Following China’s participation in the 1954
Geneva Conference, Premier
Zhou Enlai, on his way back with the delegation, suggested establishing an English-language weekly, as the country’s growing international engagement made its main foreign publicity publication, then bi-weekly
People’s China, inadequate and untimely. Wu Wentao, who had served as
People’s Daily’s chief correspondent in Geneva during the conference, returned to China the following year and began preparations for such a weekly. In late 1957, as deputy head of the Foreign Languages Press, Wu formally submitted a proposal to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch the English weekly. On 18 November 1957, Vice Foreign Minister
Zhang Wentian convened discussions and subsequently submitted a report for the Premier’s approval. The proposal was endorsed by Foreign Minister
Chen Yi on 20 November 1957 for Zhou’s consideration. In early 1958, Zhou approved the launch and instructed the Foreign Ministry to provide support; his final authorization on 9 February 1958 set 1 March 1958 as the publication date of the English-language
Peking Review. The U.S. Postal Service initially restricted distribution of the magazine but the
U.S. Supreme Court overturned this policy in
Lamont v. Postmaster General in 1965. In 1963,
Peking Review launched Spanish, French, Japanese, and German editions. With the exception of the English edition, all foreign-language print editions ceased publication in 2000 and subsequently continued online. From 1967 onward,
Peking Review was significantly disrupted by the
Cultural Revolution. In 1967,
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai criticized the magazine and other external propaganda outlets for overly heavy-handed messaging influenced by Cultural Revolution rhetoric, urging restraint and humility in communication directed at international audiences. In 1969, most of the magazine’s staff were sent to participate in labor and political re-education at the
May Seventh Cadre Schools. In 1971, to flee the political turmoil, Jack I-Fan Chen, son of
Eugene Chen and then an editor of
Peking Review, left China with his wife and son for the United States with Zhou Enlai’s arrangement, officially to conduct external publicity work. Chen, who held a British passport, was among the only politically connected figures from China to emigrate during the
Cultural Revolution, and later advised U.S. President
Richard Nixon ahead of his 1972 visit to China. In 1973, at the invitation of the
American Society of Newspaper Editors, Wang Xi, the deputy editor-in-chief of
Peking Review, among a delegation of Chinese newspeople led by Zhu Muzhi, head of
Xinhua News Agency, visited the United States. The delegation was received by
Richard Nixon and later visited Canada, where it met Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau. ==References==