The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-09-12
japanese and Chinese Newspapers.

/ japanese and Chinese Newspapers.
i The Pail Mall Gazette of Aug
4th says: Among the many start
ling inovations on old customs in
japan, none could be more inter
esting than the last, which consists
in the establishment of a japanese
newspaper. The adventurous pi
oneer of q coming era, and herald
of q power hitherto unknown
either in China or Japan, is called
the Daily Hirakana News, or, in
the vernacular, Aainichi Hira.
kama iShunbunshi, and sold in Yedo
at $50 cash, (say threepence,) by
the Society for the dispersion OF
Darkness" We learn from the
prospectus that the Society haa q
tWo-fold object-first, 10 contrib
ute toward the enlightenment OF
the country by giving its women
and children means of reading
its government proclamations and
home and foreign news; and Sec
ondly, to demonstrate that the use
Of the fifty syllables ia amply sui.
ffcient for literary purposes, and
that no loss will be suffered by the
abandonment Of the borrowed
Chinese characters. Both objects
are excellent, and their promoters,
it is to be hoped, will meet with
liberal support and encourage
ment in their own country. The
second is 3 first step towards get
ting rid of one of the greatest i'm
pediments to advancement and to
anything like general education
the acquision of the Chinese Ian
guage-to the Japanese as much a
foreign language as Greek or Latin
to modern nations, and far more
difficult to master. The Chinese
themselves spend the first twenty
or twenty five years of their lives
in learning to read and write many
thousand hieroglyphic characters.
It is as though the whole period
devoted in Europe to education at
school and college were given to
learning an alphabet
Hitherto neither China nor
Japan had possessed a newspaper,
although in both printing has been
in use in carved wooden blocks for
ages. The letter-press of the Daily
Hirakana News is printed with
movable type, the greatest of all
innovations and improvements in
the art of printing in China. A
distinct space is left between each
word, and the use of the comma
and full stop is introduced. For
eign proper names and the names
Of places, titles, etc., are italicized
by line or two lines, the mean
ings OF which are explained.
It may be interesting to our
readers to know something of the
contents of the first number.
These consist of a notification
from the Finance Department con-
corning the collection of the land
tax, a proclamation from tie gov
eminent announcing the permits
sive export of saltpetre under an
advalorem duty of five per cent.
and another touching the manu-
facture and packing of silk-a
subject much discussed lately by
our merchants in China, whose in
terests are materially damaged by
imperfect reeling and careless or
false packing. Then follows
census of Toxic, and an account
of recent gale at Totomi. The
items of foreign news are curious
in their selection for an awaken
ing japanese population. The
first refers to the Pope refusing to
receive an ambassador from France,
and to NJ. Theirs having been dis
pleased in consequence. The
changes in the French Ministry
are noted, and the illness of the
Crown Prince of Germany; also,
the gift of 1000 thalers by the
Emperor to the sufferers from
some inundations. Then a notice
follows about the railway fares in
Germany, which are said to have
been raised by order of govern
ment to prevent emigration.
Now that the Japanese have
railroads of their own, they natur-
ally take some interest N their
management under other govern
ments. Rinderpest, it is announe-
ed, has broken out at Shanghai;
and the government of China is
said to be building men-of-War, the
number and size of which are par
ticularized. The news Of the death
of the King of the Sandwich
Islands is given, and an account of
a speech of an American Minister
in favor of the annexation of the
Islands to the United States, sug-
costing that the absence of the
English and Frence Ministers and
the presence ofan American squad
ron affords an opportunity of tax
ing unopposed possession.
The same mail brings informa-
nation of e similar movement
among the Chinese in California,
and it announced that q "Chinese
newspaper is to be started in San
Francisco. It appears that the
six Chinese companies in that city
have dubbed together and deter
mined upon this enterprise, and q
Pacific mail steamer took out an
order from them for !, 000, 900 type
Chinese characters-to be used
in stocking the Office. Their plan
is to publish the paper three times
a week, its chief object being to
instruct their countrymen in their
own language as to their rights
and wrongs from the time they
land on American soil. The first
number is promised in September. /"
Such movements as these in both
hemispheres-among the Chimes
on the Pacific coast Of the western
Continent and the Japanese at
home-sre significant facts, and
may issue in some important CON
sequences one day.
Orders have been issued from
the Ministry Of Police renewing
the prohibition against Turkish
ladies emit, ring shops for the pur,
pose of making purchases, wheth-
er the shops be kept by Turks OF
| Christians. This prohibition was
first issued at the beginning of the
present Sultan's reign, but has fol
some time past been allowed to
fall into disuse. It is now formal
ly renewed in . communication
addressed to the foreign legations
and direct order to MussulmaI
shopkeepers, and Turkish womeI
must for the future make all thei
purchases from their carriages. a,