PANPA Bulletin: Chinese People's Daily Online Reaches a Larger Audience Online PANPA Bulletin, the official publication of the Sydney-based Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association Inc., carries an abridged edition of an article written by Liao Hong and Chen Zhixia, staff correspondents of People's Daily, in its October issue. The full text is as follows: China's Voice Goes Out to the World on the 'Net People's Daily, China's national newspaper, launched People's Daily Online(http:/www.peopledaily.com.cn) on January 1, 1997, beginning to transmit the voice of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese government to the world on the Internet. At that time, the Internet had just entered China and the amount of online Chinese information and the number of Chinese websites were limited. People's Daily Online has blazed a trail of its own in network media: It gives full play to the editing advantage of People's Daily. While maintaining the authority of the newspaper, it makes use of the Internet's characteristics of having a large capacity, timeliness and capability of retrieval and interaction. It increases its attraction, readability and affinity, striving to turn People's Daily Online into a website widely loved by the 'netizens' in general. In less than one year, the content of People's Daily Online has exceeded that of People's Daily and 16 affliated newspapers and magazines, making it the largest Chinese network media on the Internet and winning the favorable comments of the Internet readers. As the most authoritative newspaper of China, People's Daily took the lead to go online and bring along central and local media to follow suit. Beginning in 1998, the Chinese news media move to the Internet has surged and, according to incomplete statistics, there are now more than 2000 news websites in China. People's Daily Online now publishes six versions in five languages (simplified Chinese, traditional form of Chinese, English, Japanese, French and Spanish ), has four mirror sites (the United States, Japan, sci-tech net and education net). It releases more than 2000 items of updated news a day, and possesses more than 300 databases running to 100 million words and a comprehensive information service platform providing full-text retrieval, free mail-box, subscription of news, and various kinds of bulletin board services. Over the past three years, People's Daily Online has persisted in giving correct opinion guidance and holding high the banner of authority and mass character, refrained from repeating the same old things and from impetuosity. Instead, it has provided news information and various services for the Internet users in a down-to-earth manner, it has thus become a new window to helping readers both at home and abroad to understand China, it is fully affirmed by central leaders, relevant departments and the broad masses of 'netizens'.
