China Knowledge Network refers to China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), which was founded on June 1999. With the support of the Ministry of Education, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and the State Planning Commission, the Knowledge Network was initiated by Tongfang, Tsinghua University and Tsinghua, aiming at realizing the dissemination, enjoyment and value-added utilization of knowledge resources in the whole society. The construction of the project and its industrial operation mechanism provide rich knowledge information resources and an effective platform for knowledge dissemination and digital learning for the whole society to enjoy knowledge resources efficiently; It creates a market environment and commercial mechanism for the production and publishing departments of knowledge resources to publish and distribute on the Internet, and provides a promising information network space for promoting the development of education, science and technology, culture, publishing and other undertakings and cultural and creative industries.

First, integrate knowledge and information resources on a large scale to improve the comprehensive and value-added utilization value of resources as a whole; Second, build a service platform for Internet diffusion and knowledge resource appreciation, and provide information conditions for resource sharing, digital learning and knowledge innovation for the whole society; The third is to build a platform for the in-depth development and utilization of knowledge resources and provide information means for knowledge management and knowledge service for all sectors of society; The fourth is to create a market environment and commercial mechanism for the production and publishing departments of knowledge resources to publish and distribute on the Internet, and vigorously promote the modernization and leap-forward development of cultural publishing and industry.

With high-quality content resources, leading technology and professional services, China HowNet enjoys a high reputation in the industry. In 2007, China HowNet China Academic Journal Online Publishing Database won the first "China Publishing Government Award", and the full-text database of China's doctoral dissertations and the online publishing database of China Yearbook were nominated. This is the highest award in China's publishing field. China Academic Literature Online Publishing Database, a major national 11th Five-Year Plan project, passed the appraisal and acceptance organized by the General Administration of Press and Publication in 2006.

Through cooperation with periodicals, publishing circles and various content providers, China Knowledge Network has developed into an international leading online publishing platform integrating periodicals, doctoral dissertations, master dissertations, conference papers, newspapers, reference books, yearbooks, patents, standards, Chinese studies and overseas literature resources. The website of the Center is updated with more than 50,000 documents every day.

Based on the massive value-added service platform of content resources, anyone and any organization can set up their own personal digital library in China HowNet and customize the content they need. More and more readers regard China HowNet as a platform for their daily work and study.