# The world in China's People's Daily: how often the paper mentioned each country, 1946–2025

The People's Daily (Renmin Ribao) is the newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. In a transcription of it, 1,991,747 articles from 80 years, the Chinese names of the world's countries were searched for. Choose a country and the year you were born: you get how many articles carry its name that year, where it ranks among the other countries, and how it has risen or fallen since, month by month.

## How often China's newspaper mentioned a country in a given year

**Example: United Kingdom, 1997.** In 1997, 1,241 articles mention the United Kingdom: 4th of the 184 ranked country names found that year. That is 9.6% of the articles that mention at least one foreign country. From 1997 to 2025: 24,203 articles. The month with most: August 2008 (201).

- All the years counted: 73,821 articles · 4th of 190
- Best rank in a year with at least ten articles: 3rd, in 4 years; first in 1956
- Year with the largest share: 1958: 2,561 articles, or 20.1% of the articles that mention a foreign country
- Month with most articles: July 1958: 445 articles
- Day with most articles: 23 July 1958: 35 articles
- Chinese names counted, with the years in which each is in five or more articles: 英国 (1946–2025; 73,528), 联合王国 (1947–2015; 599), 不列颠 (1947–1998; 312), 大不列颠 (1949–2015; 429)

A country's rank can move a long way. Yugoslavia was 4th in 1999, with 1,084 articles: the busiest month is May, with 412, when the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was hit in a NATO attack (early on 8 May, Beijing time). In 2020 a single article mentions it. Albania was 5th in 1967, with 601 articles; in 1979 it has 13. Kazakhstan is in a single article in 1982 and in 339 in 2017, when it is 11th.

## The world as seen from the newspaper, year by year

In 1997, 38% of the articles mention at least one foreign country. Most often: the United States (in 28% of those articles), Japan (18%) and Russia (10%).

Each circle is a country name. Its area shows in how many of the year's articles that mention a foreign country the name appears. Circles do not overlap; in crowded regions some sit a little away from the country's position. A circle drawn as an outline is a name that has other uses too.

China has no circle: the People's Daily is its newspaper, and only the names of other countries are counted here. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao are not in the dictionary, so they have no circle and no count.

## What happens in the newspaper when a country's relations with China are broken off

The Chinese foreign ministry's pages on relations with each country record 24 episodes in which diplomatic relations were broken off or suspended after they had been established; one more, North Macedonia's, is in the ministry's history of relations with Central and Eastern Europe. That makes 25 episodes, with 23 countries. Most have the same cause, named by the ministry itself: the country's government established or restored relations with the authorities in Taiwan, and the Chinese government suspended relations.

In 22 of the 24 episodes that can be compared, the average number of articles a year that mention the country falls, in the years of the suspension, to less than half the average of the three years before. Indonesia is in 1,361 articles in 1965, 36 in 1972 and 455 in 1990, the year relations were restored.

Two episodes do not follow the pattern: for Liberia between 1989 and 1993 there are more articles during the suspension than before it, and for Senegal the number fell, but by less than half. Congo (Kinshasa) cannot be compared: until 1964 the paper wrote plain 刚果, a name counted here for the two Congos together.

In 20 of the 21 episodes that ended and have whole years to compare, the number rises again after relations are restored. The count shows only that articles thin out and return along with relations; it does not show who decided that, or why.

| Country | Broken off or suspended on | Resumed on | Articles a year: the three years before | during the suspension | the three years after |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | 30 October 1967 | 8 August 1990 | 1,002.7 | 167.2 | 338.0 |
| Burundi | 29 January 1965 | 13 October 1971 | 63.3 | 4.2 | 62.3 |
| Ghana | October 1966 | February 1972 | 249.7 | 15.8 | 111.7 |
| Benin | January 1966 | 29 December 1972 | 29.0 | 5.0 | 65.3 |
| Central African Republic | January 1966 | 20 August 1976 | 33.3 | 7.0 | 27.7 |
| Central African Republic | 8 July 1991 | 29 January 1998 | 16.3 | 7.0 | 14.0 |
| Congo (Kinshasa) | 18 September 1961 | 24 November 1972 | – | – | – |
| Liberia | 10 October 1989 | 10 August 1993 | 37.0 | 54.3 | 45.0 |
| Liberia | 9 September 1997 | 11 October 2003 | 45.0 | 14.0 | 40.3 |
| Lesotho | 7 April 1990 | 12 January 1994 | 16.7 | 4.7 | 14.0 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 31 May 1990 | 23 April 1998 | 15.0 | 5.6 | 12.3 |
| Niger | 30 July 1992 | 19 August 1996 | 23.3 | 10.0 | 30.7 |
| Burkina Faso | 4 February 1994 | 26 May 2018 | 22.0 | 8.4 | 30.0 |
| Gambia | 25 July 1995 | 17 March 2016 | 11.0 | 3.8 | 17.0 |
| Senegal | 9 January 1996 | 25 October 2005 | 41.0 | 28.8 | 52.0 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 11 July 1997 | 26 December 2016 | 5.7 | 2.2 | 15.0 |
| Chad | 12 August 1997 | 6 August 2006 | 23.3 | 8.6 | 29.0 |
| North Macedonia | 1999 | June 2001 | 37.3 | 15.0 (one year) | 32.7 |
| Nicaragua | 9 November 1990 | 10 December 2021 | 216.0 | 14.6 | 42.0 |
| Grenada | 7 August 1989 | 20 January 2005 | 7.0 | 1.6 | 7.3 |
| Belize | 23 October 1989 | not resumed | 9.3 | 1.9 | – |
| Kiribati | 29 November 2003 | 27 September 2019 | 8.0 | 0.7 | 18.3 |
| Nauru | 14 May 2005 | 24 January 2024 | 6.0 | 1.1 | 21.0 (one year) |
| Saint Lucia | 5 May 2007 | not resumed | 6.7 | 0.4 | – |
| Marshall Islands | 11 December 1998 | not resumed | 8.3 | 2.2 | – |

