review print and politics shibao and the culture of reform in late qing china.pdf

7/25/2019 Review Print and Politics Shibao and the Culture of Reform in Late Qing China.pdf

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Print and Politics: "Shibao and the Culture of Reform in Late

Qing China. By Joan Judge Stanford, Stanford University Press,

1996 298 pp.

Shbao (The Easte Tmes) was the leadng poltcal press at the

begnnng of the twenteth century n Chna Many consdered t as the

mouthpece of the JangsuZhejang facton whch consttuted one of the major

forces of the late Qng poltcal and cultural scene However, despte ts

mportance, t has not received enough attenton untl Joan Judge's book For a

long tme, hstorans have been amng to reveal hstorcal development by

contextualzng man txtual sources, such as newspapers Publc Sphere," a

prevalng concept n the Europea hstorcal eld, has proved ts usefulness n

ths respect Joan Judge's work s the rst book to study hstoy from the

mddle" va the analyss of a poltcal press n Chese hstorography. (p 3)

However, the result s not entrely satsfactory

Ths s a story about the expanson of a new mddle realm late Qng

Chna, but told n a way solely based on the Shbao joualsts' subjectve

accounts Objectve analyses, of ether the journalsts' socal poston n the

overall transformng socal structure of late Qng, or a cross-examnaton of the

journalsts' clams aganst the greater hstorcal context, s puzzlgly lackng

Ths crtque, therefore, focuses on answerng the queston: why t s not

enough to tell the story of the formaton, expanson, and meanng of ths

emergg [mddle realm],"(p 1) by merely emphaszng "the language the

journalsts used, the cultural constructs they deployed to structure ther

arguments, and the sources of authorty they appealed to n advancng ther

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claims for reform" (p 2) in the ate Qing Chinese context?

The book needs to have a socia structural analysis to determine the extentto which journalists comaned social leadership so as to evauate their roe

in the formation of the new midde ream in ate Qing According to the author

the journalists cast themselves as members of the middle eve of society and

they saw their role as one of negotiating between the dynasty above and the

common people below. (pp. 3334 Traditionally this role of mediation was in

the hands of ocialgentry backed up by dynastic support Did the existing

social system in ate Qing endorse the journalists' caim when they made this

statement ? Did they comand the necessary socia prestige and established

networks of communication to reach out to both sides especialy in view of the

fact that most of the journalists were only salaried men with ittle substantial

power?

The author answers these questions by pointing out the leading status of

Shibao in the Shanghai press industry and the newspaper's cose association

with the powerful Jiang-Zhe constitutionalists Doubtless Shibao was the

eading newspaper and attracted the largest readership in the Shanghai press in

the early 1900s Nevertheess the circuation was limited: 7000 maximum,

compared to the vast numbers of the Chinese population. The innovative ideas

the journaists propagated might be embraced by a proportion of the genera

public but this did not automaticaly make them socal eaders entited to

participate in public policy-making Men of pubicity coud be trend setters but

not yet leaders of a society before they accumulated enough poitica authority

The connection of the Shibao joualists with the JiangZhe constitutional

eaders is unclear even though the newspaper buiding Xiou served as the

site of their association. There was a certain degree of overap between Shibao

journalists and members of Xilou club but a lack of evidence to show that the

journaists expanded their inuence through the power networks the atter

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controlled. The author fals to draw ths dstncton clearly and presents a

confusng categorcal depcton of the Shbao ournalst group. Whle her

namelst of the ournalsts (n appendx A ncludes promnent Xlou club

members lke Zhang Jan and L Pngshu, the Shbao edtorals the author

quotes were all done by the regular staff Whle a couple of the regular

ournalsts, lke D Baoxan and Bao Tanxao, were personnel of the

organzatons founded by the consttutonal leaders, the author shows few drect

lnks between the deas on the newspaper pages and the actons of these

organzatons Evdence of dvergence between them seems to be more profuse

(These nclude the dsagreement between Zhang Jan and the ournalsts n

terms of ther atttudes toward the royal house's concesson to shorten the

consttutonal preparaton from nne years to sx; or, the ournalsts' abortve

advocacy of the ralway and mnes assocatons as the reformst base of

operaton Can we classfy the emnent consttutonalsts lke Zhang Jan as

Shbao ournalsts only because they probably contrbuted artcles to the

newspaper on an occasonal bass? Coud t be possble that the ournalsts

dd not partcpate n the socal movements n the name of the newspaper, but

as ndvduals?

