[7] In 1959, Walter Laqueur, the editor of Soviet Survey, asked sinologist Roderick MacFarquhar to edit the new journal, the first issue of which was released in 1960.

[7] However, he admitted to knowingly publishing articles provided by the CIA and the British Foreign Office's covert propaganda unit, the Information Research Department, and giving the authors pseudonyms to keep their identities secret.

[7] In August 2017, Cambridge University Press (CUP), the publisher, confirmed that it had removed access to over 300 articles from readers in China following pressure from Chinese government.

The press published a list of articles removed, including sensitive topics such as human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong, and the negative effects of the Cultural Revolution.

[10] The Guardian reported the censorship was part of a broader crackdown on dissent since Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012.