Comprehensive directory of approximately 1,000 general-interest Chinese newspapers from 1981 to 2011. The newspaper directory is constructed from four data sources: (1) the Chinese Newspaper Directory (2003, 2006, 2010), published by the State Administration for Press and Publication (SPPA) -- the authority that issues newspaper licenses; (2) the Annual China Journalism Yearbooks (1982-2011), published by the Chinese Academy of Social Science; (3) the China Newspaper Industry Yearbooks (2004-2011), published by a Beijing-based research institute; and (4) an eight-volume collection of the front pages of major newspapers on the date of first publication. Description of the variables in the data set: 1. Province, prefecture, and county are the location of the headquarter of a newspaper. 2. newspaper_id: a numerical identifier for each newspaper 3. license_id: a numerical identity for a newspaper’s license issued by the Chinese National Press and Publication Administration. Typically, when a newspaper changes its name, its license remains the same and so does the license_id variable. 4. newspaper_ch: the Chinese name of a newspaper 5. newspaper_en: the English translation of the Chinese name of a newspaper 6. Previous_name: the previous name of a newspaper if the newspaper ever changes names 7. Supervisor: the direct supervisory organization of a newspaper 8. Supervisor_type: the type of the supervisor of a newspaper, classified into one of the following categories - Party: the supervisor is a CCP committee - Government agency: the supervisor is a government department - Mass organization: the supervisor is a mass organization, such as a professional association - Nonnewspaper media: the supervisor is a non-newspaper media such as a broadcaster - Parent newspaper: the supervisor is a newspaper that owns the newspaper - Party media group: the supervisor is a media group supervised by a CCP committee - Soe: the supervisor is a state-owned enterprise 9. Head_unit: the unit that manages the newspaper. Most of the time, the head unit of a newspaper is the same as its supervisor. In some cases, the supervisor (e.g., a CCP committee) may delegate power to an organization (e.g., a party newspaper) to manage a newspaper. 10. Admin_rank: the administrative rank of a newspaper, classified as “central”, “province”, “capital city (of a province)”, “prefecture (non-capital-city prefecture” and “county.” 11. Ownership: residual claimant of a newspaper 12. Founded_date: the date when a newspaper is founded. 13. Republish_date: the date when a newspaper is republished after a period of suspension. 14. Termination_date: the date when a newspaper is terminated. 15. Category_content: is the content type of a newspaper, classified as one of the following categories: - Daily: a general party daily, i.e., the mouthpiece of a CCP committee - Evening: a newspaper whose title contains the words “evening newspaper”, typically quasi-commercialized general-interest newspaper and published in the afternoon - Metro: commercial general interest newspaper published in the morning - Digest_general: a general interest digest, which does not publish original articles - Mixed_econ: a semi-general interest newspaper with a focus on economic news - Mixed_politics: a semi-general interest newspaper with a focus on political news - Mixed_law: a semi-general interest newspaper with a focus on legal issues - Mixed_life: a semi-general interest newspaper with a focus on the coverage of life style