China and eight relay stations in Europe, Africa and the Americas. In terms of the number of languages used and broadcast hours, the volume of listener’s letters and total transmission power, CRI ranks among the top in the world and is one of the most influential international broadcasters in the world. It is estimated that CRI enjoys more influence among the developing and underdeveloped countries (Zhang, 2001: CRI pamphlet).
The CRI’s English Service has always been one of its most important divisions which was founded on September 11, 1947 and now offers over 60 broadcast hours per day, with about 60 million overseas listeners from more than 100 countries and regions (Zhang,2001:website). The programs of the English Service are comprehensive, which focus on news, features and music programs, including popular programs such as Talk to the Minister, People in the know, Sports World, China Horizons, Voices from Other Lands, Life in China, Listeners' Garden and In the Spotlight.
It is acknowledged that the CRI English Service is one of the world's most effective and convenient media to learn about China and that CRI's English Service has become a popular choice of domestic listeners as well who want to keep informed with current affairs, learn English and enjoy music(Zhang, 2001:website).
As more foreign tourists came to visit China in the early 1990s, regional English radio services also came into being. On October 1, 1992, Shanghai Calling, the first regional English Service, was officially launched by Shanghai People’s Radio Station. At the beginning, Shanghai Calling broadcast for about 12 hours a day, focusing on the local news, weather, music and services for foreigners in the local area (Zhu, 1992: 2). In the same year, Radio Guangdong was started, appealing to the local audience in the Pearl Delta area in South China (Ranny Lei, vice head of International News Section of Guangdong TV Station, personal communication, June 11, 2001). On May 8, 2001, Beijing also started a three-hour English service known as Touch English, targeting Beijing listeners with local news and Chinese culture, information about easy life in Beijing. Touch English aimed to create a better language environment in the capital and to help raise the current 15 % English-speaking population to 30% by the year 2008, as part of the bidding effort for the 2008 Olympics (Sina website).
However, except for Touch English which has just been started for the sake of the 2008 Olympics, other regional English radio services have been shrinking and are almost diminishing to non-existence. Shanghai Calling ceased broadcasting in 1998 and now only relays the English broadcasts of CRI (He Guangyu, deputy director of Editor-in-Chief’s Office, Shanghai People’s Radio Station, personal communication, June 11, 2001).
1.2 Magazines
Before 1981 when China Daily was launched, except for English radio services, the only other English media available in China are English magazines such as Beijing Review, China Today, China Pictorial and China Women, all sponsored by such Beijing-based organizations as China Foreign Language Publication Administration and All-China Women’s Federation. The total circulation of all the magazines published by the China International Publishing Group is 100,000 copies both domestically and overseas (Jiang, 2001).
Launched on March 5, 1958, Beijing Review started as the first multi-lingual news weekly in China, published in English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish.
Since early 2001, the full-color English edition will be the only printed form of Beijing Review, with all other editions be published on the Internet (China Net Website).
China Today is a monthly magazine published in five languages including English. The first issue of China Pictorial was published in 1950, and late Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the title for the magazine.
China Pictorial is also a monthly magazine and published in Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish. During the past 50 years, China Pictorial has mainly focused on changes in China through true-to-life pictures and stories (China Net website). Women of China, launched in 1956, is a comprehensive English all-color monthly on the life of Chinese women.
In addition, local English magazines were published in big cities like Shanghai. Shanghai Today is a monthly that reports on the culture in Shanghai (Zhang Ciyun, editor-in-chief of Shanghai Daily, personal communication, June 11, 2001). Some specialized journals such as Chinese Medical Journal (English edition) are also available in China. They are normally published by associations of the kinds. For instance, China Medical Journal (English edition) is published by the Chinese Medical Association (Medical Journal website).
1.3 English Release of Xinhua News Agency
Although it is not a medium directly targeting audience, the English news release of Xinhua News Agency also plays an important role in the international communication in China. The English news release of Xinhua News Agency started on September 1, 1944 with a staff of only three (Ju, 1994:12). Now the English news release has become a major information source for media institutions in China and in the world as well. It is estimated in 1999 that Xinhua now releases more than 260 news stories and two feature stories in English each day to about 1,000 news media in more than 100 countries (Guo, 2000: 54).
The English release of Xinhua News Agency may be large enough for a news agency in a non-native country, but the news flow still can not be compared with the news agencies in English-speaking countries. Therefore, its influence is still limited to some degree (Yang Guoqiang, head of VIP News Section of Xinhua, personal communication, 2001).
2. Newspaper Era
Before 1951, China had several influential English newspapers, most of them were located in Shanghai, such as North China Daily News, Celestial Empire and Shanghai Mercury. But during the next thirty years, the existence of English newspapers was virtually made impossible by continuous political campaigns, which basically isolated China from the rest of the world.
