Introduction

This introductory chapter offers historical context and background and highlights major themes of the book. It situates the impact of digital technology on Chinese media in the two decades of the “golden age” of Chinese journalism (1990s and 2000s), and examines the ways in which media consumption patterns of the Chinese news-reading population have been transformed reflecting the rapid development of the internet and mobile telephony in the recent decade. It discusses how this has triggered a sharp decline in the readership and revenue of printed newspapers, leading to the multi-dimensional crisis of the Chinese newspaper press.