Hong Kong: A newspaper in the southern Chinese city Guangzhou on Wednesday published a bold front-page appeal for the release of a detained reporter, prompting an outpouring of support online and sympathetic statements from prominent news media and business figures.

Under a huge three-character headline, "Please Release Him," The New Express said one of its reporters, Chen Yongzhou, had been held since Friday by the Changsha police for his investigation of the finances of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., China's second-largest construction equipment maker.

A woman reads the New Express newspaper that carried a full-page editorial with headline "Please release our man", in a library in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province. Credit:AFP

Mr Chen was formally detained on Saturday under "suspicion of damaging commercial reputation," said the police in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province and home to Zoomlion's headquarters. The New Express, a scrappy tabloid, had run a series of articles questioning Zoomlion's revenue and profit figures.

Zoomlion, which is partly owned by the Hunan government, has denied allegations that it faked its results. Trading in the company's shares in Shenzhen, a major Chinese economic zone, and in Hong Kong was temporarily suspended in May after The New Express accused Zoomlion of doctoring sales numbers.