In this sense, the launching of 12-page China Daily, the first national English daily, on June 1, 1981, means more than just an English-language newspaper. “It signifies that an open China is integrating itself with the world and therefore needs an English-language daily for effective and better international communication.” (ZHU Yinghuang, editor-in-chief of China Daily, personal communication, 2000). And the China Daily Group has, since its launching, become the most dominant newspaper in China.
2.1 China Daily Group
As the first and only national English-language newspaper in China, China Daily started with the financial support from government. However, after 20 years, the Daily has now grown into the only financially independent English newspaper group with eight publications including China Daily, China Daily Hong Kong Edition, China Daily Web Edition, Business Weekly, Shanghai Star published in Shanghai, Beijing Weekend and Reports from China as well as the 21st Century, an English education weekly designed to promote the use of English and the understanding of world current affairs among those who are learning and speaking English (see Case Study).
Its financial independence may have benefited from its editorial policy of being not only informative but also educational to its readers. With a distribution of 300,000 copies in 150 countries and regions every day, including 250,000 copies domestically, 35,000 in North America and Europe and 15,000 in Hong Kong, China Daily has surely become one of the most influential information sources in English in China and a center for learning English as well. It has so far become the most cited English-language media by foreign media in China and also one of the few English media in China that can influence the English elite in the world, including the decision-makers, lawmakers, money-makers in government and business (China Daily brochure, 2000). China Features, the edition published together with Washington Post in the United States, has been well received among the elite American readers since its publication in November 1995 (Li, 1997:122).
2.2 Regional English-language Media:
The major regional English-language media often emerge in big and coastal cities and can basically be divided into three categories (including daily and weekly): The first kind focuses on comprehensive news and reporting while the second kind stresses more on English education. The third kind, mostly English tabloids, concentrates on life style and entertainment, some of them with complimentary distribution, and sometimes even a combination of both.
Shanghai Daily published in Shanghai, Shenzhen Daily published in Shen Zhen and Guangzhou Morning Post published in Guangzhou can all fall into the first categories. Launched on October 1, 1999, the 8-page Shanghai Daily is the first regional English-language daily in China that targets foreign and local population in Shanghai (Shanghai Daily brochure). The 8-page Shenzhen Daily, inaugurated on July 1, 1997, is the only English newspaper in the economic zones in China (Shenzhen Daily website) while the 12-page Guangdong Morning Post, which also started publication on July 1, 1997, is the first English newspaper in South China). These newspapers mainly cover local news and serve the foreign and Chinese population in the region. Their circulation may vary from 20,000 to 40,000 copies (Nanfang Net website).
As the foreign population is on the rise across China (now Beijing and Shanghai have about 100,000 ex-pats and five million foreign tourists (LIN, 2001), regional English newspapers, mostly tabloids, start to turn to life style, fashion and entertainment. Beijing Weekend and Shanghai Star, both sponsored by China Daily, are the earliest newspapers that devote to entertainment for regional foreign readership. Of course, nowadays, the competition is becoming fierce as more foreign-funded English tabloids such as City Weekend and Metro began to emerge in Beijing (LIN, 2001). Beijing Today, an English weekly, which started publication in mid May, 2001, will surely add to the keen competition of the English tabloids in the capital (Sina website).
2.3 Newspapers for English Learning
Besides the English newspapers at the regional level, China also has a number of English tabloids that basically target English learners. The 21st Century targets readership like university students while Shanghai Student’s Post, English Weekly and Learning English, all launched in the early 1980s, are targeting readers from primary school students to middle students. Except for 21st Century, they mainly focus on English learning content that is relevant to the English textbooks used in primary and middle schools in China. English Weekly published in Shanxi Province claims to have 3.8 million English readers (English Weekly website) who are studying for entrance exams for high schools and universities. But despite their large circulation, this kind of newspapers basically limit their influences to language learning and are not commonly known among readers other than English learners.
Case Study of 21st Century
To achieve a quantitative perspective of how English learners in China are making use of English media for English learning, the writers have selected 21st Century for a net survey at the 21st Century website (http://www.21stcentury.com.cn).
The reasons for selecting 21st Century for the net survey are (1) It is an English education weekly devoted to promoting the use of English and the understanding of world current affairs among those who are learning and speaking English (Nie Lisheng, editor-in-chief of 21st Century, personal communication, 2001). In addition to some easy-to-read materials and feature columns on English usage, the tabloid also provides the most up-to-date reports on current issues in business, science & technology, culture, as well as social affairs in China and around the world.; (2) 21st Century is sponsored by the China Daily Group, the largest English-language newspaper group in China; (3) With a circulation of about 500,000, the 16-page weekly claims to be the most popular English language publication among the English learners in China (21st Century brochure).
