The foreign interests in and demand for information about China have never ceased. During a long period from the early 1960s to 2000, Beijing Review started publishing French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions. The magazine even published Indonesian, Portuguese and Arabic versions for some years to cover a wider readership. The mid-1960s was a golden time for the magazine's circulation, which exceeded 130,000 per issue.

From 1990 to 2000, the newsroom published a monthly called ChinAfrica, targeting the African continent. The English-French bilingual magazine, introducing China's economic and social development experiences and including analyses of all issues related to China-Africa relations, was very popular among African readers.

Although Beijing Review's print version is only available in English, the publication's multilingual website provides more information nowadays and receives 5 million hits every week from all over the world.

Writing news in foreign languages for foreign readers is tough work that requires a special group of employees. The newsroom boasts a talent pool of well-educated and hardworking journalists, who carefully study China and then explain its events and trends by writing stories and opinions. During the past 50 years, more than a thousand of foreign experts from every part of the globe have worked at Beijing Review as reporters, editors and copy editors. While helping Beijing Review to be readable and understandable for foreign readers, some of them became China hands themselves after working and living in China for years.

Accompanied by the clicking of typewriters and keyboards day and night over the years, the magazine has seen its number of volumes grow from No. 1 to No. 51. What's worth mentioning, nevertheless, is that its reputation as a serious news magazine about what's happening in China and how the Chinese view the world has remained unchanged. The 2,600 issues of Beijing Review serve as a history of China's social development. They also contain the government's work report from the annual National People's Congress, main content of every five-year plan for economic and social development, reports about every high-level foreign exchange and full texts of related joint declarations and agreements. The magazine's numerous articles cover a wide range of topics, including legislation, foreign policy, national projects, cultural events, scientific inventions and archaeological discoveries.

In order to follow the trend of media development in the 21st century, the editorial board of Beijing Review has shifted some of its focus to its online publications. By providing up-to-date information from time to time in different languages via the Internet, the online versions are more reader-friendly and give readers from every corner of the world quick access to China-related news and views. Digital versions of the old issues of Beijing Review have been added to the publication's online database, so that readers can retrieve every story published during the past 50 years, thereby allowing the history of modern China to flow in front of their eyes like a river.