Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency, established on November 7, 1931, as the Red China News Agency in Ruijin, Jiangxi province, is China’s official state news agency operating as a ministry-level institution under the State Council. The agency adopted its current name in January 1937 while headquartered in Yan’an, Shaanxi. Its headquarters is located near Zhongnanhai in Beijing, with current president and Party Secretary Fu Hua (傅華), who was appointed in June 2022. By 2021, Xinhua had 181 bureaus globally, though more recent sources indicate over 170 overseas bureaus as of 2024, and publishes in multiple languages. Xinhua serves as the country’s leading news agency within the CCP’s news control system. Xinhua official news releases, or tonggao (通稿), are regarded as the authoritative version of events such as political meetings and CCP policy statements — authoritative in the sense that leadership approves them. In press orders and bans from the Central Propaganda Department, media will be instructed to “use only Xinhua releases” on particular stories. Today, Xinhua functions as an important channel for China’s leadership to disseminate its preferred narrative globally.
