Economic Daily, affiliated with the State Council, has been published since January 1, 1983. In July 1978, Finance and Trade Battlefront (Caimao Zhanxian) started publication with part of the working staff formerly belonging to Dagong Newspaper (Dagong Bao) and in 1981 it was renamed China Finance and Trade News, which was the base of Economic Daily.

The publication is called China's Wall Street Journal and is the most authoritative newspaper in reporting news on the Chinese economy. The newspaper provides economic news and other information about China, and clarifies the economic principles and policies of the Chinese government. Foreign advertisers on this newspaper include IBM, HP, Audi, COMPAQ, Mobile, Intel, Bank of America, Oracle, DuPont, LG, Ford, Nissan, Singapore Airline and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry. 

The primary readership of Economic Daily covers executives and senior management in a wide variety of industries including financial services, consumer goods, telecommunications, transport, manufacturing and entertainment.

Besides printed in Beijing, the newspaper has fax-edition printing spots in the cities of Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and Lanzhou, and airmail-edition printing spots in the cities of Shanghai, Shenyang, Harbin, Xi'an and Urumqi. It is distributed worldwide with a daily circulation of 1.5 million as of 1988.

Economic Daily boasts special pages like Theoretic Probe, Economic Information, Economy and Law, Science and Technology; special columns like Observers, Wangfujing Gossips, Comments and Reviews; international pages like International Economic Forum, International Financial Sum-Up, Business Management Experience, New Overseas Launches, Supply & Demand. What's more, it publishes Weekend Supplement to provide various information and consulting services for readers.

Besides, Economic Daily runs a publishing house, the Beijing Economic Correspondence University, China Market Publishing Company and so on; publishes newspapers like China Flower and Economic Daily·English Weekly, and periodicals like China's Economic News, China Entrepreneurs and China New Products.