When the
People's Liberation Army occupied Beijing, all the
Kuomintang and private newspapers were forced to close or taken over by the Communist authorities. The initial organ of the Beijing Party Committee was
Beiping Jiefang Bao (Beiping Liberation News), but this soon ceased publication because many journalists had to move southward with the army. The committee felt it was necessary to create a new party newspaper, so preparatory work started in March 1951. In 1952, Fan Jin came from
Tianjin, and was appointed as the director of the Beijing Daily preparatory group. On October 1 of the same year, publication of
Beijing Daily started. The paper's header was inscribed by
Mao Zedong, who wrote the title with his calligraphy for the masthead in September 1952 when requested to do so by the editors, which was considered a tremendous honor. The inaugural issue was released on 1 October 1952, to correspond with the third anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was drafted by
Liao Mosha, then Head of the Publicity Department of the CCP's Beijing committee, and edited by Mayor
Peng Zhen. When its publication started, it lacked articles to receive, many contents were identical to those in ''
People's Daily. At a conference held on October 16, Peng Zhen advocated to publish shorter and more local articles. Shortly afterwards, a labor strike broke out, Beijing Daily
fought a successful propaganda campaign. From then, the newspaper became popular among workers in Beijing. As with other Chinese publications of the time, the layout of Beijing Daily'' was heavily influenced by the Soviet press, with simple language used to accommodate the lack of education among the populace. Additionally, the paper contained many visual representations, with photographs, cartoons,
lianhuanhua and other depictions, and several established artists such as
Li Hua would provide artwork for the paper. During the
Three Red Banners movement and the
Great Leap Forward,
Beijing Daily initially reported enthusiastically on Mao's initiatives, to the point that senior municipal party officials reprimanded the newspaper for highly exaggerated reports such as one that claimed the system of
backyard furnaces in
Chaoyan District had produced more steel than two of the city's metallurgical plants. From 1963 to 1966, the newspaper did not cooperate with the
Gang of Four. It refused to reprint
Yao Wenyuan's criticism of
Hai Rui Dismissed from Office. The North China Bureau of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party sent a work group to the newspaper office, reorganized the editorial board. On September 3, 1966, it was forced to cease publication. On March 17, 1967, the headquarters of PLA Beijing garrison declared military control of the newspaper office, many staff members were criticized and denounced. In April of the same year its publication resumed. In March 2018,
Beijing Daily won the Third
National Top 100 Newspapers in China. ==Content==