China News Service (CNS), one of the two major news agencies in China, was established on September 14, 1952. It is a semiofficial news agency in China supplying news dispatches, feature articles, photos, film footage and audio recordings to more than 200 overseas Chinese-language newspapers, periodicals, radio and television stations via computer data transmission every day. It also offers online services.

The topics it covers include politics, economics, science and technology, education, culture, health, society, Hong Kong and Macao, news on Taiwan and so forth. At present, more than 200 newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations in more than 20 countries and regions subscribe to its news dispatches and news photos, and various international news agencies often use or relay its news releases and photos.

The agency aims to be a comprehensive source of news and culture, targeting Chinese readers in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese and foreign citizens of Chinese origin. It has some 51 branches, sub-branches and correspondent stations in 23 Chinese provinces and overseas. At home, it has correspondent stations in the cities of Tianjin and Wenzhou, as well as in the provinces of Hebei, Jiangxi and Zhejiang. Overseas, it has branches in Hong Kong, Washington DC, Tokyo, Paris and Sydney, as well as reporters stationed in New York City, Bangkok, Manila and Macao.

The agency claimed to have received a B grade, the second highest ranking, in a 1982 evaluation of 174 news agencies worldwide by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO).

Aiming to become a multimedia news agency, it has been expanding its online news services through its Chinese-language Web site, www.chinanews.com.