The dates are those on the ministry's pages, read on 4 October 2026; where a page gives only the month or the year, so does the table. In five cases (Central African Republic (1991), Liberia (1989), Chad (1997), Kiribati (2003), Nauru (2005)) the page gives only the day on which the country established or restored relations with the authorities in Taiwan; in four of them it says the Chinese government suspended relations “at once”. The table uses that day. For the Central African Republic, January 1966 is, on the page, the month Bokassa took power; the break followed. An average over fewer than three years has the number of years beside it. Episodes recorded only in other sources are not in the list.

### Albania: relations not broken, and the articles all but stop

China did not break off relations with Albania. On 7 July 1978 the Chinese foreign ministry told the Albanian embassy in a note that it was stopping economic and military aid and bringing its experts home; the note ends with the hope that normal relations between the two countries will be kept up and developed. In the transcription, the whole note is entered on page 1 of the issue of 14 July, under the headline:

> 阿尔巴尼亚领导在反华道路上越走越远　我被迫停止对阿援助和接回专家 / The Albanian leadership goes further and further down the anti-China road. China forced to stop aid to Albania and bring its experts home
> — People's Daily, 14 July 1978, page 1

The note counts 142 projects that China had agreed to build for Albania as complete plants, 91 of them finished, and nearly 6,000 Chinese experts sent over the years. The number of articles had been falling already: 617 in 1972, 243 in 1976, 112 in 1977. In 1978 there are 16. Until 1996 there are fewer than 90 a year; in 1999 there are 184.

## In one summer, the paper changed its name for South Korea

Until 1992 the paper wrote about South Korea as 南朝鲜 (Nan Chaoxian, “the south of Korea”). The name 韩国 (Hanguo), short for the official 大韩民国, Republic of Korea, hardly appeared: in 1991, 453 articles carry the first name and 11 the second.

China and South Korea established diplomatic relations on 24 August 1992 (the Chinese ministry's page). The two names stood at 29 to 3 in June 1992, 35 to 28 in July, 24 to 84 in August, 6 to 87 in September and 1 to 83 in December. In the whole of 1993 the old name is in 12 articles, the new one in 893.

In the occurrences from before 1990 that were read as a sample, the string 韩国 is mostly the start of a personal name (韩国栋), so it counts for the country only from 1990; real mentions of South Korea written 韩国 before 1990 are left out.

## The United States: from 6,235 articles a year to 787

The United States is the most-mentioned country in 70 of the 80 years; in the other 10, the Soviet Union. The year with most articles is 1965: 6,235, or 56% of the articles that mention a foreign country. In 2003 there were 4,551. In 2024 there are 787, the lowest number in a full year and 12% of the articles that mention a foreign country. In 2025 the number rises again, to 1,320.

Four common abbreviations do not make up the difference. Articles that use only one of them and not the full name (美方, “the American side”; 中美, “Sino-American”; 美军, “US forces”; 美苏, “American–Soviet”) number between 65 and 152 a year since 2015.

In the 1960s, alongside 美国, the paper often wrote 美帝, “US imperialism”. The word is in 53,332 articles: 27,002 in the 1960s, 269 in the 1980s. 苏修, “Soviet revisionism”, is in 7,511, nearly all of them (7,498) between 1960 and 1979.

A study by Li, Zhang, Jiang and Zhong (2025) examined the paper's foreign news from 1993 to 2022; the count here, country by country, runs to 2025.

## Which country was mentioned most in each month

In nearly all of the 955 months, the country mentioned in most articles is the United States or the Soviet Union. Another country passed both in 30 months; in three more it was level with one of them.

Fourteen of the 30 months fall in the last 40, from September 2022 to December 2025. The names in first place in those months: Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, France, South Africa, Brazil, Japan. The other 16 are scattered over 915 months. September 2022 is the month of Xi Jinping's first trip abroad since the pandemic began, to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (14–16 September). The period was not chosen beforehand: it is where the run begins. In some months the gap is one to three articles; the table below shows them all.

