The number of newspapers in mainland China has increased from 42—virtually all Communist Party papers—in 1968 to 382 in 1980 and more than 2,200 today.
In 2004, over 400 kinds of daily newspapers were published in China, their circulation reaching 80 million, the highest figure of any country in the world.
Also Orient-Observation Weekly came out in Shanghai, its largest shareholder being the Beijing-based Xinhua News Agency.
On the mainland, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xinhua was the major source of news and photographs for central and local newspapers.
This newspaper, which was provided for foreigners living or traveling in China but which also was read by a large number of Chinese literate in English, offered international news and sports from the major foreign wire services as well as interesting domestic news and feature articles.