China Daily launches satellite transmission for simultaneous printing in 1985.
The 25-year history of China Daily has seen the rapid application of the most up-to-date technologies, many of which have far outpaced its Chinese counterparts.
Even in its trial issues, the newspaper opted for offset print technology, which uses computers and film as the printing media, instead of the old letterpress printing.
In August 1985, China Daily used satellite telecommunication technology for the simultaneous printing of the newspaper in Beijing, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco, another first in the history of newspaper publishing in China.
In 1987, China Daily became the country's first newspaper to use a personal computer-based editorial system. This new system replaced the old Underwood and the Chinese brand "Flying Fish" typewriters. By then, all editorial processes, from writing, editing, proofreading to printing, were done on computers.
In February 1990, China Daily was entrusted the task of publishing an English daily for the 11th Asian Games in Beijing. Using this opportunity, the newspaper introduced colour printing equipment, leading its domestic counterparts again.
When most Chinese people knew little about the Internet, China Daily entered the digital world. In 1994, the online China Daily was set up.
Readers could access the contents even before the term Internet became popular in China.
In 1999, China Daily installed advanced printing presses and used colour printing for its main pages. In the next year, the newspaper installed broadband connections for all its computers.
In 2004, China Daily adopted a new editing system from Beijing Hi-tech Co Ltd, with which it is possible to develop the digital resources of China Daily in various ways.
(China Daily 05/31/2006 page2)