In 2019, @AirMovingDevice on Twitter showed, in two grids of flags, which country came first in the paper's headlines, month by month from 1947 to 2018. Here whole articles are counted, text included, up to 2025. Counted in headlines only, by the same rule, another country leads alone in 198 months and shares first place in 25 more (in 22 of them with the United States or the Soviet Union).

| Month | Most mentioned | Articles | Second | Articles | That month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1952 | North Korea (level) | 224 | United States | 224 |  |
| August 1953 | North Korea | 345 | Soviet Union | 322 |  |
| November 1956 | Egypt | 578 | Soviet Union | 549 | Israel attacks Egypt on 29 October 1956; Britain and France begin air attacks on 31 October |
| January 1973 | Vietnam | 238 | United States | 226 | the Paris peace accords on Vietnam, signed on 27 January 1973 |
| February 1973 | Vietnam | 212 | United States | 204 | the Paris peace accords on Vietnam, signed on 27 January 1973 |
| October 1973 | Israel | 166 | United States | 158 | Egypt and Syria attack Israel on 6 October 1973 |
| September 1974 | North Korea | 128 | Japan | 118 |  |
| October 1978 | Japan | 169 | Soviet Union | 138 | Deng Xiaoping visits Japan; the ratifications of the peace and friendship treaty are exchanged in Tokyo |
| January 1979 | Vietnam | 248 | Cambodia | 246 |  |
| March 1979 | Vietnam | 261 | United States | 188 |  |
| April 1979 | Japan | 168 | United States | 165 |  |
| September 1984 | Japan | 274 | United States | 271 |  |
| September 1990 | Japan | 331 | United States | 287 | the Asian Games in Beijing, 22 September – 7 October 1990 |
| October 1990 | Japan | 280 | United States | 270 | the Asian Games in Beijing, 22 September – 7 October 1990 |
| March 2011 | Japan | 162 | United States | 160 | the earthquake in Japan, 11 March 2011 |
| August 2015 | Japan | 270 | United States | 231 |  |
| June 2018 | Russia | 134 | United States | 109 | the football World Cup in Russia, 14 June – 15 July 2018 |
| November 2021 | Russia (level) | 67 | United States | 67 |  |
| September 2022 | Uzbekistan | 72 | United States | 71 | Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, 14–16 September 2022 |
| November 2022 | Indonesia | 101 | Thailand | 75 | Xi Jinping in Bali (14–17 November) for the G20 summit and in Bangkok (17–19 November 2022) for the APEC meeting |
| March 2023 | Russia | 88 | United States | 86 | Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia, 20–22 March 2023 |
| August 2023 | South Africa (level) | 79 | United States | 79 |  |
| October 2023 | Indonesia | 76 | Pakistan | 69 | Indonesia's president in Beijing, 17 October 2023; the Jakarta–Bandung high-speed railway enters service |
| December 2023 | Vietnam | 65 | United States | 62 | Xi Jinping's state visit to Vietnam, 12–13 December 2023 |
| May 2024 | France | 111 | United States | 71 | Xi Jinping's state visit to France, from 5 May 2024 |
| July 2024 | France | 62 | United States | 61 |  |
| August 2024 | France | 77 | United States | 65 |  |
| September 2024 | South Africa | 61 | United States | 49 | the summit of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, Beijing, 4–6 September 2024 |
| October 2024 | Russia | 68 | Brazil | 50 | Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, for the BRICS summit, 22–24 October 2024 |
| November 2024 | Brazil | 112 | Peru | 81 | Xi Jinping in Peru, 13–17 November, and in Brazil, 17–21 November 2024 |
| July 2025 | Japan | 117 | United States | 110 |  |
| August 2025 | Japan | 147 | United States | 111 |  |
| September 2025 | Japan | 128 | United States | 110 | the gathering and parade in Beijing for 80 years since victory in the war against Japan, 3 September 2025 |

## How many of the articles mention the rest of the world

In 1947, 22% of the articles in the transcription mention at least one foreign country. In 1963 it is 71%, the most, and in 1984, 44%. In 2022 it is 21%, the least in all 80 years; in 2025, 23%.

The percentages describe the transcription. The length of articles, the number of pages and what was typed up change from one decade to the next, so the percentages do not measure the paper's interest directly. That is why a country's share is worked out here from the articles that mention a foreign country, not from all of them.

