China Times

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China Times headquarters in Taipei

The China Times (traditional Chinese: 中國時報; simplified Chinese: 中国时报; pinyin: Zhōngguó Shíbào; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-kok-sî-pò) is a newspaper published in the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Traditional Chinese. It is one of the four biggest newspapers in Taiwan, the other three being the Liberty Times, United Daily News, and Apple Daily (Taiwan).

The paper is also printed in San Gabriel, California.

The free-to-air China Television (CTV) channel and the satellite channel Chung T'ien Television (Cti TV) are under the ownership of the China Times Group.

History

The China Times was founded in 1950 under the name Credit News (Chinese: 徵信新聞; pinyin: Zhēngxìn xīnwén), and focused mainly on price indices. The name changed on January 1, 1960 to Credit Newspaper (Chinese: 徵信新聞報; pinyin: Zhēngxìn xīnwénbào), a daily with comprehensive news coverage. Color printing was introduced on March 29, 1968, the first newspaper in Asia to make the move. On September 1, 1968, the name changed once again to China Times, presently based in the Wanhua district of Taipei.

The founder, Yu Jizhong (Chinese: 余紀忠), died in 2002, leaving the presidency of the paper to his second son, Yu Jianxin (Chinese: 余建新). Yu Jizhong's eldest daughter, Yu Fanying, is the vice president. The bureau chief is presently Lin Shengfen (Chinese: 林聖芬), the general manager Huang Zhaosong (Chinese: 黃肇松), and the chief editor Huang Qinglong (Chinese: 黃清龍).

In 2008, the China Times Group was sold to the Want Want Holdings Limited, the largest rice cake manufacturer in Taiwan.[1]

Other publications

  • The Commercial Times (1978)
  • The China Times (U.S. Edition) (1982)
  • The China Times Express (Taiwan's oldest evening newspaper)
  • China Times Weekly (時報周刊 Shíbào-zhōukān)
  • www.chinatimes.com (1995)

The China Times Publishing Company was the first publishing company in Taiwan to publicly issue shares. Finally, China Times Group has set up several charity organizations (Chinatimes Foundation and China Times Cultural Foundation).

The China Times' literary supplement is called Human Realm (人間 Rénjiān).

China Times once managed a Taiwan-based baseball team, the China Times Eagles (時報鷹 Shíbàoyīng), but a betting scandal dissolved the team seven years into its operation.

China Times is associated with the Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri, including cooperation between China Times Travel Agency and Daily Yomiuri Travel Agency.

Political position

The political position of the China Times had been slanted towards the pan-blue coalition (pro-unification), although it is considered more moderate than the United Daily News. Relations with the Kuomintang nationalist government have in the past been close, but when the China Times U.S. Edition ceased publication after the Chiang Nan Incident in October 1984, the China Times broke with then KMT president Chiang Ching-kuo in protest. Since the 1980s, the China Times has developed a more liberal and pro-democratic stance, often concerned with progressive issues such as social justice or environmental concerns. During the 1990s, the China Times was often supportive of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, more on the grounds of liberalism rather than Taiwanese Independence.

Although Taiwanese politics in general have been centered more on the cross-strait relations rather than a left-right divide, the China Times has generally been more sympathetic towards social democratic policies or activism. This has led to a more critical stance towards Chinese domestic policies, especially when compared to the solidly blue United Daily News. The Liberty Times represents the pro-independence pan-green position.

Since it was bought by the pro-China Taiwanese businessman tycoon Tsai Eng-Meng (Want Want Holdings Limited) in 2008, the China Times has veered into a more pro-China stance, and has been criticized of being “very biased” in favor of positive news about China.[2][3]

China Television (CTV) was formerly owned by the Kuomintang itself and only sold to the China Times group in 2006.

The China Times Group also operates an English language Chinese news website, WantChinaTimes.com, established in 2010.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ TAIWAN: China Times Group is sold to Want Want
  2. ↑ Higgins, Andrew, "Tycoon prods Taiwan closer to China", The Washington Post, January 21, 2012
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "About Us", Want China Times website.

External links

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