Timeline

June 1981: China Daily was founded.

1983: Major national newspapers reached their peaks in terms of circulation, with China Youth Daily and Workers' Daily reaching 2.8 million and 2.2 million respectively.

February 1984: Southern Weekend launched in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. It has become one of the most influential weeklies in China.

September 1987: Beijing Institute of Computer Application Technology sends China's first e-mail which says: "Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner in the world."

October 1992: China's first satellite TV channel starts.

April 1994: China officially linked to the Internet, an event chosen as one of China's top 10 scientific and technological events of the year.

January 2000: Baidu.com founded, later becoming the world's largest Chinese search engine.

September 2005: Portal website sina.com.cn launches blogging service. Blogs, and now micro blogs, have become increasingly popular in China.

May 2008: China charts roadmap for the reform of news media and publishing sector, pledging to make the sector more market oriented.

March 2011: The number of Internet users in China reaches 477 million.

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page25)