''Wen Wei Po'' is a pro-Beijing

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

newspaper based in Hong Kong. The newspaper was established in Hong Kong on 9 September 1948, after its Shanghai edition was launched in 1938. Its head office is in the Hing Wai Centre () in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. It is owned by Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, which is controlled by the liaison office of the Chinese government in Hong Kong. ''Wen Wei Po'' is subsidised by and advocates for the Chinese government. ''Wen Wei Po'' accounts for less than 1 per cent of Hong Kong's readership and is mainly read by readers in mainland China and older Hong Kong readers. In a 2019 public opinion survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, ''Wen Wei Po'' was rated by respondents as the second least credible paid newspaper in Hong Kong.

History

''Wen Wei Po'' was founded in Shanghai in January 1938. The Hong Kong edition was first published on 6 September 1948. In the 1980s, Xinhua News Agency, which served as the ''de facto'' Chinese embassy to Hong Kong, reduced its control over ''Wen Wei Po'' to reflect China's guarantee of "

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The constitutional principle was formulated in the early ...

" after sovereignty over Hong Kong is transferred to China in 1997. In 1989, ''Wen Wei Po'' published an editorial that criticised the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

for their crackdown of protesters in Tiananmen Square. Lee Tze-chung, the president of the newspaper since 1951 was dismissed, and editor-in-chief Kam Yiu-yu went into exile in the United States. Following the dismissals, ''Wen Wei Po'' received financial support from the Chinese government to repair the image of China following the military crackdown in Beijing.

Content

Editorial position

''Wen Wei Po'' has been described as pro-China and leftist. According to ''The Challenge of Hong Kong's Reintegration With China'', a book written by Ming K. Chan, Wen Wei Po is a "mouthpiece" of the PRC government.

Space and military news

''Wen Wei Po'' is known to periodically leak first hand information about the PRC's space program and military buildup. Typical examples are the advanced launch date of the Shenzhou 7 mission, information revealed on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the journal's establishment, space shuttle program or aircraft carrier program.

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