## All 197 country names

| Country | Chinese names counted (three at most) | Articles, 1946–2025 | Rank | Year with most | Best rank (in years with at least ten articles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 美国, 美帝, 美利坚 | 258,506 | 1 | 1965 | 1st (1946) |
| Japan | 日本 | 125,108 | 2 | 1995 | 2nd (1946) |
| Soviet Union | 苏联, 苏修, 苏维埃社会主义共和国联盟 | 110,226 | 3 | 1957 | 1st (1949) |
| United Kingdom | 英国, 联合王国, 大不列颠 | 73,821 | 4 | 1958 | 3rd (1956) |
| Germany | 德国, 西德, 德意志民主共和国 | 70,732 | 5 | 1987 | 2nd (2020) |
| France | 法国, 法兰西 | 65,843 | 6 | 1956 | 2nd (2024) |
| North Korea | 朝鲜 | 55,482 | 7 | 1952 | 2nd (1951) |
| Vietnam | 越南, 越南民主共和国, 越南南方 | 55,478 | 8 | 1965 | 2nd (1963) |
| Russia | 俄罗斯, 俄国, 沙俄 | 46,235 | 9 | 1996 | 2nd (2017) |
| South Korea | 韩国, 南朝鲜, 大韩民国 | 40,033 | 10 | 2002 | 3rd (2002) |
| India | 印度 | 39,210 | 11 | 1956 | 4th (1955) |
| Italy | 意大利, 义大利 | 30,739 | 12 | 1986 | 7th (1946) |
| Thailand | 泰国, 泰王国, 暹罗 | 28,000 | 13 | 1980 | 7th (1985) |
| Cambodia | 柬埔寨, 高棉 | 27,868 | 14 | 1970 | 3rd (1970) |
| Egypt | 埃及, 阿联, 阿拉伯联合共和国 | 26,255 | 15 | 1956 | 4th (1956) |
| Indonesia | 印度尼西亚, 印尼 | 26,166 | 16 | 1965 | 4th (1965) |
| Australia | 澳大利亚, 澳洲 | 23,964 | 17 | 2008 | 8th (2007) |
| Pakistan | 巴基斯坦, 东巴基斯坦, 西巴基斯坦 | 23,014 | 18 | 1965 | 7th (2021) |
| Israel | 以色列 | 22,786 | 19 | 1982 | 7th (1982) |
| Canada | 加拿大 | 22,765 | 20 | 1988 | 8th (1988) |
| Brazil | 巴西 | 20,441 | 21 | 2014 | 4th (2024) |
| Poland | 波兰 | 19,698 | 22 | 1957 | 7th (1949) |
| Laos | 老挝, 寮国 | 19,328 | 23 | 1961 | 3rd (1961) |
| Iraq | 伊拉克 | 18,783 | 24 | 2003 | 3rd (2003) |
| Palestine | 巴勒斯坦 | 18,460 | 25 | 1982 | 6th (1969) |
| Spain | 西班牙 | 18,260 | 26 | 1992 | 10th (2008) |
| Cuba | 古巴 | 18,072 | 27 | 1962 | 3rd (1962) |
| Iran | 伊朗 | 17,521 | 28 | 1980 | 7th (1987) |
| Singapore | 新加坡, 星加坡 | 17,443 | 29 | 1992 | 10th (2012) |
| South Africa | 南非 | 16,964 | 30 | 1986 | 8th (1986) |
| Romania | 罗马尼亚 | 16,793 | 31 | 1978 | 8th (1971) |
| Netherlands | 荷兰 | 16,159 | 32 | 1995 | 13th (1947) |
| Malaysia | 马来西亚, 马来亚 | 15,826 | 33 | 1965 | 8th (2025) |
| Yugoslavia | 南斯拉夫, 南联盟 | 15,510 | 34 | 1999 | 4th (1999) |
| Mexico | 墨西哥 | 15,382 | 35 | 1986 | 15th (1975) |
| Hungary | 匈牙利 | 14,732 | 36 | 1957 | 9th (1957) |
| Afghanistan | 阿富汗 | 14,363 | 37 | 1980 | 3rd (1980) |
| Sweden | 瑞典 | 14,118 | 38 | 1995 | 17th (1995) |
| Philippines | 菲律宾, 菲律滨 | 13,834 | 39 | 1986 | 12th (1946) |
| Syria | 叙利亚 | 13,413 | 40 | 1957 | 10th (1957) |
| Czechoslovakia | 捷克斯洛伐克, 捷克 | 13,253 | 41 | 1957 | 9th (1948) |
| Myanmar | 缅甸 | 13,241 | 42 | 1961 | 10th (1967) |
| Belgium | 比利时 | 12,901 | 43 | 1960 | 16th (2020) |
| Switzerland | 瑞士 | 12,869 | 44 | 1998 | 20th (2017) |
| Albania | 阿尔巴尼亚 | 12,769 | 45 | 1963 | 5th (1967) |
| Mongolia | 蒙古, 外蒙古 | 12,705 | no rank | 1961 |  |
| Greece | 希腊 | 11,952 | 46 | 2008 | 7th (1947) |
