The China Daily is an English-language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China. The Communist Party of China-controlled state-run publication was established in 1981 and has the widest print circulation (200,000 per issue) of any English-language newspaper in the country. The editorial office is in the Chaoyang District of Beijing, and the newspaper has branch offices in most major cities of China as well as several foreign capitals.

The Hong Kong Edition has been published since October 6, 1997 and aims to report the policies and directions of the PRC government, politics, economy, and social and cultural issues of both mainland China and Hong Kong.

As a newspaper group, the China Daily Group also publishes 21st Century, Beijing Weekend, China Business Weekly, the China Daily Hong Kong Edition and the Shanghai Star. The China Daily is a member of the Asia News Network.

Foreign editors at the paper have been told that like most state-owned enterprises, the China Daily will no longer receive government subsidies and the newspaper's publication group is expected to show a profit. To this end, the paper has adopted a more commercial approach and its editorial content is being pitched increasingly towards a wider range of readers so as to attract more advertising revenue. The paper is still running at a loss in the increasingly competitive Chinese publication market