Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-06-17
CHINESE JOURNALS.
How San franciScO's Four CelestiahNew
papers Are Brought Forth.


The majority of the Chinese lner
chants and business men in Sa1 Fran
cisco, like those in Gotham's Celestia
district, can read and write. the En-
glish language. and quite number @
them are subscribers to the daily pa
pers. That those. however; who ar
not so gifted may have an opportunit,
of knowing what is Transporting in thu
busy world, there are at the presen
time four newspapers printed in Chi
ncse characters regularly published il
San Francisco. They are. all ISSUED
weekly and have an Average circNlla
ton of $500 copies. The majority OF
these papers are sent into. the interior
of the State, to Washington Territory
British Columbia and the Sandwich
Islands. Only about one-fifth of tn,
whole number is taken in the city. The
subscription price of each is $3.50 pei
annum, delivered by carriers in tn,
city. and s. year if sent through the
mails to the country or abroad.
The Oldest paper of the quartet is the
Recorder, published by Nun Kee & Co.
1t has been in existence eighteen years.
and has :; subscription list of $50, OF
which eighty are delivered in the city,
and the remainder mailed to the inter-
or. Nun kee. its first editor and pro-
prietor, made Il fortune out of the Re
corder. Selling out three years ago. he
returned to China to spend his declin-
ing years. The Oriental is published
by Wah kee & Co. 1t has been in ex-
istence five years. and has circulation
of about 400. The Weekly Occidentnl
is now in its fourth year, and Horn
Hong & Co.. It's proprictors, claim that
it is the live" paper and has the
Largest circulation. 1t has 2C0 city
subscribers and 800 in the country.
Cum Shoe, It's translator and reporter,
is well educated in English and Chinese,
and nothing of interest occurs in the
Chinese quarter that he does not re-
port for the paper which he represents.
The Occidentat publishes the latest
Chinese jokes. Some of them are so
good that readers do not stop laughing
at them from one publication day to
another. The american and Chinese
Commercial Ners, the latest aspirant
for journalistic hOnOrs among the
Chinese, was started by Suey kec Kee
l. Co.. Il little over three years ago. Its
proprietors intended to revolutionize
the Chinese newspaper business in this
city, and engaged a large staff of re-
porters. etc. Their purse. however,
was not as large as their ideas, and 4
year ago they gracefully retired. The
present proprictors now haze the pa
per on paving basis and claim Il Cir
culat:on of 700. The title of the paper
is printed in old Roman text, and above
it IS a representation OF flaming
dragon.
The staff of a Chinese newspaper
consists usually of four persons. viz: an
editor, sub-editOr, translator and a
printer or pressman. The editor and
the sub-editor are generally the pro-
prietOrS. and each usually edits one
half the paper. The translator is Il
most important person. His duties are
to pick up news around the Chinese
quarters and read carefully the Amer.
lean daily papers. From these he cul!s
the market reports, accounts of out,
RACES on Chinese. the passages of any
laws and ordinances particularly affect
ing the Chinese, and any other items
which he thinks will interest his coun-
trymen. These he translates into Chi
neSe characters and hands them to the
editors. The editors copy the char
acters so supplied them with the ordi-
nary Chinese pen and specially pre-
pared ink on what is called transfer
paper. The sheet of transfer paper is |
the same size rs the paper to be printed.
When the editor mas his sheet of trans
fer-paper filled with characters his |
labor is done, and he hands his paper
oves to the printer. This functiOnary
has A photographic stone already
and to it ne transfers the
characters on the paper. 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
piece of paper to be printed on the
stone. One side only Of paper car
De printed at time. A smart printer
IAN print one side of four hundred
sheets in an ordinary working day.
Five working days are required to get
,ut an edition of one thousand.
The charge for advertisements reg
Hated by the number of characters en-
,loyed. The advertisements generally
'OnSist of notices of sailing DAYS of
teamers. notices issued by the Chinese
'iN Companies. and prices of sewing
machines. lamps. firearms and other
which find ready sale
mong the Chinese. These arc insert
d b. white merchants.
Lee Fee. the interpreter and trans
ater of the Recorder. is natura..ixoj
,ngiishman. He WAS natnralized in
australia. where he lived for twenty
ne years. He was married ut the
Church in Sydney to a
Dung Engl.snwoman eleven wears ago.
hey have five children, who dess in
.u;opean costume. and can converse in
.nglish and Chinese.-San Francisco
hronicle. @