HowNet, the concept of national knowledge infrastructure, was put forward by the World Bank in 1998. CNKI project is an information construction project aimed at realizing the dissemination, enjoyment and value-added utilization of knowledge resources in the whole society. Initiated by Tsinghua University and Tsinghua Tongfang, it was established in June 1999. 、

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