Together they saw the possibility of developing an economic journal for the Hong Kong public in the early 1970s (although some sources have suggested that it was Lok Yau-Mui (駱友梅), his wife, and not Law Chi-Ping who was the true co-founder[citation needed]) and the newspaper was first published on 3 July 1973.

[citation needed] In July 2008, HKEJ launched its official website hkej.com which contains the daily newspaper content, instant news, real time stock quotes and different kinds of financial data and information.

Lian, a former member of the Central Policy Unit as well as the former editor-in-chief of HKEJ, had recently written pieces sympathetic to the localist movement, leading to allegations that his dismissal was motivated by self-censorship.

[3] It was reported that, as early as 10 January 2006, the Lam's family was in negotiation with Richard Li (head of Hong Kong–based telecommunication giant PCCW) and another local mass-media company for the sale of the newspaper.

Different from the newspaper, the magazine is sold around the world, including Hong Kong, mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe, Australia, and the United States.