The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-11-19
CHINESE NEWSPAPERS.
NOT JOURNALS OF THE CELESTIAL
EMPIRE, BUT OF CALIFORNIA

Four Newspapers, Printed in Chinese
Characters, Published Regularly in San
FraneI.co-How the Editing and Print
ing T. Observation-Disclosures
TITO majority Of the Chinese merchants
and business men in this city, as well as
their CLERKS and bookkeepers can read and
write the English language, and quite a
number Of them are subscribers 70 the daily
papers,
That those, however, who are not 50 gifted
may have an opportunity Of knowing what
is transpiring IL 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 $500 copies
Z h ma ority Of these papers are sent into
the interior Of this state, 70 Washington
Ter. itory, British Columbia and the Sand
wi.h Stands Only about OHe-hfth OF the
whole number j. taken IN this city. The
subscription psice Of each is $50 per an
nun, delivered by carriers in the city, and
:, a year if sent through the mails to the
coGntry or abroad
Tn. Oldest paper Of the quartet IS The
Recorder, published by Mum Kee q co. 1t
has cen in ist.nce eighteen years, ana
has a subscription list Of so, OF Whlch ."
are delivered in the city and the remainder
mailed to the interior Nun Zee. is first
editor aud proprietor made a fortune out
of the Recorder Selling out three years
40, he returned to China 70 spend his de-
clin.ng years Tire Oriental IS published by
Wan Zee * Go. 1t has been in existence
five years and has q circulation Of about
4Ol The Weekly Occidental Is now In itS
fourth year, and Horn Hong q Co, its pro
prietors, claim that it is the live" paper and
has the largest circuIat on" 1t has 2UO city
subscribers and so in the country. Cum
Shoe. its translator and reporter, Is well
educated in English and Chinese, and moth
ing of interest occurs ia the Chinese quarter
that he does not report for the paper which
he represents.
THE LATEST AsPIRANT FOR PATRONAGE
The American and Chinese Commercial
News, the latest aspirant for journalistic
honors among the chinese, was started by
Suey Kee a. Co a little over three years
ago It's proprietors intended to revolution
lie the ( hinese newspaper business in this
city, and en- aged large staff of reporters,
etc Their purse, however, was not as large
as their IDEAS and a year ago they grace
fully retired-bankrupt The present pro-
priebors now have the paper on a paying
basis, and claim circulation of 700 no
title of the paper is printed in old Roman
text, and above 1t IS a represe ntatlon or
flaming dragon.
The staff of Chinese newspaper consists
usually OF four persons viz; an editor,
sub editor, a translator, and a printer or
FRESHMAN. The editor and ub-editor are
generally tn proprietors, and each u,u ,lly
edit one halt the paper The translator is
a most important person. His duties are to
pick ap news around the Chinese quarters
and read carefully the American daily
papers From these he culls the IA lrket
reports accounts of outrages ON Chinese,
the pa sage of any laws or ordinances par
sicularly affecting the Chinese, and any
other items which he thinks will interest
his countrymen. These he translates into
Chinese characters and hands them to the
editors for Insertion
The editors copy the characters 50 sup
piled them with the ordinary Chinese 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 pri tel
When the editor has his sheet of d ansier
paper filled with character mis- labor is done
and he hands the paper to the printer.
HOW THE PRINTING IS DONE.
This functionary has a photographic stone
already prepared and to it he transfers the
characters the paper. After setting
the ink on the stone with nitric acid and
gum he is ready for printing. After pass
ing wet sponge over the stone, he rolls
over it an ink roller, the ink from which
only adaeres to the written characters. He
then lays the sheet of paper to be printed on
the stone placing on top o. 1t metal cover.
An iron bar is now pia ed across this cover
and frightened down by a lever worked by
the foot of the operator. The frame on
which the stone Is set is then, by means of a
strap and pulley worked by the printer, made
to slide under the bar its who o length. The
pressure of the bar on the cover causes
the impression OF the linked characters to lie
transferred from the stone to the paper
Tue process Is repeated until the required
number of copies is printed. Then the
stone is cleaned off and smoothed down, AMI
the characters for tbe other side of the pa
rer are transferred TO it, and the printing
of the other side OF the printed sheets COM
mences One side only of a paper eau be
printed at a time A smart printer can
print one sile of 400 sheets in ordinary
working day Five working days are re-
auired 10 get out an edition of 900.
The papers are printed with black ink on
single sheets of thin white paper, except at
Chinese New Year Wien 1T er red paper is
used or the characters printed in red ink
on the ordinary paper, rcd being considered
the lucky color among the Chimes.
The charge for advertisements is regu
lated by the number of characters employed.
The price would average about cents q
word in Eng i-h, s: for one inch square
for one inse. ton, with reduction for "A is
running for over six months The adver
tisements generally consist of notices OF sail
ing days of steamers, notices issued by the
Chinese Six Companies, and prices OF sow
ing machines, lamps, firearms, and Other
commodities which lind ready sale among
the Chinese These are inserted by white
mer hants.-San Francisco Chronicle