Research On The Relation Between Kuo Wen Pao And Reform Public Opinion Field(1897-1900)

After the Sino-Japanese War,progressives of the Reformists founded newspapers and periodicals one after another,constructing the Reformist public opinion field with propaganda and reform as the core from different geographical Spaces,and constructing a communication network consisting of Shanghai,Macao,Changsha,Tianjin and other regional centers.As the public opinion front of the reformists in northern China,with the purpose of "seeking common ground",Kuo Wen Pao conducted social communication activities with other newspapers and periodicals,social organizations,political organizations,official groups and commercial organizations in the public opinion field of the Reformists,demonstrating the practical communication activities carried out by Kuo Wen Pao under the newspaper running concept of "connecting the emotions of both the upper and lower levels" and "connecting the stories of both the Chinese and foreign countries".To a considerable extent,it represents the reform proposals of the main writers group with Yan Fu,Xia Zengyou and Wang Xiuzhi as the core,and also represents the political participation of northern intellectuals in the Reform movement.The paper is divided into five chapters.Through a comprehensive review of the newspaper contents from 1897 to 1900,especially the arguments representing the position of the main writers of the newspaper,the paper presents a panoramic view of the change process of the law reform of the newspaper before and after the 100-day Reform,as well as the property rights transfer and other development stages of the newspaper.Taking the news content of Kuo Wen Pao,especially the commentary plate,as the main object of analysis,taking the reform movement and the important historical nodes in the development of Kuo Wen Pao as the basis of division,forming the writing system with the time chain,and taking the evolution of the law reform proposition of Kuo Wen Pao as the logical context,Systematically discussed the news activities,evolution,stage characteristics and historical role of Kuo Wen Pao from 1897 to 1900,thus presenting the historical picture of the news content of Kuo Wen Pao participating in the construction of the reform public opinion field,and verified and restored the cognitive changes of the main writers of Kuo Wen Pao on power through other documents and historical materials.The paper further discusses the formation mechanism of internal contradictions in the public opinion field of the Reform,and discusses the internal factors of the Reform public opinion activity from its peak to its dissolution under the theoretical framework of the field.The first chapter,based on Tianjin city culture,discusses the influence of Tianjin city factors on the founding and formation of Kuo Wen Pao.On the one hand,the invasions of the foreign powers to China in the late-Qing Dynasty greatly deepened the national crisis,so in the context of "national salvation and survival",the main writers of Kuo Wen Pao decided to participate in the reform movement by running a newspaper and promote the comprehensive reform of the country with the help of public opinion.On the other hand,with the deepening of western capitalist countries’ colonial aggression on China in the late-Qing Dynasty,Tianjin also set up the "nine-country concession" one after another when it opened its port.At this time,Chinese diplomacy became the main city attribute of Tianjin,which further promoted Tianjin to become the information center of "connecting China and the West" and provided information sources for the news production of Guomin News.Based on the urban culture of Tianjin,the news report of Guowan News presents the characteristics of localization.It expresses concern about the social news of Tianjin,and also reflects its concern about the life of the people at the bottom and the liberation of women.The second chapter focuses on the news content before the 100-day Reform,aiming to reveal the early practical activities of the main writers’ group in the construction of the Reform public opinion field.Based on the traditional Chinese classical theory,the main writers of Kuo Wen Pao applied the western thought of "social evolution" to the social reform,in order to discuss the necessity of law reform for the governance of the country,and encouraged the society to re-examine the "old system" and "new law" in the historical context.Based on this,Kuo Wen Pao takes the economic topic of stimulating commercial vitality and the educational topic of reforming the education system as the basis of spreading reform thoughts,and on this basis puts forward representative propositions of law reform in three aspects: "national reform","educational reform" and "revitalizing business development".The third chapter will focus on the 100-day reform period,Kuo Wen Pao will interpret the reform propositions of the reformists and propose that the reform propositions of our newspaper are the main news production activities to construct the reform public opinion field.After Emperor Guangxu issued an edit of "Ming Ming the State is",on the basis of the reform thoughts of the Reformists,Kuo Wen Pao regarded supporting the reform propositions of the Reformists and promoting the internal unity of the reformists as the cornerstone of constructing the public opinion field of the Reformists,and put forward new propositions of the reform from four aspects: "strengthening the country through education","ideological enlightenment","social reform" and "strengthening the country through politics".With the intensification of the internal contradictions of the reformists,the group of main writers of the National News regarded the reconciliation of contradictions and the hope of unity as the top priority,and hoped that the newspaper could unite the reformists to achieve the promotion of reform as the top priority.On the basis of learning from the western political system,the main writers of Kuo Wen Pao redefined the party attribute of the Reformists and put forward the newspaper theory with the color of "Party newspaper" accordingly.At the same time,the context of "connecting with China and the rest of the world" prompts the newspaper to pay attention to the influence of international factors on the Reform movement.However,there are still differences of opinion between Kuo Wen Pao and other reformist newspapers in the reformist public opinion field,which is also the inevitable result of the two sides competing for the cultural power in the field.The fourth chapter,from the perspective of "change",examines the change of property rights,the change of speech orientation and the change of newspaper office’s fate after the Reform Days’ coup,in order to deeply reveal the change and disintegration process of the Reform public opinion field after the Reform Days’ coup.In response to the comments on such historical events as the Movement of 1898’s Coup,Kangliang’s exile abroad and Boxer Rebellion,the Kuo Wen Pao showed a trend of "change" from the weak to the radical before and after the transfer of property rights.First of all,before the complete transfer of property rights,Guowan still cannot get rid of political factors restricting its speech,and it still needs to consider its own security.Secondly,when the old school tried to deny the achievements of the100-day Reform,the main writers of Kuo Wen Pao firmly stood on the opposite side of the old guard and expressed their protest with their remarks.But it has further angered the old guard.The main writers of the newspaper had to transfer the property rights of the newspaper to the Japanese Hiroshi Nishimura.In the hands of Hiroshi Nishimura,the newspaper became a propaganda tool for the Japanese Foreign Ministry in China,and its radical speech and reformist appearance became a tool for Hiroshi Nishimura and others to seize political capital.The fifth chapter,on the basis of a comprehensive review of the history of the State News,points out that the disintegration of the reform public opinion field is closely related to the dependence of journalists on power and their internal contradictions.According to Bourdieu’s field theory,power(or capital)and habitus are the basis of field.The complex interpersonal relationship involved in the main writers of the National News not only provided them with the opportunity to obtain the power of public opinion,but also increased the uncertainty.The public opinion field of Reform belongs to a low autonomy field,involving multiple fields such as politics,economy and culture.Under the background of overlapping interpersonal relationship and field environment,the main writers of Kuo Wen Pao participated in the publicity activities of the Reform Law with the political policy of attracting the old school and relying on westernized officials,which reflected the inherent contradiction of the reform journalists in relying on the traditional political system while seeking to change the old social structure.With the deterioration of the situation,this internal contradiction further inhibited the determination of the main writers of Guorwen News to participate in the struggle for cultural power,and made their remarks unable to fully express their views on the current situation.Under the intervention of external political power,economic power and cultural power,the public opinion field of Reform finally disintegrated.To sum up,the research on the relationship between Kuo Wen Pao and the Reform public opinion field explains the internal factors of the Reform public opinion mobilization from a new perspective.On the basis of paying more attention to the study of the external factors of the Reform Movement for a long time,the academic circle turns to the internal discussion of the change process of specific news production activities,in order to show the interpersonal network and capital operation of Kuo Wen Pao and other multiple correlation situations,so as to analyze the interaction between "front" and "behind".