The 10-question survey was conducted at the 21st Century website) among all the browsers and at the 21st Century Reader’s Club during the two weeks from June 10 to June 23, 2001. During the two-week net survey [2], the survey receives a total of 1,451 responses from readers, far exceeding the 200 minimum level for effective surveys [3]. The survey focuses on how readers make use of 21st Century for English learning (their general purpose, effectiveness after reading) as well as their overall impression of the newspaper and readership information. As we can see from Table 1, half of the overall respondents (26%+24%) chose to read 21st Century for the purpose of learning English, improving English and reading proficiency while about 50 percent (16%+32%) of them have realized their purposes. Of course, the newspaper seems to be most effective in improving their reading proficiency in English (32%). The increase of knowledge and improvement of written ability in English are also listed as major purposes, but more respondents (14%) are confident in their improvement of the writing ability with the help of the newspaper.
Table 1: Reading Purpose & Realization of Purposes
| General Reading Purpose | N0. | % | No. & % Readers Achieved Purposes | |
| To learn and improve English | 1113 | 26 | 415 | 16% |
| To improve English reading proficiency | 1020 | 24 | 820 | 32% |
| To enlarge my scope of knowledge | 700 | 16 | 43 | 2% |
| To improve English writing ability | 496 | 12 | 368 | 14% |
| To read English stories about the world | 446 | 10 | 534 | 21% |
| To relax to myself | 380 | 9 | 111 | 4% |
| To get to know more people | 76 | 2 | 274 | 11% |
| Others | 37 | 1 |
According to the net survey result, more than two thirds of the respondents (52%+27%)) say they like 21st Century or very much, although half of them still think the newspaper needs improvement. 0nly about less than ten percent of the respondents do not seem to like 21st Century.
Table 2: Preference
| Reader’s Preference | Number | Percentage |
| I like it, but it still needs improving | 698 | 52 |
| I like it very much | 365 | 27 |
| I think it is just so-so, but still love to read | 171 | 13 |
| I have no other choice | 79 | 6 |
| Other: | 21 | 2 |
The above results also correspond with the overall evaluation of the newspaper by the respondents. Ninety percent of them agree or partially agree that 21st Century has helped them in their English learning while only less than 10 percent do not agree.
Table 3: Overall Evaluation
| Do you think 21st Century has helped greatly | N0. | % |
| Partially agree | 734 | 55 |
| Agree | 471 | 35 |
| Don’t agree | 103 | 8 |
| Others | 27 | 2 |
Of the 1451 respondents, most of them are young readers, with 62 percent from 18 to 25 years, 22 percent from 26 to 30 years (see Table 4). Therefore, it is no surprise that 80 percent of the reader’s education is at the undergraduate level and about 40 percent are basically students and ten percent teachers now. However, it is a little surprising to find that readers who read 21st Century less than six months and more two years are the major respondents during the survey with only about one third of the respondents who have read the newspaper for more than six months but less than two years.
Table 4: Readership Information
| Age | Below 18 | 18 to 25 | 26 to 30 | 31 to 35 | Above 35 | |||||
| 47 | 4% | 864 | 62% | 311 | 22% | 116 | 8% | 63 | 5% | |
| Edu. | Senior High | Undergraduate | MA or Above | Job: Others | ||||||
| 101 | 7% | 1093 | 80% | 174 | 13% | 158 | 12% | |||
| Job | Hi-School Student | Univ. Student | Teacher | Office Clerk | Factory Worker | |||||
| 65 | 5% | 489 | 36% | 128 | 10% | 245 | 18% | 267 | 20% | |
| Read Period | Within six months | 6 to 12 months | 1 year to 2 years | More than 2 year | ||||||
| 470 | 35% | 202 | 15% | 293 | 22% | 384 | 29% |
3. TV Era: CCTV-Channel 4
The English-language TV programs at China Central Television Station (CCTV), the leader of the TV industry in China, started with English educational programs like “Follow Me.”
However, English TV service did not really come into existence until English News was broadcast at the end of 1986, coupled with an interview program Focus and more entertaining programs such as Cultural Lounge and Hello Beijing, which gradually formed a network of English TV program at CCTV (Yang, 1993: 4).
On September 20, 1997, this network was turned into CCTV-4, also know as CCTV International, an English satellite channel serving Chinese citizens living overseas, foreign nationals of Chinese origin and foreign viewers who are interested in China. For now, it is a general channel with 17-hour English programs focusing on news and current affairs, as well as economics, entertainment, sports, and children’s programs, movies, TV dramas and documentaries. Since 1998, CCTV International has broadcast 24 hours a day, in four units rotating every six hours. This arrangement enables audiences in different time zones to watch CCTV International at the time most convenient for them(CCTV website).
