Research On Gentry Merchants' Fight For Press Discourse Sovereignty In Late Qing Dynasty And Republic Of China

The emergence of the press industry in modern times can be attributed to external invaders.Foreign press in late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China gradually displayed the development trend from coastal regions to hinterland,from missionary publications to Chinese commercial press.In terms of press publicity,these press have a set of self-constructed discourse system,respectively shown in political attack,economic deprivation,and cultural invasion.As a consequence,the press discourse sovereignty during this period was controlled by foreigners who arbitrarily reversed the right and wrong,turned things upside down,always stood on the side of invaders,and cashed in on benefits in China.During this period,scholars and gentry merchants in China started to "open their eyes to see the world".At first,they regarded press in modern times as being "not worthy of serious consideration",but then they started to stress the functions of press,awakened their consciousness,and tried and practiced on press discourse sovereignty.Through self-run press and the activities of purchasing press stock right,they tried to change the dominant position of foreign press in China.Owing to its favorable geographical location,developed commodity economy,and concentrated politics and culture,Shanghai became the cluster of modern press.Owing to the development of external economy and trade,a group of gentry-merchants also gathered in Shanghai to engage in political and economic activities.In face of biased reports by foreign press in Shanghai,these gentry-merchants felt indignant,began to stress the press discourse sovereignty awareness,and started to run their own press.The Circulation Daily started by Wang Tao in Hong Kong provided Chinese people with the experience of fighting for press discourse sovereignty.In face of the case of Yang Yuelou carried by Shun Pao run by British merchants in which the press comments involved regional discrimination,they started to come into contact with Hui Pao in Shanghai started by Rong Hong and Tang Tingshu;Shanghai Taotai Feng Junguang joined hands with gentry merchants in Shanghai,started the New Daily and reported to show that the sovereignty of "Wu Song Railroad" belongs to China,strongly indicating the discourse position of the newspaper.The press also carried Chinese and English news to resist the inclination and distorted reports of foreign press in Shanghai.Through self-run press,Chinese people started to enable the whole Chinese media circle to be able to compete with foreign press.Out of the needs for political movement and the development of business and trade,gentry merchants and scholars recaptured the press discourse sovereignty by purchasing the stock right of press.Zhang Jian and Shi Liangcai took back their stock right of Shun Pao,and the sovereignty of Shun Pao returned to the Chinese people to be used by Chinese people.For another big press News,Shi Liangcai became a big stockholder of News through purchasing its stock right;Zhang Zhuping successfully acquired China Press,which made the Chinese people's words have a place in foreign newspapers and periodicals.