What was the earliest newspaper in the history of Chengdu?
There is a newspaper in Chengdu that began with the Shu Journal, which was founded on March 15, the 24th leap year of the Qing Dynasty, that is, on May 5, 1898. The newspaper was originally published semi-monthly, but by the fourth issue it had become a quarterly magazine. The founder is Song Yuren.
Song Yuren
Song Yuren (宋裕仁), also spelled Yunzi, was a native of Fushun County, Sichuan, and a jinshi in the late Qing Dynasty, who successively served as a Shujishi of Hanlin Yuan and a reviewer of Hanlin Yuan. In 1894, the Qing court appointed Song Yuren as a counsellor (deputy envoy) to the british, French, Italian and Belgian ministers. Abroad, he saw that the reason why the "great powers" were strong was because of the development of science and technology and the superiority of the political system, which made his early ideas of restoration even stronger. After he returned to China, he participated in the "Strong Society" organized by Kang and Liang. In 1898, after Song Yuren was appointed as the head of the Chengdu Zunjing Academy, he organized the "Shu Society" and founded the Shu Journal, vigorously publicizing the reform and reform method.
Statutes of the Shu Society
The Shu Journal is a book, woodcut version of single-sided printing, bi-fold binding, has not yet left the form of the book. The style is all literary, mostly articles, but the news genre of "news" and "communication" has begun to appear. For example, "overseas recent affairs," "Chinese recent affairs," and "Shuzhong recent affairs" all belong to the category of "news"; "communication" already exists, but very few, and in the 13 volumes of the "Shu Journal", only a text entitled "Zizhou Ziyang Jianzhou Water Disaster" written by Fu Qiaocun, the newspaper's "visit", is a diary genre, which can belong to the category of "communication".
Shu Journal " Overseas Recent Events "
The advertisements published in Chengdu newspapers and periodicals also began with the Shu Journal. Advertising was called "confession" at the time. In addition to publishing the "Confession of the Library", the newspaper also solicited confessions to the public, and its "Confession Publications" were: "The first time each word withdraws four texts, and the second and third times each time the money is withdrawn three times." At least five crosses, many are added according to the cross. Discuss the year separately. Those who enlarge the words and follow the pattern of the journal are calculated according to the number of words occupied..." There are many "confessions of the main library" published in the "Shu Journal", and only the "Confessions of the Mountain House of The Academic System" published in the 12th volume are found in the society, which is an advertisement for the sale of study and drawing instruments.
Wu Zhiying,"Shu Society's Initial Opening of the Society"
The "Shu Journal" was set up with funds raised. According to the statistics of donations published in the first volume of the newspaper, the number of donations in the "Collected Funds of the Kings and Famous Families" is as much as 4500 taels of silver, the funds are very sufficient, the personnel are relatively large, and the organization is sound. The newspaper has a premier (Song Yuren), an assistant and chief school (Yang Daonan), a chief writer (Wu Zhiying), a general editor (Liao Jiping), as well as a planner and a transcriber; there are also many "visiting" people with monthly salaries inside and outside the province.
Due to sufficient funds, the newspaper initially had domestic and foreign special telegrams, such as "Reuters Telegram" and "London Call" and a large number of "Edict Telex" photographed from Beijing. The newspaper's distribution outlets are also very large, with a total of 44 distribution points inside and outside the province, covering major cities across the country, with a circulation of about 2,000 copies. Chengdu's earliest ten-year magazine printed on woodcut boards, its circulation can reach 2,000 copies, or it is still considerable.