Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1895-11-23
CHINESE JOURNALISM.
The Picking Gazette. Old Age and
Its Two Editions

I
Its Two Editions.
! Though the recent massacres oc-
Cured many weeks ago, and European
powers have taken steps TO ayenge
the missionaries, nothing has been re-
I ported in regard TO the opinion OF the
! Chinese press concerning those bloody
and important occurrences. Still, there
are native papers In the middle en-
! pire, as ii was shown at meeting OF
| the Paris Society of Social Economy,
during lecture delivered by NJ. I'm
I bault Huard. French consul at Can
/ ton.
/ The oldest and most important Of
( the Chinese newspapers, the Peking
Gazette, dates from the eighth CEN
fury, Ii Is a kind Of bulletin OF laws
aud official organ, publishing the de-
tails relative 10 every movement and
incident In the imperial court, as well
as the officials and record or the sit
tings OF the tribunals. These comnu
nications are furnished to the editor
of the Gazette by the functionarles OF
the palace: they are set up with an
infinite care, and are printed only
after having been revised and correct
ed very attentively. They are not pub
lished. consequently. till two or three
days after having been communicated
To the editor. who, meanwhile, keeps
publishing daily unofficial edition Of
the Gazette. The paper Is sold In the
streets OF Picking by news vendors
and criers. The subscription price OF
the official edition IL about 81 a month;
of the unofficial edition, So. There is
Il manuscript edition which costs 81
monthly.
Outside OF the capital the first Chi.
nese paper published appeared at
Shanghai about thirty years ago. II
was soon followed by the Tien-Tsin
Journal, and the Canton Journal
These newspapers We're founded by
Europeans, who were. In fact, only
nOminally In charge. the real inspira-
tors and editors OF those independent
sheets being litcratl, lnandaFins any
lous to place themselves beyond the
reach Of imperial prosecutions There
are, indeed, no restrictive laws against
the press In China. but neither are
there any laws guaranteeing the free.
dom Of writing and speaking 10 that
Chinese journalists are always at the
mercy Of the police.
The Shanghai News, which Is the
type OF Chinese independent papers
Is sold for cent number. Il con
tains an editorial similar 10 tnagn
zine article. we'll studied, wen writ,
ten and treating OF political and social
questions. Official dccrecs are pub
lished In the columns Of the News, a.
well as local Information. cable dis
patches and sporting reports. for there
are horse races at Shanghai. The reg
ular reporters are alie and intelligent.
they disguise themselves ia order not
to be recognized as belonging to tho
News corps. But they have not set
come to the practice Of interviewing.
The French Jesuit missionaries have
founded a ! cent newspaper, which
was a monthly at first and il n0w
semi-weekly Ii Is read by the chi.
nese Catholics. There are also few
scientific and literary periodicals II
must he noted that as a general rule
the Chinese papers do not publish ar.
ticles bearing on the questions OF
actual and practical politics. so that
there are In the empire no opposition
or semi-otficial organs They usually
are satisfied with publishing an rciec.
tie review OF affairs. They are read
In the most far-away provinces The
Shanghai News circulation II ~ about
1900 daily numbers, and that of the
Canton Gazette amounts to 1900 num4
beers. Since 1855 the Shanghai Nrwa
published nm illustrated weekly sup
plement, which IL n very curious spec.
linen Of Chinese art in that line. BE.
sides those native papers I'm Chinese.
there are some printed in English ut
Hong Kong: few in Portuguese nj
Macao. and one German paper 81
Shanghai.--New York Tribune.