| Algeria | 阿尔及利亚 | 11,920 | 47 | 1960 | 13th (1961) |
| Argentina | 阿根廷 | 11,859 | 48 | 1982 | 14th (1982) |
| Lebanon | 黎巴嫩 | 11,707 | 49 | 1958 | 7th (1983) |
| Turkey | 土耳其 | 11,218 | 50 | 1957 | 21st (1947) |
| Congo (both states) | 刚果, 扎伊尔, 刚果（布） | 11,016 | 51 | 1961 | 8th (1965) |
| Bulgaria | 保加利亚 | 10,289 | 52 | 1959 | 15th (1951) |
| Saudi Arabia | 沙特, 沙地阿拉伯 | 9,892 | 53 | 1990 | 14th (2023) |
| Denmark | 丹麦 | 9,262 | 54 | 1986 | 27th (1951) |
| Sri Lanka | 斯里兰卡, 锡兰 | 8,962 | 55 | 1964 | 20th (1963) |
| New Zealand | 新西兰, 纽西兰 | 8,731 | 56 | 1985 | 26th (1966) |
| Portugal | 葡萄牙 | 8,680 | 57 | 1999 | 22nd (1999) |
| Austria | 奥地利 | 8,657 | 58 | 1994 | 25th (1955) |
| Tanzania | 坦桑尼亚, 桑给巴尔, 坦噶尼喀 | 8,259 | 59 | 1964 | 16th (1964) |
| Chile | 智利 | 8,148 | 60 | 1972 | 17th (1972) |
| Jordan | 约旦, 外约旦 | 8,123 | 61 | 1958 | 11th (1958) |
| Nepal | 尼泊尔 | 8,007 | 62 | 1960 | 23rd (1963) |
| Sudan | 苏丹, 南苏丹 | 7,971 | no rank | 1977 |  |
| Kuwait | 科威特 | 7,909 | 63 | 1991 | 9th (1991) |
| Norway | 挪威 | 7,872 | 64 | 1994 | 30th (1950) |
| Ukraine | 乌克兰 | 7,789 | 65 | 2022 | 14th (2022) |
| Finland | 芬兰 | 7,460 | 66 | 1994 | 29th (1948) |
| Kazakhstan | 哈萨克斯坦, 哈萨克共和国, 哈萨克苏维埃 | 7,435 | 67 | 2017 | 11th (2017) |
| Tunisia | 突尼斯 | 7,346 | 68 | 1993 | 29th (1958) |
| Peru | 秘鲁 | 7,051 | 69 | 1973 | 22nd (1972) |
| Venezuela | 委内瑞拉 | 6,921 | 70 | 1960 | 36th (1963) |
| Kenya | 肯尼亚, 怯尼亚 | 6,428 | 71 | 1964 | 27th (2023) |
| Morocco | 摩洛哥 | 6,373 | 72 | 1961 | 34th (1958) |
| Nigeria | 尼日利亚 | 6,255 | 73 | 1973 | 32nd (2020) |
| Colombia | 哥伦比亚 | 6,229 | 74 | 1983 | 39th (1969) |
| Angola | 安哥拉 | 6,114 | 75 | 1976 | 10th (1976) |
| Zimbabwe | 津巴布韦, 罗得西亚, 罗德西亚 | 6,077 | 76 | 1980 | 22nd (1977) |
| Yemen | 也门, 阿拉伯也门共和国, 民主也门 | 5,547 | 77 | 1972 | 20th (1970) |
| Ethiopia | 埃塞俄比亚, 阿比西尼亚 | 5,487 | 78 | 2023 | 31st (2023) |
| Libya | 利比亚 | 5,132 | 79 | 1986 | 11th (2011) |
| Zambia | 赞比亚, 北罗得西亚, 北罗德西亚 | 5,078 | 80 | 1974 | 25th (1973) |
| Ghana | 加纳, 黄金海岸 | 4,989 | 81 | 1961 | 21st (1961) |
| Bangladesh | 孟加拉 | 4,961 | 82 | 1981 | 32nd (1976) |
| Mali | 马里, 法属苏丹 | 4,806 | no rank | 1964 |  |
| United Arab Emirates | 阿联酋, 阿拉伯联合酋长国 | 4,743 | 83 | 2023 | 20th (2024) |
| Guinea | 几内亚, 法属几内亚 | 4,695 | 84 | 1960 | 21st (1966) |
| Namibia | 纳米比亚, 西南非洲, 西南非 | 4,655 | 85 | 1989 | 36th (1989) |
| Somalia | 索马里 | 4,593 | 86 | 1978 | 14th (1977) |
| Mozambique | 莫桑比克, 莫三鼻给 | 4,551 | 87 | 1974 | 25th (1974) |
| Panama | 巴拿马 | 4,468 | 88 | 1964 | 20th (1964) |
| Uzbekistan | 乌兹别克 | 4,400 | 89 | 2025 | 22nd (2025) |
| Belarus | 白俄罗斯 | 4,022 | 90 | 2015 | 28th (1946) |
| Ecuador | 厄瓜多尔 | 3,940 | 91 | 1962 | 41st (1962) |
| Uruguay | 乌拉圭 | 3,926 | 92 | 1990 | 40th (1968) |
| Serbia | 塞尔维亚, 塞尔维亚和黑山, 塞黑 | 3,811 | 93 | 1999 | 28th (2024) |
| Senegal | 塞内加尔 | 3,647 | 94 | 1981 | 41st (1977) |
| Qatar | 卡塔尔 | 3,615 | 95 | 2003 | 38th (2011) |
| Kyrgyzstan | 吉尔吉斯 | 3,489 | 96 | 2025 | 28th (2025) |
