South China Morning Post front pages: drawing attention to important stories of the day from Hong Kong, mainland China, Asia and around the world

The front page of the South China Morning Post has been catching the attention of readers for 120 years. It has retained its power in the digital age.

The early print front pages carried only advertisements, a common practice in the newspaper industry at the time. But for most of the Post’s history, the front page has been the perfect home for the most important stories of the day.

The aim is for the newspaper to leap off the newstands, compelling potential readers to pick up a copy. This requires impact, with bold headlines, stunning photographs and carefully crafted words. Over the years, the design has evolved and the transition made from black and white to colour.

The Post’s front pages have recorded many key moments in history. These include Japan’s surrender during World War II, the turmoil of Hong Kong’s 1967 riots, the introduction of the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the US currency in 1983, and the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989.

One of the most memorable front pages was for the strikingly presented special edition marking Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, with the headline simply stating: “The handover.”

The deaths of China’s leaders, from Mao Zedong in 1976 to Deng Xiaoping in 1997 and Jiang Zemin in 2022, have been presented in sombre tones. Innovative designs, meanwhile, were deployed for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003 and, more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Olympics have often propelled sports stories onto the front page, including Hong Kong’s first gold medal, won by windsurfer Lee Lai-shan in 1996, and the Beijing Games of 2008. There was a rare occasion, in 2015, when the Post “splashed” with a story about itself, the purchase of the company by tech giant Alibaba.

More recently, front pages have featured the civil unrest in Hong Kong in 2019, including the storming of the Legislative Council by protesters, the passing of a national security law in 2020, and John Lee Ka-chiu becoming the city’s chief executive in 2022.

The front page will continue to be cherished by the newsroom, charting developments in Hong Kong, the rest of China and the world as they unfold.