China Radio International (CRI) is the

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 ...

international radio broadcaster of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is currently headquartered in Babaoshan, Shijingshan, Beijing. It was founded on December 3, 1941, as Radio Peking. It later adopted the

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

form Radio Beijing. CRI is the international radio arm of the

China Media Group China Media Group () also known as Voice of China, is the predominant state media company by means of radio and television broadcasting in the People's Republic of China. It was founded on 21 March 2018, as a fusion of all state-holding med ...

, under the control of the Central Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, created following the first session of the

13th National People's Congress The 13th National People's Congress (NPC) was elected from October 2017 to February 2018 and was in session in the five-year period from 2018 to 2023. It held five sessions in this period, occurring around early March every year until before 202 ...

in March 2018. CRI states that it "endeavours to promote favourable relations between the PRC and the world" while upholding the PRC's official positions. CRI claims to "play a significant role in the PRC's

soft power In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-option, co-opt rather than coerce (in contrast with hard power). It involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. Soft power is ...

strategy" and

Go Out policy Go Out policy () or the Going Global Strategy is the People's Republic of China's current strategy to encourage its enterprises to invest overseas. The policy was announced as a national strategy by Jiang Zemin in March 2000. History China's Tw ...

, aiming to expand the influence of Chinese culture and media in a global stage. CRI attempts to employ new media and partnerships with other media outlets to compete with other international media. Unlike other broadcasters, CRI's control via indirect majority ownership or financial support of radio stations in various nations is not publicly disclosed.

History

Radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

was first introduced in China in the 1920s and 1930s. However, few households had radio receivers. A few cities had commercial stations. Most usage of radio was for political purpose, frequently on a local area level. 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 ...

first used radio in Yanan Shaanxi Province in March 1940 with a transmitter imported from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

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 ...

New Chinese Radio (XNCR) went on the air from Yanan on December 30, 1940. XNCR transmitted to a larger geographical area after 1945, and its programs became more regular and formalized with broadcasts of news, official announcements, war bulletins, and art and literary programs. The English service started on September 11, 1947, transmitting as XNCR from a cave in Shahe in the

Taihang Mountains The Taihang Mountains () are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces. The range extends over from north to south and has an average elevation of ; its principal peak is ...

, when China was in the midst of a civil war, to announce newly conquered areas and broadcast a Chinese political and cultural perspective to the world at large. The station moved from the Taihang Mountains to the capital,

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

, when The People's Republic of China was formed in 1949. Its name was changed to Radio Peking on April 10, 1950, and to Radio Beijing in 1983. In April 1950, it began began broadcasting for listeners in Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, and in four dialects for

overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese people are Chinese people, people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 milli ...

throughout

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. Radio Peking's influence and capacity grew from 1957 to 1967. By 1967, it was broadcasting 21 hours per week to

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. During the Cultural Revolution, it canceled many of its regular programs and focused on broadcasting

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

's works. On January 1, 1993, the name of the station was again changed, this time to China Radio International, in order to avoid any confusion with local Beijing radio broadcasting. Its online broadcasting platform: China International Broadcasting Network (CIBN) was formally established in 2011, as a joint venture of China Radio International,

Huawen Media Investment Huawen Group () is a publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector. It is one of the 500 components of the SZSE Component Index, as well as the sub-index SZSE 300 Index and SZSE 100 Index. Acquisitions In 2006, the company acqui ...

, JinZhengYuan,

Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video streaming service and former video sharing website based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquart ...

, Oriental Times Media and

Suning Holdings Group Suning Holdings Group Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese privately held company. The company shared the same founder Zhang Jindong with the listed company Suning.com, but Suning Holdings was the unlisted portion of Zhang's unincorporated Suning Group. Ac ...

. Radio Peking began exchanges with

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

in 1982. Voice of American had opened a bureau in Beijing the previous year. A 2015 investigative report by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

found a network of at least 33 radio stations in 14 countries that obscures CRI as its majority shareholder. A significant portion of the programming on these stations is either produced or provided by CRI, or by media firms CRI controls in the United States, Australia, and Europe. In February 2020, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

designated CRI and other Chinese state-owned media outlets as

foreign missions A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

. CRI has focused on forging commercial partnerships, particularly in Europe, in which its content is broadcast without attribution to CRI. According to a 2023

discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative sy ...

by the Central European Digital Media Observatory, CRI's content steers clear of any criticism of the Chinese government.

Programming

Mandarin radio channels

At the beginning of 1984, it started to broadcast home service to the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

area on AM and FM frequencies. The service later expanded to dozens of major cities across the PRC, providing listeners inside the PRC with timely news and reports, music, weather, English and Chinese learning skills, as well as other services.