| Uganda | 乌干达 | 3,431 | 97 | 1965 | 51st (1965) |
| Ireland | 爱尔兰 | 3,410 | 98 | 1996 | 59th (2004) |
| Cameroon | 喀麦隆 | 3,336 | 99 | 1960 | 49th (1960) |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 波黑, 波斯尼亚, 黑塞哥维那 | 3,298 | 100 | 1995 | 9th (1995) |
| Nicaragua | 尼加拉瓜 | 3,273 | 101 | 1986 | 33rd (1983) |
| Bolivia | 玻利维亚 | 3,115 | 102 | 1960 | 51st (1969) |
| Cyprus | 塞浦路斯 | 3,070 | 103 | 1956 | 44th (1958) |
| Croatia | 克罗地亚 | 3,011 | 104 | 1995 | 25th (1995) |
| Luxembourg | 卢森堡 | 2,982 | 105 | 1998 | 55th (1954) |
| Tajikistan | 塔吉克斯坦, 塔吉克共和国, 塔吉克苏维埃 | 2,842 | 106 | 2023 | 38th (2025) |
| Czechia | 捷克 | 2,776 | 107 | 2008 | 38th (2016) |
| Costa Rica | 哥斯达黎加 | 2,750 | 108 | 1960 | 60th (1960) |
| Oman | 阿曼 | 2,697 | no rank | 1957 |  |
| Mauritania | 毛里塔尼亚 | 2,622 | 109 | 1974 | 37th (1967) |
| Dominican Republic | 多米尼加 | 2,336 | 110 | 1965 | 14th (1965) |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 科特迪瓦, 象牙海岸 | 2,312 | 111 | 1997 | 70th (2003) |
| Guatemala | 危地马拉 | 2,302 | 112 | 1960 | 40th (1954) |
| El Salvador | 萨尔瓦多 | 2,266 | no rank | 1983 |  |
| Rwanda | 卢旺达 | 2,249 | 113 | 1994 | 44th (2018) |
| Bahrain | 巴林 | 2,223 | 114 | 1987 | 80th (1987) |
| Liberia | 利比里亚 | 2,130 | 115 | 1990 | 56th (2014) |
| Iceland | 冰岛 | 2,109 | 116 | 1986 | 36th (1946) |
| Georgia | 格鲁吉亚 | 2,097 | 117 | 2008 | 51st (2008) |
| Chad | 乍得 | 2,055 | 118 | 1983 | 52nd (1983) |
| Sierra Leone | 塞拉利昂, 塞拉勒窝内 | 2,044 | 119 | 1973 | 44th (1971) |
| Guinea-Bissau | 几内亚（比绍）, 几内亚比绍, 葡属几内亚 | 2,025 | 120 | 1974 | 27th (1974) |
| Madagascar | 马达加斯加, 马尔加什 | 1,992 | 121 | 1976 | 68th (1976) |
| Azerbaijan | 阿塞拜疆 | 1,986 | 122 | 1992 | 39th (1946) |
| Togo | 多哥 | 1,964 | 123 | 1977 | 71st (1974) |
| Slovakia | 斯洛伐克 | 1,914 | 124 | 1992 | 44th (1948) |
| Burundi | 布隆迪 | 1,906 | 125 | 1964 | 57th (1964) |
| Turkmenistan | 土库曼 | 1,852 | 126 | 2023 | 51st (1950) |
| Honduras | 洪都拉斯 | 1,824 | 127 | 1983 | 66th (1983) |
| Gabon | 加蓬 | 1,782 | 128 | 1974 | 71st (1978) |
| Botswana | 博茨瓦纳, 贝专纳 | 1,764 | 129 | 1986 | 64th (1967) |
| Jamaica | 牙买加 | 1,739 | 130 | 2008 | 70th (2008) |
| Mauritius | 毛里求斯 | 1,709 | 131 | 1973 | 69th (2018) |
| Niger | 尼日尔 | 1,687 | 132 | 1977 | 70th (1977) |
| Guyana | 圭亚那, 英属圭亚那 | 1,661 | 133 | 1975 | 49th (1975) |
| Brunei | 文莱, 汶莱 | 1,629 | 134 | 2001 | 50th (2013) |
| Benin | 贝宁, 达荷美 | 1,628 | 135 | 1976 | 65th (1976) |
| Lithuania | 立陶宛 | 1,559 | 136 | 1991 | 66th (1949) |
| Malta | 马耳他, 马尔他 | 1,514 | 137 | 1972 | 78th (1972) |
| Armenia | 亚美尼亚 | 1,501 | 138 | 1992 | 71st (1949) |
| Slovenia | 斯洛文尼亚 | 1,494 | 139 | 2008 | 70th (2002) |
| Latvia | 拉脱维亚 | 1,404 | 140 | 1991 | 59th (1949) |
| Haiti | 海地 | 1,358 | 141 | 1994 | 40th (2010) |
| Paraguay | 巴拉圭 | 1,358 | 141 | 1959 | 72nd (1959) |
| Fiji | 斐济 | 1,340 | 143 | 1987 | 86th (1987) |
| Papua New Guinea | 巴布亚新几内亚 | 1,286 | 144 | 2018 | 67th (2018) |
