Founded in 1979, Xinhua News Agency, Banyuetan, is an important party journal for the broad masses of grassroots readers, a current affairs journal with a large circulation, and has the reputation of "China's first journal".

At the end of 1979, the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, in accordance with the needs of strengthening ideological and political work at the grassroots level in the new period, commissioned the Xinhua News Agency to launch the "Half Moon Talk." Thus began the establishment of the Banyuetan Magazine. So far, Banyuetan Magazine has developed into a multi-edition, multi-language and multi-format periodical cluster, including Banyuetan (semi-monthly), Banyuetan Internal Edition (monthly), Current Affairs Handbook (bi-monthly), Reading (monthly) and Banyuetan (Uyghur version) (Tibetan version), Banyuetan.com, Banyuetan Online School, and Banyuetan Social Opinion Survey Center.

In 1988, the "Ideological and Political Work Innovation Award" and the "Scholarship for Middle School Students" were established, and in 1994, the "National Top Ten Poverty Alleviation Champions" selection activities were launched, which had a wide social impact and were cared for and valued by the central leading comrades.

Banyuetan Magazine is now a public institution directly under the Xinhua News Agency.