The emergence and development of journalism in China have been inextricably linked to the political efforts of Chinese intellectuals to find their unique path to modernization. During the long period of social transformation that began in the late Qing Dynasty, journalists often combined the freelance identities of journalists and editors, the literary identity of the Confucian tradition, and the political identity of reformers or revolutionaries. From the modern literati who advocated the new imperial government on the colonial coast to the young scholars who destroyed the old and established the new in the May Fourth Movement, from the journalistic warriors in the anti-war frontier areas where the “mass line” was practiced, to the cultural cadres who undertook “ideological work” within the state system, the journalistic practice has always been linked to a holistic political goal and a collective cultural consciousness for more than a century. In contemporary China, however, many intellectuals have erased the historical context of cultural politics and understanding of journalism in a universalist concept. They either see journalism as a professional division of labor and a profit-generating information service industry in a modern market economy, or, starting from the basic liberal logic of balances of power, they see journalism as a special occupation independent of the state or government, which undertakes the function of social supervision and has its unique operation law. These two ideas, often coinciding with each other, start from an ideal journalism model and measure China’s journalism practice with the standard of professional norms under the division of labor in modern society.