A controversial figure in the media industry who was once responsible for overhauling China’s southern newspaper system, Xuan Zhen, has been appointed president of the People’s Daily, China’s official media.
In 2012, he was appointed as the head of the propaganda department of Guangdong province, in charge of overhauling the Guangzhou-based Southern China News, which was leading the reform movement in China.
In 2013, a mass protest by editors and staff of Southern Weekend against HOU Zhen’s instruction to delete the paper’s New Year’s message became a famous mass event in contemporary Chinese media history.
In 2015, Xuan Zhen was promoted to Vice Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, which was seen as an affirmation of his achievements.
In 2017, Xuan Zhen appeared as a spokesman at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), indicating his rising political status.
Prior to his appointment as president of the People’s Daily, Xuan Zhen served as its editor-in-chief.
However, the pro-China Dovision.com website overseas notes that Xuan Zhen was once a reformist. Evidence of this is the fact that during the post-June 1989 reform downturn, when he worked for the Economic Daily in 1991, he was instructed to report on news about the reform and opening up of Anhui Tongling.
Recent Comments