As is the case with most Chinese TV programs, English-language CCTV-4 has also proved attractive to most foreign and Chinese viewers. According to a survey done among 4,600 viewers who responded to the survey organized by the TV Guide, 85.1% of the respondents said that CCTV was their major English channel to get to know China, with 34.7% for CRI, 28.8% for China Daily, 34.9% for BBC and 26.3% for VOA (Yang, 1993: 6).
Regional English TV Services in China started to boom in the 1980s. Shanghai Broadcasting Network, officially launched on October 1, 1998, is the only satellite system dedicated to showcasing Shanghai to the world (Dai Hua, director of SBN, personal communication, 2001). With a mixture of English and Chinese programs, SBN now broadcasts 24 hours a day, as part of Shanghai TV Station. Guangdong TV Station started its daily two-hour English News in Guangzhou in 1988 and was forced to stop in 1994 because of the “over-spilled” TV waves of two English channels from Hong Kong (Ranny Lei, vice-head of International News Section of Guangdong TV Station, personal communication, June 11, 2001).
4. Symbiosis Era: An Internet Symbiosis with Traditional Media
Internet did not start in China until April 1994, but it is developing rapidly. As of January 30, 2001, the number of internet users in China has risen to 22.5 million with 8.92 million computers. Most of the internet users browse to seek information (news and computer) and entertainment as is shown in the following table:
Table 5 Purpose for Accessing Internet
| News | 84.38% |
| Info about computer software | 58.00% |
| Info. about entertainment | 52.66% |
| E-books | 45.99% |
| Info about science & education. | 35.77% |
| Finance & stocks | 22.88% |
| Jobs | 29.12% |
| Commerce & Trade | 15.66% |
| Tourism | 12.55% |
| Advertising | 13.51% |
| Medi-care | 11.78% |
| Matching | 9.30% |
(Source: January 30, 2001, Xinmin Evening News)
Although Internet is becoming increasingly important, the new medium does not tend to replace the traditional media. Instead, a kind of symbiosis pattern of the new medium and the traditional media has emerged. Most of the English websites are affiliated to the major English and Chinese media, including People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV-4, Radio China International, and China Net affiliated to China Internet Information Office, as well as Dragon News Net supported by all the local news media in Beijing, Eastday Net supported by all the local media in Shanghai and Nanfang Net supported by Nanfang Daily in South China. It is said that six major national websites and three regional websites (all in English and Chinese) were launched in 2000 in an effort to enhance China’s international communication with the outside world (Zhang Ping, head of the China Daily website, personal communication, 2001).
As these major English websites are supported by leading Chinese and English news organizations in China, they are becoming more influential and authoritative, particularly when the information about China is concerned.
Two China Daily Language Style: Analysis
To discuss the language style of the English-language media in China, the writers have selected China Daily as for their analysis of the language style. The selection is made because (1) newspaper samples are more easily accessible than other English-language media in China; (2) China Daily is the first English newspaper with a history of 20 years so far and has become the “most cited” English newspaper, and its language style may be the most representative of the English media in China.
The analysis of the China Daily language style in this paper mainly focuses on its language treatment and news selection during a period from 1981 when China Daily was firstly launched to 1999.
Methods:
As the front page is the most important page of a newspaper and by-line stories by newspaper reporters form accurate evidence of its language style, the two writers have selected two by-line stories, each year, written by China Daily reporters from its front pages from 1981 to 1999 as our samples. In order to keep our samples random, the writers have decided to choose the dates of March 15th and August 15th of each year for our selection of samples, to avoid exceptionally big occasions like the traditional Chinese festivals or other significant events, for instance, the resumption of sovereignty of China over Hong Kong in July, 1997. If it so happened that the copies on the two dates were not available for a certain reason, the writers would choose the next immediate copy of the two dates. Because China Daily was first launched on June 1st, 1981, the sample copy on March 15th of that year was impossible to be included. Also as the two copies of the 1996 China Daily are somehow not available in the library, a total of 35 stories of China Daily during the past 18 years (81-95, 97-99) has been chosen for the analysis of its language style. The statistical work is all done by ZHAO Hong, one of the writers.
1. Language Treatment:
In the discussions on language treatment of China Daily story samples, the writers concentrate on analyzing the following three sections, namely, headline, story structure and choice of wording.
1.1 Headline:
To study the language style of the headlines of China Daily stories, the writers further divide their discussions into the following six sub-categories: length; use of omission; use of tense and voice; use of punctuation and headline layout .
Based on the 35 headlines selected, the writers find that China Daily tends to take on brief headlines with an average length of 6.4 words. The longest headline is 9 words taking the eyebrows into account while the shortest headline is only 3 words.
Omission is used in all the headlines of English newspapers nowadays. China Daily is no exception. About three quarters of the selected story headlines (74.3%) use omission. “We want to make our headlines as concise as possible, so that they can attract more readers,” said Huang Qing, the executive deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily (personal communication, 2000). As can be seen from Table 6, the frequently omitted parts of speech in China Daily are articles and auxiliary words, consisting of more than 55 percent of the omission. The link verb “be,” and pronoun are also omitted in the headlines.