CRI News Radio (90.5 FM)

CRI News Radio (CRI环球资讯广播) was established on 28 September 2005. Its aim is to make CRI News Radio a first-class national news radio brand and its slogans are 'First News, News First', 'On-the-Spot China, Live World' etc. CRI News Radio can be heard online and in

on the radio on 90.5 FM; in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

90.6 FM; in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

91.7 FM; in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

107.1 FM; in

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

89.8 FM; in

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

90.1 FM. Popular Shows * Laowai's Viewpoint ( zh, s=老外看点 , p=Lǎowài kàndiǎn), an international news program with three hosts from different countries, frequent hosts include: Peter Yu (Chinese), Julien Gaudfroy (French), Elyse Ribbons (American), Li Xin (Chinese), and Soojin Zhao (Korean). * Bianzou Biankan ( zh, s=边走边看 , p=Biānzǒu biānkàn), a travel show dedicated to a new location every episode * New Wealth Times ( zh, s=新财富时代, p=Xīncáifù shídài), a financial talk show

Chinese podcasts

The following programmes can be heard on the Mandarin version of the podcast from the World Radio Network: * News ( zh, s=新闻节目 , p=xīnwén jiémù), which comes from the

Xinhua News Agency 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 news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

. * ''Tángrénjiē'' ( zh, s=唐人街, p=Tángrénjiē, l=Chinatown), a programme about

* Weather forecasts around China * Sports This broadcast was originally targeted at

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the United Kingdom. In 2006, they removed the "London" reference, which was part of the introduction as ''"Ni hao London. Hello London"''

English radio channels

CRI in English (846 AM, 1008 AM; 91.5 FM)

The CRI English channels that can be heard online are: * ''CGTN Radio'' (846 & 1008 AM in Beijing) * '' EZFM (also known as Easy FM)'' * '' Round the Clock'' (Internet only) ** ''Voices from Other Lands'' is a weekly English radio program featuring entrepreneurs who originated outside of

doing business in China, hosted by Guanny Liu. * CRI 91.9 FM (''Kenya 91.9 FM'') * Chinese Studio is a 5-minute segment that follows most CRI English programmes * China Drive is an English radio show about life in the PRC * CRI Sri Lanka FM 97.9 in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in Sinhala and English (05:00—00:00 Sri Lanka Time)

English Podcasts

CRI offers a list of podcast programs in English: * ''Hourly News'' * ''The Beijing Hour'' *RoundTable * ''Studio Plus'' * ''Today'' * '' Chinese Studio'' *More to Read

Holiday Broadcasts

During major Chinese holidays (dubbed Golden Week), such as

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

, and

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

, China Radio International typically broadcasts special programmes such as: * ''Growing Up In China'' (during the May Day holiday) Most of these programmes are not typical of the broadcast during the other parts of the year. The analogy is similar to Christmas music broadcasts in the United States.

Olympic Radio

In July 2006, CRI launched a new radio station called CRI Olympic Radio at 900 AM in Beijing. This special broadcast was in Mandarin, Korean, English, Russian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese and German 24 hours a day. This service was terminated in late 2008 after the Beijing Olympics and now the frequency 900 AM is occupied by CRI News Radio, which covers only Beijing.

Pay television channels

Other than radio channels, CRI also operates these pay television channels via satellite airing: * Shark Shopping Channel (聚鲨环球精选) (de facto free channel in several local DTV networks) * Global Sightseeing Channel (环球奇观) * China Transport Channel (中国交通) (co-operate with MOT)

Languages

China Radio International broadcasts in the following languages: The Tibetan, Uygur and Kazakh services are broadcast in association with local radio stations (Tibet People's Broadcasting Station and Xinjiang People's Broadcasting Station).

Joint ventures

China International Broadcasting Network

China International Broadcasting Network (CIBN, traded as , an internet TV service, was a joint venture of China Radio International with other companies. The company was owned by Global Broadcasting Media Group (, a joint venture (50–50) of China Radio International and , literally ''JinZhengYuan Union Investment Holding'') for 34.0004% stake,

for 30.9996% stake, a subsidiary () of listed company Oriental Times Media () for 15% stake, the operator of

() for 10% stake and

, the parent company of

PPTV PPTV () is a Chinese video streaming website. Its predecessor, PPLive, was peer-to-peer streaming video freeware created at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei Province. The group of companies that runs the webs ...

for 10% stake.

GBTimes

CRI owns 60% of Finland-based GBTimes. GBTimes is headed by Zhao Yinong and operates radio stations across Europe that broadcast CRI-produced content.

G&E Studio

G&E Studio is 60% owned by Guoguang Century Media, a Beijing firm completely owned by the CRI. James Su is president and CEO of G&E Studio, which distributes CRI content to more than a dozen radio stations inside the United States.

References

Citations

Sources

* Bishop, Robert L., "Qi Lai! Mobilizing One Billion Chinese: The Chinese Communication System", Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1989. * Chang, Won Ho, "Mass Media in China: The History and the Future", Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1989. * Hamm, Charles, "Music and Radio in the PRC," Asian Music, Spring/Summer 1991, vXXII, n2, p. 28-29. * Howkins, John, "Mass Communication in China", New York, NY: Annenberg/ Longman Communication Books, 1982.

External links

* *
China Plus
- CRI livestream and podcasts {{Authority control Chinese-language radio stations Mandarin-language radio stations Tibetan-language radio stations Cold War broadcasting Communist propaganda Propaganda in China Multilingual news services Radio stations established in 1941 Mass media in Beijing International broadcasters Shortwave radio stations Multilingual broadcasters 1941 establishments in China Conspiracist media