This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Beijing Review.

The English edition of the weekly was launched in March 1958 in Beijing, to be followed in succeeding years by French, Spanish, Japanese and German editions. Today, the five editions are distributed in more than 150 countries and regions, winning for the magazine the title of a "publication ambassador" for the Chinese people.

The publication of the magazine, in the first place, aimed to help the world understand China. In the early 1950s, soon after the founding of New China, politicians and journalists thought about publishing an English weekly to cater to the immediate needs of overseas readers.

At that time, although an English bi-weekly, named People's China, was available, many foreign journalists and readers complained it lacked both news value and diversity in content. Thus, the weekly Beijing Review emerged to replace it. The English edition of People's China, which stopped publication at the end of 1957, however, was regarded by historians of journalism as the predecessor of Beijing Review.

Forty years is about half of a person's life. For China, a country with an ancient civilization, it is but a twinkling of the eye. Yet, it is one rife with change.

Beijing Review has witnessed and recorded the tremendous changes in China over the past four decades, including the country's setbacks, progress, errors and achievements. In this sense, it can be viewed as a concise chronicle of modem China. This explains why the weekly is subscribed to and collected by major libraries, research institutions and Sinologists of many countries. In the future, the magazine will continue to feature news and information.

Beijing Review itself has also undergone great changes. With regard to its staff, all the initiators have retired, and almost half the current members were born after it was launched. Publishing technology has long completed the transition from block to computerization. Readers can also directly note changes in the magazine's layout and content. What remains unchanged is our principle--to help our readers understand China--and this will be our permanent aim.

Though we all live in the so-called information age relying on electronic communications, we still suffer a lack of understanding between nations. A typical example is the universal lack of understanding of China in the West. Many Westerners still believe China is as backward as that depicted by some movies, with men wearing long pigtails and women having their feet bound. Some others, on the contrary, believe the prosperity in Beijing, Shanghai　and Shenzhen represents the image of China as a whole, mistaking China for a developed country. They are unaware that China is a developing country with some 50 million people still living under the poverty line.

The reasons for the aforementioned misunderstandings are diverse. But we believe Beijing Review does provide the outside world with an approach to better understanding China. We hope it will become a window on China through which our readers can see a real China and get to know its attitude toward world affairs. How to help our readers better understand China is a permanent challenge. In turn, we think the magazine's improvement stems from the involvement and support of our readers.

In fact, Beijing Review has never been a magazine run purely by Chinese staff. It has also crystallized the painstaking efforts of numerous international friends and foreign experts. Over the past 40　years, about 460 foreign friends have worked here, making remarkable contributions and constituting an indispensable force in the magazine's development. This indicates that Beijing Review is actually a product of international exchange and cooperation.

With regard to international exchange, today is vastly different from 40 years ago. The variety of media introducing China to the world has greatly increased. Undoubtedly, this has exposed Beijing Review to acute competition and grim challenges. We believe constant reform can help our magazine withstand these challenges and seek survival and development amidst competition.

On the eve of our magazine's 40th anniversary, while hoping our readers will share our joy, we also expect your involvement--any suggestion from you will be given the highest importance.

(This article appears on page 4, VOL.41 NO.9, MARCH 2-8, 1998)