Table 6: Omission:
| Omitted Part of Speech | Headline No. | Percentage |
| Article | 11 | 31.4 |
| Auxiliary | 9 | 25.7 |
| Link verb | 4 | 11.4 |
| Pronoun | 1 | 2.9 |
| Article & Pronoun | 1 | 2.9 |
| Total | 26 | 74.3 |
| No omission | 9 | 25.7 |
| Total | 35 | 100 |
Table 7: Tense and Voice
| Tense | Headline No. | Percentage |
| Simple present | 33 | 94.3 |
| Simple Future | 1 | 2.85 |
| Present Progressive | 1 | 2.85 |
| Total | 35 | 100 |
| Voice | ||
| Active | 33 | 94.3 |
| Passive | 2 | 5.7 |
| Total | 35 | 100 |
From Table 7, we can see China Daily obviously prefers to use simple present tense and active voice in headlines, with 94.3% (33) of the headlines selected using simple present tense and active voice. This makes sense as simple present tense gives a feeling of “now” to news and to readers as well while active voice emphasizes action. For instance, “Cash boost bid to ease power shortage” (March 16th, 1984) which is surely more effective than “Cash boost will ease the power shortage.” Besides, to play up actions, headlines (85.7%) tend to use short and active verbs, as in “Premier sees better Australian relations” (March 15th, 1983).
To keep headlines short and active, China Daily also uses punctuation marks, though not so often, in the selected headlines. For example, comma “,” is used in two headlines to replace the word “and” while two quotation marks are also used for quoted speech or special terms.
Table 8 Layout
| Headline Layout | Single column | Double column | Multi-column | Total | Percentage |
| Single line | / | 1 | 9 | 10 | 28.6 |
| Double line | / | 3 | 3 | 6 | 17.1 |
| Multi-line | 3 | 14 | 2 | 19 | 54.3 |
| Total | 3 | 18 | 14 | 35 | 100 |
| Percentage | 8.6 | 51.4 | 40 | 100 | 100 |
All the layouts of the headlines in China Daily are uniform British style----with only the first letter of the first word in the headline capitalized, while the rest of the words are just in lower-case. As is shown in Table 8, it seems that China Daily favors double-column (18 headlines, 51.4%) and multi-column (14 headlines, 40%) layout. As a result, double-column with multi-line layout takes the biggest share of 14 headlines, 40% in all.
1.2 Structure:
The writers hold that the structure of news stories also represents the language style of a newspaper. Therefore, the writers also examine the basic structure of the news stories selected.
We find that China Daily frequently adopts the most traditional and effective story structure -- inverted pyramid style, with 22 stories, or 62.9% of the total, simply employing the inverted pyramid style as is shown in Table 9, even though many English newspapers in English-speaking countries may not so frequently turn to the inverted pyramid style, according to Professor Robert Dardenne, a Fulbright professor at Shanghai International Studies University (personal communication, 1999).
Of course, as if it is a reflection of the Chinese news story style, pyramid style and the mixture of both inverted pyramid and the pyramid style are also used in China Daily, respectively comprising 22.9 percent and 14.2 percent of the total.
Table 9 Structure Type
| Structure Type | No. | Percentage |
| Inverted Pyramid Style | 22 | 62.9 |
| Pyramid Style | 8 | 22.9 |
| Mixture of the Inverted Pyramid and Pyramid Style | 5 | 14.2 |
| Total | 35 | 100 |
Table 10 Lead Type
| Lead Type | No. | Percentage |
| Summary Lead | 12 | 34.3 |
| Quotation Lead | 11 | 31.4 |
| Main Fact Lead | 11 | 31.4 |
| *Combined Lead | 1 | 2.9 |
| Total | 35 | 100 |
*refers to a lead which introduces two equally-weighed events at once
The basic structure type can be typified in the use of different kinds of leads for the news stories. The largest use of summary leads (34.3%) in Table 10 seems to be corresponding to the use of inverted pyramid style. According to Professor Dardenne, normally a news story employing an inverted pyramid style starts with a summary lead. However, the frequent use of quotation lead and main-fact lead is a bit surprising to the two writers. Besides, leads also show a typical Chinese characteristic, with 13 news stories actually beginning with the word “China.”
Besides the structure type, the writers consider that the use of attribution is also representative of the language style, particularly for a newspaper like China Daily, because the use of attribution adds to objectivity and fair coverage of news stories.
