On The Legal System Of Publishing Censorship During The Nanjing National Government

The publication is one mode of expression and transmission. Freedom to publish is the guarantee by which freedom of speech can be realized. Freedom of speech is essential for basic rights. Democratic countries in modern times enact constitution to ensure the freedom of the people, including the freedom of press.Along with the bourgeoisie industrial revolution, the publication technology was improved, and China's publishing and printing technology began to modernize from the end of Qing Dynasty. In the Nanjing National Government period, press and printing were established in succession, and a number of books were published. Based on the above two aspects, enactment of laws and regulations of publication was urgent. As publication can spread ideas rapidly and widely, Kuomintang the new administration party implemented pre-publishing censorship to consolidate its dominant position. They banned numbers of books and periodicals, and even censored manuscripts twice. On one hand, publishing industry was developing objectively, so Kuomintang had to carry out constitutionalism and guaranteed freedom of press to gain people's support. On the other hand, Kuomintang censored books and periodicals by promulgating laws and regulations, and the censorship brought out large number of banned books. Based on the contradiction, it is significant to study on legal system of publishing censorship during that period.After reunification of China, Nanjing National Government came into the period of tutelage. In the early stage of Nanjing national government, "one party rules China" became guiding ideology of governing conception, and "KMT doctrine and program" was the highest principle to public ideological education. After the July 7 Incident of 1937, National Anti-Japanese War broke out and complete victory was everything, which were the time background of the middle stage of Nanjing national government. After the Sino-Japanese War, the negotiations between Kuomintang and Communist Party cracked so that the civil war broke out. This was the characteristic in the late National Government.In this paper, the legal system of publishing censorship is researched on three aspects which are constitutions, legislations and practice during the Nanjing National Government. In the three-part study, the characteristics of the three periods were combined to analyze. By the combination, it is not only to clarify the approach, authority, criteria and penalty of publishing censorship, but also to clarify the legal status of publishing censorship in three different historical periods.