Radio
was first introduced in China in the 1920s and 1930s. However, few
households had radio receivers. A few cities had commercial stations.
Most usage of radio was for political purpose, frequently on a local
area level.
The Chinese Communist Party first used radio in Yanan in March 1940 with a transmitter imported from Moscow. Xinhua New
Chinese Radio (XNCR) went on the air from Yanan on December 30, 1940.
XNCR transmitted to a larger geographical area after 1945, and its
programs became more regular and formalised with broadcasts of news,
official announcements, war bulletins, and art and literary programs.
The English service started on September 11, 1947, transmitting as XNCR from a cave in Shahe in the Taihang Mountains,[3] when
China was in the midst of a civil war, to announce newly conquered
areas and broadcast a Chinese political and cultural perspective to the
world at large.[4][5] The station moved from the Taihang Mountains to the capital, Peking,
when The People's Republic of China was formed in 1949. Its name was
changed to Radio Peking on April 10, 1950 and to Radio Beijing in 1983.
On January 1, 1993 the name of the station was again changed, this time
to China Radio International, in order to avoid any confusion with local
Beijing radio broadcasting.
