This is an overview of where to find China news in English, for anyone who wants to stay current on developments that affect manufacturing, trade, and policy. The list is not complete, but it is a good place to start when you want to understand China beyond the headlines. The sources differ a great deal in perspective, so follow a few from each group and form your own view.
Most Chinese news is published only in Chinese. The outlets below publish China news in English, and they fall into three groups: Chinese state or state-adjacent media, which tell you what the government wants understood; independent and Hong Kong-based media, which report on China from closer to the ground; and Western outlets and newsletters, which cover China for an outside audience.
English-language China news is a small window on a very large media landscape.
Chinese Media Publishing China News in English
China Daily: www.chinadaily.com.cn
China Daily is the largest source of China news in English published inside China, aimed at foreigners in the country and at Chinese readers improving their English. It is state-owned and its coverage of policy is the official line, usually translated or adapted from Chinese-language state media, alongside business, culture, and sport. It is useful precisely because it is official: when a policy is announced, China Daily’s version is the one the government wants understood. It publishes regional editions for Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United States.
Xinhua: english.news.cn
Xinhua is the state news agency and the source most other Chinese outlets draw on. Its English service publishes official announcements, economic data releases, and policy statements first and in full, which makes it the place to confirm what a regulation actually says. Its analysis is official; its data reporting is reliable and fast.
Global Times: www.globaltimes.cn
Global Times publishes in Chinese and English and is known as the nationalist voice of the Communist Party’s media, particularly in its Chinese edition. The English edition is somewhat more measured. It is worth reading not for balance but for signal: when Global Times attacks a foreign company or country, it often indicates where official displeasure is heading.
People’s Daily: en.people.cn
People’s Daily is the official newspaper of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, and its English site carries translated commentary and policy coverage. Its editorials are the most authoritative statement of Party positions available in English.
Caixin: www.caixinglobal.com
Caixin, founded in 2010 and Beijing-based, is China’s leading source of independent financial and business journalism, with a strong record of investigative reporting on corporate and financial matters. Caixin Global is its English service. Most content is behind a paywall, and it is worth paying for if you need to understand Chinese business and financial policy. Its reporting on trade, manufacturing, and export data is the most detailed available in English.
Sixth Tone: www.sixthtone.com
For China news in English on society, Sixth Tone, launched in 2016 by the Shanghai United Media Group, covers Chinese society, work, and daily life in English with more depth and less official tone than the national outlets. It is the best English source for how policy actually plays out among workers, factories, and consumers.
Hong Kong Media: China News in English from the Region
South China Morning Post: www.scmp.com
The South China Morning Post is Hong Kong’s leading English-language newspaper and the largest English outlet covering China from inside the region. Alibaba bought it in 2016, and its China coverage has since moved closer to Beijing’s framing on political questions while remaining the deepest source of business, technology, and trade reporting on China and Hong Kong. Most content is now paywalled. For a company dealing with Chinese suppliers, its coverage of manufacturing, tariffs, and the Greater Bay Area is essential.
Hong Kong Free Press: hongkongfp.com
A non-profit, independent, English-language outlet founded in 2015. It is free to read and is the main independent source on Hong Kong itself, which matters for anyone with a Hong Kong company or bank account.
No single source gives the whole picture. Read across the groups.
Western Media Covering China News in English
Reuters: www.reuters.com/world/china
Reuters offers the fastest China news in English on data and policy, with one of the largest foreign news operations in the country and is the fastest reliable source for economic data, trade figures, corporate news, and regulatory changes. Its factual reporting is what most other outlets cite.
Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/asia
Bloomberg’s China coverage is financial and market-focused, strong on trade policy, currency, and corporate developments. Largely paywalled.
Financial Times: www.ft.com/china
The FT has the deepest coverage of Chinese economic policy, trade relations, and industrial strategy among Western newspapers, and its reporting on tariffs and export controls is the most useful for a trading business. Paywalled.
The Economist: www.economist.com/topics/china
The Economist’s China news in English provides weekly analysis rather than daily news, with a consistent liberal-economic perspective. Its long pieces on the Chinese economy are the best single briefing for someone new to the subject.
The New York Times: www.nytimes.com/section/world/asia
Strong on China’s politics, society, and technology sector, with a large correspondent base. Its business coverage of China is less detailed than the FT’s or Bloomberg’s.
Nikkei Asia: asia.nikkei.com
Nikkei Asia, from Japan’s leading business publisher, covers Chinese manufacturing, supply chains, and technology from an Asian perspective with unusual depth on the electronics and component industries. For anyone sourcing electronics, it is among the most useful sources on this list.
Newsletters and Specialist China News in English
Sinocism: sinocism.com
Bill Bishop’s Sinocism is the longest-running and most widely read China newsletter among policy and business professionals: a daily digest of Chinese-language news with commentary, on Substack. Paid, and read by most people who work on China seriously.
Trivium China: triviumchina.com
A policy research firm that publishes daily and weekly briefings on Chinese economic and industrial policy in English, with a focus on what regulations mean in practice. Particularly strong on industrial policy, trade, and the regulatory calendar.
China Briefing: www.china-briefing.com
Published by Dezan Shira & Associates, China Briefing covers the practical side of doing business in China: tax, customs, foreign investment rules, and regulatory changes, written for foreign companies operating there. Free, and the first place to check when a rule affecting importers or foreign-owned factories changes.
How to Use These China News in English Sources
For a company sourcing from China, the useful habit with China news in English is to read one source from each group: an official Chinese outlet for what has been announced, Caixin or SCMP for what it means, a Western wire for confirmation and context, and one of the newsletters for the policy calendar ahead. Tariff changes, export-control announcements, and VAT rebate adjustments all appear first in Chinese-language official sources; Xinhua and China Briefing are where they surface as China news in English fastest. If you want the changes that affect your product flagged as they happen rather than found afterwards, that is part of what our product sourcing service provides.
