Shandong newspaper bids farewell after ordered to fold 'over pretty women photos'

A popular Shandong daily that has yet to celebrate its one-year anniversary has been banned from publishing in the next three months because it was running "vulgar" content, according to its editors.

"Dear readers, we'll always appreciate and remember your care, support and help since our beginning," it read. "Let's stand together through thick and thin, and let's look forward to our return."

The daily, which started publishing on July 17 last year, employs more than 300 people and has a circulation of 60,000, said Editor-in-Chief Han Hao. 

Han said he would be negotiating with provincial publishing authorities to bring the paper back, but he believed officials would have final say on the fate of the publication.

In an unusual move, the newspaper's Friday front page also published under the letter a poem titled Maybe, written by contemporary Chinese poet Shu Ting.