Music Weekly, China's first specialist music newspaper, will publish its 1,000th issue today.
Over the past two decades, the newspaper has developed from a local four-page fortnightly periodical into a nationally circulated weekly.
On May 30, 1979, the Beijing office of the Chinese Musicians' Association and the Beijing Mass Arts Center jointly began publishing the Beijing Music Newspaper, as Music Weekly was originally titled. It was only then that China ended its days without a music newspaper.
Most of the pioneer reporters and editors came from the Beijing local cultural organizations.
The paper published music news, profiles and interviews of musicians, introductions to both Western and traditional Chinese music, and reviews by both professional critics and ordinary fans. In its first decade, the fortnightly publication witnessed the twists and turns of popular music in China at a time when the country had just freed itself from the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). Early issues had heated debate on the style, content and concepts of pop and light music.
In 1989, the newspaper was renamed Music Weekly. The rapid development of music in China and increasing international musical interaction have provided the paper with more topics to write about.
In 2000, the newspaper was expanded into eight pages, covering world music, the Beijing scene, university campus music, music education, reviews, and concert information.
Zhou Guo'an, the paper's editor-in-chief, said: "Music Weekly has been a witness to the 24 years of musical history in China."
(China Daily June 20, 2003)
