The CCTV tower

In spring 1958, China established its first television station-Beijing Television, which later became China Central Television (CCTV). Beijing Television went into operation on September 2 of the same year. Thereafter, for quite a long period of time, television developed slowly as a result of the nation's slow economic development.

But with the introduction of the reform and opening policies, television entered a golden age, beginning in the 1980s. Thereafter, in the space of eight years the television population increased by 61 million every year. Now, there are 300 million TV sets and 1.1 billion TV viewers in China.

On May 4, 1992, Beijing Cable Television formally went into operation. Beijing viewers were delighted that they could at last watch clear images from dozens of channels instead of only a few.

The Chinese government spares no efforts to help border and remote areas get access to television broadcasts. Border and remote cities, counties and towns now all have television transmitting and relay facilities, and the number of television viewers is growing steadily. Television microwave links and satellite ground stations beam programs to 24 million people of various national minorities.

China Central Television and more than 3.000 other television stations nationwide as well as the satellite and ground network systems constitute the largest television network in the world. This underlines the tremendous strength of Chinese television in both quantity and quality and greatly livens up the culture of the nation with the largest population in the world.

Besides appraisal and giving awards, the yearly Shanghai Television Festival also conducts academic television exchanges and the import and export of television programs, and holds international television set exhibitions and technology exchanges. Shanghai has become the largest television program trading market in Asia.

On April 1, 1996, China Central Television leased three satellites and four transmitters from the Pan-American Corporation, enabling it to transmit programs on its international channel to most parts of the world. On July 1 and October 1, 1996, the programs of CCTV's opera and music channels were transmitted to all parts of the world by satellites of the Pan-American Corporation.

CCTV has established business relations with more than 250 television organizations in over 130 countries and regions.