In October 1949, the Bureau of International Press of the General Administration of Press of the Central People's Government — CICG's predecessor — was established.
In December 1949, affiliated with the Management Office of the Xinhua Bookstore, the International Bookstore was established. In January 1964, it was renamed China International Bookstore.
In January 1950, People's China, a semimonthly English magazine, rolled off the printing press. It later launched editions in five other languages: Russian, Japanese, Chinese, French and Indonesian.
In May 1950, El Popola Ĉinio, an Esperanto monthly, was published, and was later renamed China Report.
In July 1950, the Chinese edition of China Pictorial started publication, with Mao Zedong inscribing the title for the magazine. It was the first comprehensive pictorial featuring photographs issued nationwide after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The magazine later published editions in 23 other languages: English, Russian, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, German, Hindi, Arabic, Zhuang, Burmese, Swedish, Swahili, Italian, Urdu, Romanian, Thai, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and Kazak.
In January 1951, the first English issue of China Pictorial, known in Chinese as Renmin Huabao, was published. It was the first foreign language edition of a pictorial magazine published by China. The English translation work was undertaken by the English team in the department of compiling of the Bureau of International Press. It later added editions in Mongolian, Uygur and Tibetan, published with the assistance of the Ethnic Publishing House.
In March 1951, the China Esperanto League was established.
In October 1951, the first English issue of China Literature was published, followed by a French version.
In December 1951, the International Bookstore participated in an exhibition in Bulgaria, displaying China's publishing works overseas for the first time. The exhibition, focusing on China's economic achievements, was held by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
In January 1952, the English magazine China Reconstructs, the predecessor to China Today, was founded by Soong Ching Ling. It later added editions in simplified and traditional Chinese, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, German and Portuguese.
In September 1953, the International Bookstore sent delegates to and participated in the international book exhibition of the Leipzig Book Fair in the German Democratic Republic, exhibiting more than 850 book titles. This marked the debut of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in international book fairs.
In July 1956, the China Esperanto League sent a delegation to the 41st World Esperanto Congress. This marked PRC's first participation in an international Esperanto event since its founding in 1949.
In March 1958, the first English edition of Beijing Review was published. This was China's first national-level political news magazine in a foreign language since the PRC's founding in 1949. The weekly magazine is published every Monday to readers around the world. The calligraphy for its Chinese title was penned by Guo Moruo, an outstanding Chinese writer.
In November 1958, the Peace Bookstore was established in Hong Kong.