Table 11 Attribution
| Attribution Type | Key Words Use | Story No. |
| Clear | Specific sources mentioned | 28 |
| Vague | According to an official | 6 |
| Unclear | It is reported that… | 1 |
| Total | 35 |
According to Table 11, China Daily tends to use clear and specific sources for its attribution. A number of 28 stories, or 80% of the total, have very clear attribution of sources with definite names of a person and/or an institution. Of course, still seven stories (20%) use vague attribution (according to an official…,) and unclear attribution (It is reported that…).
Besides, while it is true that China Daily does use various words to express the word “say,” for example, “note,” “add,’ “tell,” “stress,” “describe,” “comment,” “point out,” “express,” “disclose,” “reveal,” “urge” and “declare,” an immense collection of “said” is also used in 35 stories. A total of 170 “said” have been counted in the 35 passages with the average use of “said” of 4.9 words per story. This, to some degree, reflects the preference of China Daily for a simpler word as well as its preference for a more objective stance of reporting.
1.3 China English
Based on the writers’ observation, China Daily adopts the British way of spelling for the newspaper. It sticks to the British spelling such as “centre” “colour” “favourable” “programme” “tunnelling” “counselling” “metre” “neighbour” “labour” “metre” “tatolled” as was found in 35 stories:
However, despite the British spelling style, distinctive use of China English can also be found in the samples selected, which is most representative in the employment of what the two writers phrased as Compound Wording, referring to the wordings that are typical of the Chinese culture and that express, or even simply translate from the Chinese connotation which do not have the equivalence in English. They appear very frequently in China Daily’s coverage of China’s economy, politics, society and culture etc.
But the writers find that this is particularly noticeable when China Daily covers political topics in China, the system of which is so much different from the West. CPPCC (March 15th of 1993), for instance, stands for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which may not have equivalence in the West. Here, the China English in China Daily mainly deals with the titles of Chinese institutions and other terms or jargons which actually are literal translation from Chinese. Readers of the China English may require some background knowledge of China to fully understand the intended meanings in this case. The following are the lists for part of the typical China English expressions (with simple backgroundings) that the two writers culled from the 35 samples during the past 18 years.
China English terms:
*Second-line advisers (experienced old leaders now as the counselors for operations)
*Cultural Revolution (the chaotic ten year of 1966-1976 in China)
*State-run enterprises (enterprises owned by the nation)
*Urban economic reforms (reform of economics in the cities in China)
*Family planning (policy of birth control for one-child-one-family in China)
*Job assignment (referring to the national policy of assigning jobs to the college graduates instead of their going for job interviews in the job market)
*Iron rice bowl (life-long tenure system of employment in China)
*Junior college (the two or three year higher educational institutions which provide students with specific working skills instead of university education)
*Township enterprises (enterprises owned by the city or town governments)
*Orderly competition (competition with orders instead of chaos)
*Comrade Deng Xiaoping
*Non-state-owned firms (firms not owned by the state)
*High-risk” enterprises (enterprises which face problems in operations)
*Land-use” right (to a foreign investor, meaning the right to use land)
*laid-off” employees (unemployed)
In addition, China Daily also uses occasional abbreviations in its coverage. However, almost all of the abbreviations are used only when referred to for the second or third time. For the first time, all the names appear in full, particularly organization names, such as BOC for Bank of China, CPPCC for Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, IMF for International Monetary Fund, KMT for Kuomingtang, NAEP for National Agency for Environment Protection, NPC for National People’s Congress, PLA for People’s Liberation Army, SDPC for State Development Planning Commission, SEC for State Education Commission, SEZ for Special Economic Zone, SSB for State Statistics Bureau.
2. News Selection
For the selection part, the two writers have divided all the selected samples into eight categories including economy, politics, international relations, science & technology, culture, laws etc. and calculated the total number of words in each story as a measurement of the specific editorial weight devoted to each story.
As we can see from Table 12, all the stories are concerned with China instead of international community. The stories on China’s economy take up 34.3% of the total with 12 stories out of 35, and of course carrying the largest wording weight (36.9%). This can be interpreted as a reflection of China’s economic construction process since it first adopted the policy of “reform and opening up to the outside world” in 1978. The ratio of stories of various reforms is also significant, with five stories out of 35, coming up to a percentage of 14.3%. of the total 35 stories and the words that China Daily employs to report these reforms hit 2,436, with a percentage of 16.4 of the total words. These reform stories deal with the reforms on various aspects as small enterprises, social security, science & technology system, education system, and price.
Coverage on politics, international relations as well as society also takes much weight in the news selection of China Daily, five stories each for politics, international relations and society and gripping 14.3% each of the total. The wording weight that China Daily spends on each of the above three classes are over 10% of the total words of reporting.