| Estonia | 爱沙尼亚 | 1,220 | 145 | 1992 | 57th (1950) |
| Cabo Verde | 佛得角, 几内亚和佛得角非洲独立党 | 1,219 | 146 | 1973 | 77th (1973) |
| Maldives | 马尔代夫 | 1,211 | 147 | 2024 | 67th (2024) |
| Burkina Faso | 布基纳法索, 上沃尔特, 上伏尔特 | 1,176 | 148 | 1973 | 87th (2020) |
| Lesotho | 莱索托, 巴苏陀兰 | 1,155 | 149 | 1964 | 53rd (1966) |
| Djibouti | 吉布提 | 1,153 | 150 | 1977 | 68th (2017) |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 特立尼达 | 1,058 | 151 | 1975 | 78th (2013) |
| Equatorial Guinea | 赤道几内亚, 西属几内亚 | 1,032 | 152 | 1971 | 59th (1971) |
| Montenegro | 黑山, 塞尔维亚和黑山, 黑山共和国 | 991 | 153 | 2003 | 57th (2003) |
| Malawi | 马拉维, 尼亚萨兰 | 973 | 154 | 1959 | 63rd (1959) |
| Gambia | 冈比亚 | 923 | 155 | 1975 | 86th (1975) |
| Central African Republic | 中非共和国, 中非帝国 | 873 | 156 | 1976 | 76th (1965) |
| North Macedonia | 马其顿 | 869 | 157 | 1999 | 61st (1999) |
| Moldova | 摩尔多瓦 | 835 | 158 | 1992 | 72nd (1992) |
| Seychelles | 塞舌尔 | 763 | 159 | 1983 | 104th (2007) |
| Timor-Leste | 东帝汶, 葡属帝汶 | 754 | 160 | 1976 | 87th (1976) |
| Bhutan | 不丹 | 734 | 161 | 1959 | 84th (1959) |
| Suriname | 苏里南, 荷属圭亚那, 苏利南 | 671 | 162 | 1976 | 110th (2013) |
| Comoros | 科摩罗 | 653 | 163 | 1976 | 99th (1966) |
| Vanuatu | 瓦努阿图, 新赫布里底 | 647 | 164 | 2022 | 99th (2022) |
| Barbados | 巴巴多斯 | 645 | 165 | 1983 | 110th (1980) |
| Samoa | 西萨摩亚, 萨摩亚 | 606 | 166 | 1976 | 114th (1976) |
| Eritrea | 厄立特里亚, 厄立特利亚 | 598 | 167 | 2000 | 84th (1949) |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 圣多美 | 577 | 168 | 1975 | 76th (1975) |
| Holy See | 梵蒂冈, 教廷 | 548 | 169 | 1951 | 48th (1948) |
| Monaco | 摩纳哥 | 532 | 170 | 1993 | 78th (2019) |
| Grenada | 格林纳达 | 506 | 171 | 1983 | 68th (1983) |
| Tonga | 汤加 | 486 | 172 | 2022 | 93rd (2022) |
| South Sudan | 南苏丹 | 480 | 173 | 2016 | 67th (2016) |
| Eswatini | 斯威士兰 | 473 | 174 | 1964 | 66th (1966) |
| Bahamas | 巴哈马 | 441 | 175 | 2009 | 110th (2009) |
| Micronesia | 密克罗尼西亚 | 387 | 176 | 1991 | 129th (1991) |
| San Marino | 圣马力诺 | 387 | 176 | 1988 | 113th (1972) |
| Sikkim | 锡金 | 351 | 178 | 1965 | 74th (1967) |
| Solomon Islands | 所罗门群岛 | 346 | 179 | 2023 | 93rd (2023) |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 安提瓜 | 332 | 180 | 1983 | 127th (1983) |
| Kiribati | 基里巴斯, 吉尔伯特群岛 | 308 | 181 | 2022 | 120th (2022) |
| Dominica | 多米尼克, 多米尼加联邦 | 243 | no rank | 2024 |  |
| Marshall Islands | 马绍尔群岛 | 233 | 182 | 1991 | 92nd (1954) |
| Liechtenstein | 列支敦士登 | 186 | 183 | 1980 | 138th (1980) |
| Belize | 伯利兹, 英属洪都拉斯 | 184 | 184 | 1987 | 121st (1987) |
| Saint Lucia | 圣卢西亚 | 180 | 185 | 1997 | 126th (1979) |
| Nauru | 瑙鲁 | 180 | 185 | 2024 | 93rd (2024) |
| Andorra | 安道尔 | 97 | 187 | 1994 |  |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 圣文森特 | 96 | no rank | 1979 |  |
| Tuvalu | 图瓦卢, 埃利斯群岛 | 83 | 188 | 1978 |  |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 圣基茨, 圣克里斯托弗和尼维斯 | 82 | 189 | 1975 |  |
| Palau | 帕劳 | 64 | 190 | 1997 |  |

