The Guangming Daily, then romanized as Kuangming, was launched on 16 June 1949 in Beijing. It was originally the official newspaper of the China Democratic League, but later became the Chinese Communist Party's official organ for China's educated elite. During the Cultural Revolution, Guangming Daily was one of the only three national newspapers that remained in circulation, together with the People's Daily and the People's Liberation Army Daily, and the sole magazine Red Flag. The four periodicals, known as "the three papers and one magazine", dominated China's public affairs. For safety reasons, regional newspapers and specialist magazines all took cues from the big four, and largely reprinted articles from them. Before the death of Mao Zedong, the paper fell under the control of the radical Gang of Four led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing. In October 1976, Vice Premier Ji Dengkui played a significant role in taking over the Guangming Daily, helping Mao's successor Hua Guofeng oust the Gang of Four and put an end to the Cultural Revolution. In 1978, the liberal Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang appointed Yang Xiguang, formerly with Shanghai's Jiefang Daily, chief editor of the Guangming Daily. Under Yang's editorship, Guangming was the first Chinese newspaper to stop publishing Chairman Mao's Quotationson the front pageevery day. On 11 May 1978, it published Hu Fuming's famous editorial "Practice is the Sole Criterion for Testing Truth", refuting Hua Guofeng's Two Whatevers theory in support of Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening policy. The article was quickly reprinted in almost all major Chinese newspapers, cementing support for Deng's victory over Hua. Two Guangming Daily journalists, Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying, were killed on the night of 7 May 1999 in the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Circulation
Guangming Daily circulation reached 1.5 million in 1987, but as independent publications flourished during the Reform and Opening era, it dropped to 800,000 in 1993. To survive in the market, it reduced political coverage and propaganda, and increased its coverage on culture and science. As of 2013, the paper had a daily circulation of 490,000.
Guangming Online
In 1998, Guangming Daily launched its official website Guangming Online, which was one of the earliest news websites in China. As of July 2017, Alexa Internet ranks the website as the 73rd most visited in the world and 14th in China.
''The Beijing News''
In 2003, Guangming Daily partnered with the Nanfang Media Group to jointly publish The Beijing News, which quickly became one of Beijing's most influential newspapers.
