Origins of the Modern Chinese Press The Influence of the Protestant Missionary Press in Late Qing China

This book traces the contours of the emergence of the modern Chinese press from its origins in the western Christian missionary press in the late 19 th century. It maps the way in which the western missionaries and their evangelical/educational newspapers changed the long-standing traditional practices, styles, content, 'print culture' and printing technology of Chinese newspapers and, in the process, how they introduced some of the key ideas of western modernity which were to forever alter Chinese society. This book documents the indirect manner in which missionary publications came to shape the transition of print journalism from a centuries-long monopoly by the state - the Imperial press - into a pluralized, modernising and frequently radical public journalism. In particular, it focuses on the crucial relationship between the missionaries and the class of 'gentry scholars'. This key group of literati and civil servants, educated via the traditional state examination system in the Confucian classics, were first the target readers of the missionary's publications and later their competitors. The rise of an independent 'gentry scholar press' at the end of the 19 th century, modelled on the missionary newspapers, retaining their modernising, scientific and educational zeal but discarding Christianity, is perhaps the key transition in modern Chinese journalism's history. Not only did it sweep away traditional conceptions of the role of public communication, it was an integral part of the rise of modern Chinese culture. The book tells the story of this complex set of influences, analyses its wider historical and cultural implications and finally, explores the connection between this historical moment and the situation the Chinese media face today.Zhang, Xiantao is the author of 'Origins of the Modern Chinese Press The Influence of the Protestant Missionary Press in Late Qing China', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415380669 and ISBN 0415380669.