Southern Weekly

Southern Weekly, also referred to as Southern Weekend (Chinese: 南方周末; Pinyin:Nánfāng Zhōumò), is a weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou, China, and is a sister publication of the newspaper Southern Daily (Chinese:南方日報). It is attached to the Southern Newspaper Media Group.

Southern Weekly, founded in 1984, has its head office is in Guangzhou, with news bureaux in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. It is printed simultaneously in many Chinese cities, and distributed to the whole of the Chinese mainland.

Circulation is more than 1.6 million copies, on average, which is said to be the biggest weekly circulation of any newspaper on the Chinese mainland. Thus it is considered as one of the most influential media outlets in China.

Southern Weekly is considered the most outspoken newspaper in China. It is strongly recommended by liberal intellectuals and is said to contribute to public democratic debate and the formation of civil society. The New York Times has described the Southern Weekend as "China's most influential liberal newspaper".

In one of the many incidents of the paper running up against the authorities, in January 2013, the provincial propaganda authorities forced Southern Weekly to run a provided commentary glorifying the Chinese Communist Party in place of the paper's annual new year editorial, which had been a call for proper implementation of the country's constitution. Journalists on the paper publicly objected to this interference - which is an unusual occurrence in China - via Sina Weibo. The censorship order was believed to have come from provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen, a former vice-president of state-run Xinhua.

On January 7 2013, protesters gathered outside the newspaper's headquarters to support journalists on strike due to censorship.