Table 12 News Selection of China Daily (1981-1999)
| Category | Passage | Percentage | Words for Each Story | Wording Percentage |
| Economy | 12 | 34.3 | 5,297 | 36.9 |
| Society | 5 | 14.3 | 2,346 | 16.4 |
| Politics | 5 | 14.3 | 2,028 | 14.1 |
| Int’l Relations | 5 | 14.3 | 1,679 | 11.8 |
| Science & Technology | 3 | 8.5 | 1,168 | 8.2 |
| Culture | 2 | 5.7 | 794 | 5.5 |
| Laws | 2 | 5.7 | 606 | 4.2 |
| Religion | 1 | 2.9 | 420 | 2.9 |
| Total | 35 | 100 | 14,338 | 100 |
| *Stories on reforms | 5 | 14.3 | 2,346 | 16.4 |
Although no article on military is found in the samples, the writers still consider that news selection of China Daily is varied and comprehensive enough for a daily newspaper. To some degree, an English newspaper like China Daily may be freer in their selection of news stories, simply because they are published in English (Guo, 1999: 58).
Three English-Language Media in China: Assessment
1. Two Development Patterns
As is mentioned above, before 1981, China had only one radio station and a couple of magazines for its international communication. However, in the past 20 years, all the media in China have been booming, including the English-language media (Guo, 1999).
In the past 20 years, the growth of the English-language media has followed two patterns. Firstly, as compared with the Chinese media, the development of the English media has relatively been stable and not affected much by the politics in China, mainly because (1) they are theoretically targeting overseas or foreign audience; (2) their influence may be still limited, though inseparable; (3) control over media content may be weakened via the use of English due to the insufficient English ability of the government administrators.
Secondly, the growth of the English-language media has followed a centralization pattern in the 1980s and with a tendency towards decentralization since the late 1980s. China Radio International with a daily broadcast of 192 hours, China Daily with a circulation of 300,000 copies and CCTV-4 with 17-hours broadcast daily and the six major English websites have surely demonstrated the centralization pattern (Guo, 1999). However, since the late 1980s, regional centers such as Shanghai and Guangdong are also launching their own English media. Though they may not be as professional as the central or national English media, regional English media are certainly playing a role that can not be replaced by the central media in such a big country like China (Zhang Ciyun, editor-in-chief of Shanghai Daily, personal communication, 2001).
Besides, like the central English media, the emergence of English-language media at regional centers have also followed a development sequence of radio-newspaper-television-internet, as each new media became mature and began to get involved in international communication. Like in Shanghai and Guangdong, the English media all started with radio, Shanghai Calling in Shanghai and Radio Guangdong in Guangzhou, and then gradually switched to print media. However, recent growth of the English-media at the regional level tends to focus on newspapers (Shanghai Daily in Shanghai, Guangzhou Morning Post in Guangzhou) and television (Shanghai Broadcasting Network in Shanghai) while radio is gradually fading out (Shanghai Calling only relays CRI English service now).
Despite the decentralization tendency in the 1990s, the political nature of the international communication in China has led to the central dominance of the English-language media at the central-level, all of them based in Beijing such as China Radio International, Beijing Review, China Daily Newspaper Group, CCTV-4 and now the six major media-affiliated English websites are all located in Beijing.
If the central dominance is a result of political consideration, then the prosperity of English-language media in Shanghai may be related with its historical tradition of launching English media before 1949, by foreigners (Huang, 2001). Even though not as influential as Beijing, the capital, Shanghai, the city with the largest number of foreign-owned English media before 1949, and now with the strong economic momentum, can still be considered the largest regional center for international communication in mainland China. Shanghai is the first city to start English radio (Shanghai Calling) and TV (Shanghai Broadcasting Network) services, though not fully developed these days. At present, Shanghai is also the only regional city that possesses an English daily (Shanghai Daily) and an English TV service.
2. Ownership & Investment
Like other media in China, the English-language media are also state-owned, which means government provided investment for one media institution in its initial stage and even subsidies in later stages before the 1980s. However, the practice of providing subsidy was discontinued in the late 1980s after China adopted a market economy and media institutions were allowed to start advertising, thus leading to their financial independence (Guo, 1999: 60).
As a result, three trends of media investment can be noticed during the process of launching English-language media in the past two decades.
(1) Investment from Chinese-language media institutions: CCTV-4, the international channel, has been supported by China Central TV (Jiang Heping, deputy supervisor of CCTV-4, personal communication, 2001). Shanghai Daily, the first regional English daily, has been invested by the Xinmin & Wenhui Group in Shanghai. This is also true for Guangzhou Morning Post and Shenzhen Daily, Beijing Today, which have earned their respective funding from Guangzhou Daily Group, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Daily and Beijing Youth Daily.
(2) Investment from English-language media institutions: Tabloids like Business Weekly, Beijing Review, Shanghai Star and 21st Century have all been launched and invested by the China Daily Newspaper Group in the past 20 years.
