Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-06-04
CHINESE NEWSPAPERS.
Not Journals of the Celestial Empire,
but of California.

can read and write the English lam
guage. and quite number of them are
subscribers to the daily papers
That those, however, who are not so
gifted may have an opportunity of
knowing what is Transporting in the busy
world. there are at the present time
four newspapers printed in Chinese
characters regularly published in
Francisco They are all issued weekly
and have an average circulation of 1900
copies. The majority of these papers
are sent into the interior of this state,
to Washington territory, British Column
ba, and the Sandwich islands Only
about one-fifth of the whole number is
taken in this city. The subscription
price of each is 500 per annum, deliv-
cred by carriers in the city, and 50 IA
year if sent through the mails to the
country or abroad.
The oldest paper of the quartet is The
Recorder, published by Nun Kce & Co.
1t has been in existence eighteen years.
and has a subscription list of go, Of
which eighty are delivered in the city
and the remainder mailed to the inte-
rior. Nun Kee, its first editor and pro-
prietor, mace fortune out of The Re
corder Selling out three years ago,
he returned to China TO spend his de-
clinng years. The oriental is pub
lished by Wah Kce d Co. 1t has been
in existence five years, and has circu-
lation of about 400. The Weekly Occi-
lental is now in its fourth year. and
Horn Hong & Co., its proprietors,
claim that it is the live paper and
hac the largest circulation. 1t has 200
city subscribers and 800 in the country.
Cum Shoe, its translator and reporter,
is well educated in English and Chi
nesc. and nothing of interest occurs in
the Chinese quarter that he does not
report for the paper which he repre-
;ents.
The staff of Chinese newspaper
consists usually of four persons-viz.:
an editor. n sub-cditor, II translator,
and a printer or pressman. The ed
itor and sub-edtor are generally the
proprietors, and each usually edits one
half the paper The translator is n
most important person. His duties are
to pick up news around the Chinese
quarters, and read carefully the Ameri
can daily papers From these he culls
the market reports, accounts of out
RACES on Chinese, the passage of any
laws or ordinances particularly affect
inc the Chinese, and any other item
which he thinks will interest his coun-
trymcn. These he translates into Chi
ncsc characters. and hands them to the
editor Ior insertion.
The editors copy the characters so
supplied them with the ordinary Chi
nesc pen and specially prepared ink on
what is called transfer paper. The
sheet of transfer paper is the same size
as the paper to be printed. When the
editor has his sheet of transfer paper
filled with characters his labor is done,
and he hands the paper over to the
printer.
This functionary has a photographic
stone already prepared. and to 1t he
transfers the characters on the paper.
After setting the ink on the stone
with nitric acid and gum he is ready for
printing. After passing wet sponge
over the stone he rolls over it an ink
roller, the ink from which only adheres
to the written characters. He then lays
the sheet of paper TO be printed on the
stone. placing on top OF ii metal
cover. An iron bar is now placed
across this cover and frightened down by
a lever worked by the foot of the oper-
ator. The frame on which the stone is
set is then. by means of a strap and pull
ley worked by the printer, made TO
slide under the bar ITS whole length.
The pressure Of the bar on the cover
causes the impression of the linked char
acters to he transferred from the stone
to the paper The process is repeated
until the required number of copies is
printed. Then the stone is cleaned off
and smoothed down, and the characters
for the other side of the paper are trans
ferred to it. and the printing of the
other side Of the printed sheets COM
menccs. One side only of a paper can
be printed ut a time. A smart printer
can print one side of four hundred
sheets in an ordinary working day
Five working days are required to get
out an edition of one thousand.
The american and Chinese CONNER
ctaL NeWS, the latest aspirant for jour
nalistic honors among the Chinese, was
started by Sucy Kec & Co. little over
three years ago. Its proprietors in
tended to revolutionize the Chinese
newspaper business in this city, and en-
gagged large staff of reporters. etc
Their purse, however, was not as large
a. their ideas, and a year ago they
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