## How it was counted

The text. The source is an unofficial transcription of the People's Daily, with a date, a page label, a headline and a text for each article, from May 1946 to December 2025. After 22,299 duplicates that repeat another record exactly were removed, 1,991,747 articles remain, in 955 months; January 1971 is missing from the transcription. It is not an official archive of the newspaper, and what was transcribed differs from one period to another. Everything this page says about the paper is counted in that transcription.

The rule. An article counts for a country if its headline or text contains one of the country's Chinese names. The dictionary has 205 entries: today's states (without China), plus Palestine, the Holy See and twelve entries that are historical or counted separately (the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Sikkim, the two Germanys, the two Vietnams, the two Yemens and the two Congos). There are 322 names and 110 strings that contain a country name but mean something else and are set aside (内蒙古, Inner Mongolia; 印度洋, the Indian Ocean). One-character abbreviations (美, 苏) and their compounds (中美, 美方) are not counted; 美帝 and 苏修 are.

Names are counted, not states. A number from a year in which the state did not yet exist belongs to the name: a Soviet republic, a colony, a region. Each country's card shows the names counted and the years in which they occur. Some names are counted only between certain years, because in the others they meant something else: 安哥拉 is, in the paper's first years, Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and counts for Angola only from 1955; 孟加拉 is Bengal before 1971; 捷克 is Czechoslovakia up to and including 1992. Germany, Vietnam, Yemen and Congo include the articles that mention one of their parts.

How often the dictionary is wrong. 17,778 occurrences were read one by one, from every decade, along with 596 occurrences that the rules had rejected. The reading was done by language models, not by a person who knows Chinese. By their verdict, 97.2% of the counted occurrences did mention the country; weighted by how often each name occurs, 99.7%. Of those rejected, 44 were about the country after all. Of 2,388 occurrences read a second time, independently, the verdict was the same for 2,372.

Names without a rank. A country is ranked only if, by the sample, at least 95% of the occurrences of its names are about it; in that estimate each name weighs as much as it occurs. Seven names are under that bar and appear with their number, without a rank, and as an outlined circle on the map: Dominica, El Salvador, Mali, Mongolia, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan. The card of each says what else the name means.

The rank. A country's rank in a year is 1 plus the number of names with more articles that year, among the 190 names that are ranked. The share is the country's number of articles divided by the number of articles that mention at least one foreign country (786,311 in all, 39.5% of the transcription).

The dates. In the months when China kept summer time, from 1986 to 1991, the transcription dates each issue one day early; the dates were corrected before counting by month and by day.

What the page does not show. The number of articles that mention a country says nothing about what they said, or whether the country was their subject. An article that lists twenty countries counts for each. For Romania there is a separate page with translated headlines: Romania in China's newspaper; its total, 16,793 articles, is the same as the one here.

The headline of 14 July 1978. The translation was made for this page. Its second part follows the English of the note in Peking Review (No. 29, 21 July 1978): “forced cessation of aid to Albania and bringing back of its experts”. 我, the pronoun by which the paper writes of China (“our side”), is given as “China”.

### Sources

- [Papersnake, “people_daily_news” (Hugging Face): an unofficial transcription of the People's Daily, 1946–2025, one file per year; read on 4 October 2026](https://huggingface.co/datasets/Papersnake/people_daily_news)
- [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, the “China's relations with…” pages (中国同…的关系) of the countries in the table of breaks; read on 4 October 2026](https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/gjhdq_676201/gj_676203/)
- [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, history of relations with Central and Eastern Europe (for North Macedonia, 1999 and 2001)](https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/ziliao_674904/wjs_674919/2159_674923/200011/t20001107_10251057.shtml)
- [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, “China's relations with the Republic of Korea” (relations established on 24 August 1992)](https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/gjhdq_676201/gj_676203/yz_676205/1206_676524/sbgx_676528/)
- [Peking Review, No. 29, 21 July 1978, pp. 20–23: the Chinese foreign ministry's note of 7 July 1978 to the Albanian embassy (facsimile, marxists.org)](https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/peking-review/1978/PR1978-29.pdf)
- [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, the spokesman's statement of 11 May 1999 on the strike on the embassy in Belgrade (“early morning of 8 May, Beijing time”)](https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ziliao_674904/zt_674979/ywzt_675099/2410_676185/2411_676187/200011/t20001107_7965622.shtml)
- [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, 17 September 2022: Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, 14–16 September, “the first trip abroad since the pandemic began”](https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/ziliao_674904/zt_674979/ywzt_675099/2022/xjpcxshcyg22chy/zxxx/202209/t20220917_10767316.shtml)
- [@AirMovingDevice, Twitter, 27 June 2019: the country most mentioned in People's Daily headlines, month by month, 1947–2018](https://twitter.com/AirMovingDevice/status/1144115776711847936)
- [Li, Zhang, Jiang and Zhong, “Domestic Politics and Editorial Control Over Foreign News Coverage in the People’s Daily, 1993–2022”, Journal of Contemporary China 35 (158), pp. 1303–1319, published online 8 April 2025](https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2025.2486329)
- [Natural Earth, countries at 1:50,000,000 (public domain): the outline of the land on the map, in the Equal Earth projection](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/50m-cultural-vectors/)

## On the same subject

- [Romania in China's newspaper: 80 years of Romanian–Chinese relations](https://mariuscomper.uk/romania-china/en/): The same archive, one country: every year with its count and three translated headlines.
- [1989 in China's People's Daily: the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, day by day](https://mariuscomper.uk/1989-in-ziarul-chinei/en/): One year, issue by issue: where the news of six East European countries stood on the page.

Text, counts and graphics: Marius Comper. The data may be reused with credit.