Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-14
CHINESE PAPER
PRINTED BY "Y"
Aids in the Movement of
the Forces
Overseas

Paris, April 14.-One more jour-
nalistic by-product of this war is a
/ Chinese newspaper, with paid
/ circulation of almost two thousand,
edited under the auspeCies of the
y. NJ. e. \. Educational Depart
ment by Y. G. James Yen, who
worked for sometime with the
! Chinese laborers at Boulogne.
This paper which is rather extra
| from the fact that it is the first
paper to be printed in Chinese in
! France, before or during the war.
makes it possible for the 10000
| Chinese laborers working with the
| French. British and American
/ forces 10 get the news of the world.
/ Heretofore they have had to de-
pend for news upon the hearsay
knowledge of some Enslish-speak-
ing Chinese, or upon the kindness
of some Chinese Y. NJ. {. y. secre-
tary, who might take special pains
to- detail to them the days news.
/ But now in four page sheet, COM
prehensiVe because of the suSSes-
tive content of the Chinese written
characters. the Chinese workman
can get once a week all the news
the peace conference. European
and American. and the last word,
political and general in China.
Outgrowth of Bulletin
Three weeks ago. ten thousand
copies of the first issue of this pa
per. The Red Triangle for Chinese
laborers residing in France" as it
is called. were taken up SO quickly
and eagerly by the Chinese that the
number has now been increased
fifty per cent.
This noDer is tho olItrrovth of n
small. weekly bulletin which Mr..
Yen. who came to France as a sec
retary with the Y. NJ. {. \. in July.
first began to publish last fall at
Boulogne. where he was in charge
of a hut established for the Chinese
laborers.
The really extraordinary thing
about this paper. something which
the AnElo-Saxon eye could never
get without aid from a Chinese read
er. is that it is the first paper of its
kind to be printed in unofficial un-
literary Mandarin.
Most of Chinese literature and all
written Chinese for that matter, is
written in what the Chinese call
Wen-li-the old classical written lam
guage, packed with archaic illusions,
sterotyped in certain old set forms
and phrases. indirect and antique.
Mandarin. on the other hand, the
spoken language of the greater part
of China, is a living and converse
tional thing; in this medium, in
direct contradiction of all practice
and tradition. the Y. NJ. c. A. man
has printed his paper.
Therefore in the four pages OF
Chinese piCture-like script which go
out each week from the offices at 76
rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.
there is compressed by Mr.. Yen q
digest of the weeks news. on the
first page in addition. he runs per-
haps five hundred words of editorial
explanation of the papers policy, or
some generally interesting subject.
Five hundred words in Chinese
characters. it may be remarked. oc-
Cupies about three square inches OF
space. The editorial was followed in
Il recent number by a short article
on China-which would interest the
working Chinese: and on the last
and inner pages, reports from the
peace conference, the REssenk stats
of Germany, the Baikasss = : i Ssstss
the latest news from Ameriea-in
which the Chinese are most inter-
ested-and most important of all,
the news from home.