History

★December 3, 1941

It was during China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. From a cave in Yan'an in northwestern China, the voice of Japanese-Chinese announcer Hara Kiyosi marked the beginning of China's overseas broadcasting.

★September 11, 1947

China's voice reached the English-speaking world for the first time. Ms. Wei Lin is CRI's very first English announcer. A witness to CRI's transformation from a rickety wartime broadcasting station, Wei Lin retired in 1983, but continued to do part-time work as a volunteer.

★1949-1990s

When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, we moved from the Taihang Mountains to Beijing, the capital. During the years, we changed our name from Radio Peking to Radio Beijing, and finally, China Radio International.

★1997-1998

CRI went online in 1997 with the test-launch of its English-language Website CRIENGLISH.com. A year later on December 26, 1998, CRI Online was officially launched. It is a cluster of Websites in different languages. Today, CRI Online provides information in 61 languages, and has become one of China's leading news portals.

★February 27, 2006

CRI launched its first overseas FM radio station, CRI Nairobi FM 91.9, in Nairobi, Kenya.

★November 19, 2006

CRI's Vientiane FM radio station (FM 93.0) was launched with a ceremony in Vientiane, Laos. The event was attended by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Laotian President Choummaly Sayasone.

★December 6, 2007

A ceremony was held at CRI headquarters in Beijing to mark the opening of CRI's Confucius Classrooms. Since then, CRI has opened 12 Confucius Classrooms for Chinese-language learners in Kenya, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Italy, Tunisia, Australia and Tanzania.

★October 23, 2009

CRI worked with Guangxi Radio Station to launch "The Voice of Beibu Bay Radio". This introduced a new operating model where a state-level radio station cooperated with local media. So far, CRI has established radio stations in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Jilin and Heilongjiang and Yunnan provinces, which border neighboring countries. In doing so, CRI hopes to establish a network of radio stations that targets audiences in the countries and regions that border China.

★July 16, 2009

CRI Mobile was officially launched. It is China's first multimedia English-language Website optimized for mobile devices. Mobile phone users only need to type "m.cri.cn" to gain access to news, business, showbiz and travel information, as well as a Chinese-language learning studio, and audio and video content. In 2011, the French and Spanish versions were launched.

★January 18, 2011

China International Broadcasting Network (CIBN) was formally established. It is a multilingual and multifunctional broadcasting organization run by CRI. Acknowledging the fast development of the Internet and mobile web, the establishment of CIBN marked CRI's entry into the field of new media. CIBN aims to create a multilingual, multimedia, multi-terminal online network offering programs in video and audio, mobile radio and TV, IPTV and Internet TV formats.

★December 28, 2012

CRI advertisement resources platform was officially launched on CRI Online. It marked the establishment of the publishing network of CRI's advertisement.

★November 21, 2013

CRI's "Voice of the South China Sea" (FM102.0) was launched in Qionghai city of South China's Hainan province