Peking Gazette
ThePeking Gazettewas an official bulletin published with changing frequency inBeijinguntil 1912, when theQing dynastyfell andRepublican Chinawas born. The translated name, as it is known to Western sources, comes fromMing dynasty-eraJesuits,who followed the bulletin for its political contents. ThePeking Gazettebecame a venue for political grievances and infighting during the reign of theWanli Emperorin the late Ming dynasty, whenliteratifactions would submit politicized memorials that the Emperor often abstained from reviewing.[1]From around 1730, the publication was in Chinese calledJing Bao( kinh báo, sometimes transliteratedChing Pao), literally "the Capital Report". It contained information on court appointments, edicts, and theofficial memorialssubmitted to the emperor, and the decisions made or deferred.[2]
Author J.C. Sun in his bookModern Chinese Press,published in 1946, said theGazetteseemed to have been
designed entirely for officers of the Chinese Government, and its publication to the people was merely by connivance contrary to law, as was formerly the case with regard the publication of parliamentary speeches in England. The recommendation of individuals for promotion, the impeachment of others, notices of removal from office and of rewards or degradations – these were the chief topics which filled its columns.
Publication type
[edit]Contrary to a sometimes voiced belief, thePeking Gazettewas not anewspaper,but a government bulletin, although it might be considered a distant precursor:
The East Asian press was studied relatively late in the West. One of the reasons is that newspapers did not exist in China, Japan, and Koreauntil these countries opened to Western influences.There were certainly forerunners of newsprint also in the indigenous tradition, like the famous Peking Gazette (Jingbao) which is often claimed to be oldest newspaper of the world. We find numerous little articles in Western papers on the Jingbao, usually from secondary or tertiary sources; they do not take into account that this gazette had limited circulation and that it just containededictsanddecrees– thus it does not fit the moderndefinition of newspaper.But it definitely was a forerunner of newsprint.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Pierre-Etienne Will, "Sprouts of Democracy in Chinese History", 2011.http://www.booksandideas.net/Sprouts-of-Democracy-in-Chinese.html
- ^Wolfgang Mohr,Die moderne chinesische Tagespresse,vol. 1 (Wiesbaden, 1976), pp. 13–14.
- ^Hartmut Walravens: "The Early East Asian Press in the Eyes of the West. Some bibliographical notes", World Library and Information Congress, 72nd General Conference and Council of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), 20–24 August 2006, Seoul, Korea, p. 2
External links
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