''Sixth Tone'' () is a Chinese

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

English-language online magazine published by

Shanghai United Media Group The Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG) is a state media company of the People's Republic of China overseen by the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The headquarter of the Group is located at 755 Weihai Road in S ...

Name

''Sixth Tone'''s name relates to the number of tones in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, but also is stated to carry more metaphorical meaning as well. Mandarin Chinese has four active tones and a fifth dropped tone that has less prominence than the other four. Because of the language's five tones, the publication's name refers to an ideal of expanding beyond traditionally-reported items in

Anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

media, making it the "sixth tone".

History

The online magazine began publication on April 6, 2016, with an investment of US$4.5 million from the Shanghai United Media Group. It is a sister publication of ''The Paper''. Wei Xing was its first editor-in-chief until May 30, 2016, when he moved to create a start-up company and therefore no longer worked for the paper. Succeeding Wei, Zhang Jun became the new editor-in-chief that year. By 2018, Western media began to cite ''Sixth Tone'' in news reports. Vincent Ni, in an essay published in ''Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture'', stated that, "For foreign journalists, it has also shown a diverse and authentic side of China that rarely received much attention elsewhere" and that the publication "has proved far more effective than the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in English-language news programs by the state broadcaster

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

, and CRI." In 2022, following the sudden lifting of China's prolonged

zero-COVID Zero-COVID, also known as COVID-Zero and "Find, Test, Trace, Isolate, and Support" (FTTIS), was a Public health mitigation of COVID-19, public health policy implemented by some countries, especially Chinese government response to COVID-19, China ...

measures, ''Sixth Tone'' published a year-in-review feature highlighting key terms like "baby bust," "housing crisis," "gender violence," and "COVID". This feature, deemed as being critical to the country's COVID policy, faced criticism from China nationalists who accused the outlet of having an editorial bias akin to Western media, citing its frequent reception of international awards from The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) as proof. In response, Shanghai authorities requested senior editors to engage in self-reflection. Consequently, the outlet stopped submitting entries for international awards like SOPA due to fear of repercussions. In 2023, the publication had new management installed following repeated attacks by nationalists on

Weibo Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...

Reception

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, writing for ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

,'' stated that ''Sixth Tone'' has a less staid and "saccharine" tone compared to many other English-language publications from China. She stated, "If webby U.S. media startup '' Vox'' were acquired by the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

, it might resemble ''Sixth Tone''". In a 2016 interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', the then-editor-in-chief, Wei Xing, sought to differentiate his magazine from other Chinese English-language publications. Wei stated that compared to other government-owned news publications, ''Sixth Tone'' would have an easier time growing since it "lacks a politics-saturated bureaucracy because it is a start-up".

References

External links

* {{Official website Online magazines 2016 establishments in Shanghai English-language magazines Magazines established in 2016 Magazines published in Shanghai Magazines published in China State media Organizations associated with the Chinese Communist Party Shanghai United Media Group

Name

History

Reception

See also

References

External links