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

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

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 Aberdeen () is an area on southwest Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District, Hong Kong, Southern District. While the name "Aberdeen" could be taken in a broad sense to encompass the areas of Aberdeen ...

. 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 "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and older Hong Kong readers. In a 2019 public opinion survey conducted by the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university and ...

, ''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 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. Xinhua ...

, 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" 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 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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. 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 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

government.

Space and military news

''Wen Wei Po'' is known to periodically leak first hand information about the PRC's

space program A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space. Lists of space programs include: * List of government space agencies * List of private spaceflight companies * List of human spaceflight prog ...

and military buildup. Typical examples are the advanced launch date of the

Shenzhou 7 Shenzhou 7 () was the third human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program. The mission, which included the first Chinese extra-vehicular activity (EVA) carried out by crew members Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming, marked the commencement o ...

mission, information revealed on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the journal's establishment,

space shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...

or aircraft carrier program.

References

External links