(3) Self-supported magazines: These magazines are supported by advertising with complimentary distribution, most of them run by foreigners even though they have a cooperative partner in China. They include Beijing Scene, City Weekend and Metro in Beijing, and Shanghai Talk and That’s Shanghai in Shanghai.
3. Dual Roles
As is mentioned above, English-language media in China started with its sole purpose for information-oriented international communication targeting only foreign audience. Even at present, the major function of English language media, both at the central and regional levels in China, can still be defined as one for international communication, because there is no English-speaking Chinese community; nor does English serve as a communicative among the nation’s fifty six ethnic groups. The role of the English-language media in China has always been to provide information or report China to the outside world or to the foreign population in China.
This role can be further justified when more foreign population are now swarming into China. It is estimated that in Beijing, the number of foreign tourists in 1999 is 8.43 million, 40 times the figures in 1978 (China Apec website). In Shanghai, among the 160 million population, more than one million is floating population with permanent foreign residents coming close to 100,000 in 2000, working at foreign-invested enterprises, financial institutions, consulates and foreign news organizations. (Shanghai Daily brochure).
However, the effectiveness of the communicative role of the English-language media in China is yet to be known, as no formal survey has been done so far. In fact, as most English-language media in China are funded by government or state-owned news institutions, they do not really have to care a lot about audience feedback.
Despite that, when one of the writers interviewed the chief executives of almost all the central-level English media last year (July 2000-May 2001), most of them are still concerned about the effects of their coverage. “We have not done a formal reader’s survey yet, which, to some degree, is literally impossible to do among our international readers. So we do not know how effective our newspaper really is. However, through our emails from readers and the wide citations by major Western media on important issues about China, we do know that we are becoming important sources and of course are exerting influences among our readers, overseas and domestic” (Huang Qing, executive deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, personal communication, 2000).
But as more Chinese are learning English, which is now nationally required from the third year of primary education (21st Century report), the English-language media in China are also finding themselves increasingly popular among Chinese English learners, with an estimated number of 200 to 300 million people learning and using English (Zhao, 1995:377). Although most Chinese are not using English for communicative purposes among themselves, they have to demonstrate their English ability for social mobility and / or promotion (Zhao, 1995:383). As a result, Chinese English learners normally turn to the English-language media in China, which can provide information and can also be used as English materials. This has motivated the educational role of the English-language media, particularly the among younger generation.
From the case study of 21st Century, majority of its readership (above 80 percent) are young and their main purpose is to improve their English though only about half of them think they have achieved their purposes. As a result, English-learning oriented media like 21st Century are getting popular in recent years as about 90 percent of readers like them (see Case Study of 21st Century)
The increasing number of domestic readers is also noticeable among the mainstream English-language media as well. Take China Daily as an example, about 83% of its circulation (250, 000 out of 300,000) are among Chinese readers. In fact, the domestic readers are becoming so important that China Daily list separate readership percentage in its self-promoting brochure (Table 13).
Table 13 Ratios of Overseas & Domestic Readers of China Daily
| Overseas Readers | Domestic Readers | ||
| Industry&Finance | 54% | Domestic Firms | 25% |
| Government | 16% | Foreign-funded Firms | 21% |
| Trade agencies | 13% | Government Officials | 19% |
| Media | 4% | Diplomats, Foreigners | 18% |
| Others | 13% | Foreign Business Offices | 7% |
| Education | 5% | ||
| Others | 5% |
(source: China Daily 2000 Bulletin)
Besides, the main audience of CCTV-4 is also Chinese viewers or foreign viewers in China (Sheng Yilai, supervisor of CCTV-4, personal communication, 2000). Also it is true with China Radio International that has started an English service, targeting Chinese ers in Beijing. As China merges more with the world, it would be reasonable to predict that the English media in China cater not only to foreign but to domestic audience.
4. Written Style of China English
Although China has no English-speaking community, the expansion of English-language media in China justifies the necessity for the use of English even in a Chinese society. Through a content analysis of China Daily reports from 1981 to 1999 in terms of its language treatment (headline, story and choice of wording) and news selection, the writers find a kind of written style of China English has been gradually formed, which is basically a mixture characterized by British English spelling, American straight-forward and easy-to-read style and Chinese contents. The list of China English terms is so distinctive that no other newspapers could be found with such a striking China flavor. Besides, China Daily doesn’t endorse a flowery use of English. In this sense, with the Chinese content, the style of China Daily is more like translation of Chinese news with English news structures.
Notes:
[1] The number of CRI listeners is calculated by multiplying 400 with 600,000 listener’s letters, a formula obtained from Zhang Zhenhua, the former director of CRI.
[2] The two-week survey is considered long enough for effective survey by ZHANG Maiwen, the chief of the 21st Century website)
[3] The 200 minimum level is set by Mr. Zhang Maiwen for a valid survey, personal communication on June 18, 2001)
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