China International Communications Group (CICG) is a foreign-language publishing and communications organization headquartered in Beijing, China, and owned and operated by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).^[1] Established in October 1949 as the China International Publishing Group, it has developed into a global media corporation.^[2]

Quick Facts Parent company, Status ...

China International
Communications Group
中国外文出版发行事业局
中国国际传播集团

Parent company	Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party
Status	Active
Founded	January 1949 (1949-01)
Founder	Soong Ching-ling
Country of origin	China
Headquarters location	Beijing
Distribution	Worldwide
Key people	Du Zhanyuan (Director)
Publication types	Books, magazines and periodicals
Official website	www.cicgcorp.com

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CICG owns seven subordinate publishing houses, i.e. Foreign Languages Press, New World Press, Morning Glory Publishers, Sinolingua, China Pictorial Publishing House, Dolphin Books, and New Star Publishers.^[3][4] The organization annually publishes over 3,000 titles of books and around 50 journals in more than 10 languages.^[5] Notable periodicals include Beijing Review, China Today, China Pictorial, People’s China, and China Report.^[4] Its subsidiary, the China International Book Trading Corporation, is in charge of the distribution.^[4][6]

It also runs 20 overseas branches in countries and regions, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Egypt, Mexico, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,^[4] with about 3,000 staff members, including around 100 foreign workers.^[5]

In addition to publishing, CICG operates the China Internet Information Center.^[7] It is also responsible for the implementation and management of the national translation test and appraisal for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.^[4]

Prominent people who have worked in the CICG include Nobel Literature Prize-winning novelist and playwright Gao Xingjian, Nobel Prize-nominated poet Bei Dao, actor and politician Ying Ruocheng (known for his role in the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor), translators Yang Xianyi and Ye Junjian, author Xiao Qian, non-fiction novel writer Xu Chi, cartoonist Ding Cong, former Chinese Foreign Minister Qiao Guanhua, and former UN Undersecretary General (1972–1979) Tang Mingzhao.^{[citation needed]}

Several foreign employees have also gained notoriety, including the pseudonymous author "Alex Hill," whose account of working as a foreign editor for the organization was widely read in 2015.^[8] In his account, the author writes of feckless bureaucracy, political correctness, and a general feeling of malaise among the many foreigners working in the compound.^[8]