Wthout clearly denng the ournalsts' socal poston, the author

beleves that the oualsts' approach to forge a new ctzenry reveals ther

wllngness to renqush the nherted lterat role of proxy for the people, by

offerng the [common people] the means to renvent themselves" They

forswore the Confucan noble man's practce of holdng knowledge n trust

and actng on the common people's behalf they devoted themselves to

nformng, eucating, and poltczng ther compatrots n order to forge a more

autonomous Chnese ctzenry"(p. 10 1) I do not queston the journalsts'

sncerty when they advocated ther deal of ctzenry. But, to my eyes, ths s a

choce by default Aer all, unlke the then domnant socal groups

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(gentrymerchant, tradtional ofcialgentry, new mlitary men, and new

businessmen), the journalsts, although members of a new ntellgentsa, dd not

have sources of force to engage in poltcal contest, other than moblzng the

people. As the author ponts out, these ournalsts were a new lneage of

cultural elite. But they were not dstngushed from traditonal literati by ther

new ideas, outlook, and urban lfe-style alone. It was also by ther lmited

possession of communcation networks and sources of power. An nquiry into

ther relatonshp wth other socal groups and ther increasingly margnalized

socal status, can illumnate the socal alenaton the new ntellgentsia sufferedand give us nsght into the actual operaton of the late Qng new mddle realm.

Ths book, though we can understand the author's ntenton to let the

evidence speak for tself, cites paragraph aer paragraph of drect quotation

from Shbao editoral columns, wth nether sgn of nvestgaton into each

one's mmedate context, nor cross-examnaton of ts greater hstorical context.

For one thng, the edtoral column, more oen than not, was ted to daly

current affars n such subtle ways that a contextual examnaton revealng the

moves behnd the scenes s essential. Especally, because of the newspaper'

allegedly close tes to the powerful Jang-Zhe constitutonalists. Furthermore, a

crossexamnaton between the journalsts clams and the greater hstorcal

development s vital to evaluate the actual operation of the late Qing middle

realm. In the followng are some of my suggestons n ths respect Hopefully,

they are constructve to the study of the ssue of public sphere" in the Chinese

history.

udge dscusses at length the journalists' prescrption of the content of the

new moralty and ctzen sprt requsite for Chna to enter upon a new era

More than a descrptve account of what the journalsts prescrbed, readers

would like to know on what bass the journalsts (new ntelligentsa) assumed

that they could arbtrarly set the moral tenor of the age without reference to

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any empical assessment of social ealtes What can ths tycally idealistic

o moe accuately unealstc outlook of the new intellgentsa tell us about

the limtatons of thei effot to wedge open a new mddle ealm and vice

vesa ? To what extent did the new intelligentsa actually beak away fom the

old genty n tems of ntellectual oentaton and taditona moal pattens of

judgment? How did the new ntelligentsia maintain thei faith n the face of

the social alenation whch was nceasingly mposed upon them ? Ths level

of eseach s vtal to unavel the negative factos on the pat of the new

intellectua which eventually led to the failue of a Chinese public sphee

Social moes can neve take shape as the esult of wshful human

pescptions alone They ae the ceaton of a constant push and pull among

inteest goups New deas o concepts wee ntoduced nto Chinese society

though thei adopton by cultual elite in public debates Howeve ths s only

the st ing n the social value epoducton pocess. Whethe a concept can be

tansfomed nto an deology impinted on peoples behavo depends on not

just the cultual elite's intepetaton and dsseminaton of an dea, but also

vaous othe socal goups applcatons accodng to thei nteests and social

positons The meaning of a concept consequently tansfomed along wth the

pocess Theefoe even though Shbao was geneally considered as a

mouthpiece of the JangZhe consttutonalists and even though many of the

jounalists took pat n the constitutional movement we need to pobe into the

social elites dffeent appopations of what the joualss had advocated nthe poltical pess so that the jounalsts contbuton to catalyszng the

mddle ealm into a ste of socal dynamism can be detemined Not eveything

that appeaed in Shibao editoials was easonable to and accepted by the social

elite This was vey clea n the Shbaos leading jounalst Chen Lengs

ephemeal advocation of the foegn pncple no taxation wthout

epesentaton" n focng the govenment to concede (pp 5-16) On the

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other hand, why could it be generally accepted that the journalists

interpretaion that the anti-imperialist social movements in the 1900s were the

prologue of the later constitutional movement, despite the latter being domestic

in nature? The ournalists were the primary engineers forging the necessary

conceptual link between the two movements, which lent weight to the social

elites constitutional cause.

The journalists believed that anti-imperialist movements in the 1900s (the

Chinese peoples struggle over railway construction, mine exploitation, and

foreign-goods boycotts) had nurtured the growth of civic organizations in

constructing power networks and sophisticating the necessary political skills.

One Shibao journalist even claimed that, taking the two incidents [of the

JiangsuZhejiang Railway dispute and the Chenwan case] as examples, it is

clear that our people today possess the qualities of constitutional citizens"(p

1 14) The Shibao journalists, and many other intellectuals, interpreted the

movements with an optimistic outlook, but, as shown in history, later on they

found themselves being pushed toward another greater disappointment. Hence,

a cross-examination of the journalists' observations and the historical nature of

these 1900s anti-imperialst movements, becomes necessary

To make writing and reading more interesting, we might raise the question:

how far apart were these antiimperialist movements in nature from the

anti-Christian movements inflaming the whole of China in the previous

decades? Similarly, both types of movements took place in the middle realm

of society. Both involved region and nation-wide power networks in each level

of society. Both thried on ingrained hatred against foreign encroachment.

Doubtless, there were obvious differences between these two pes of

movement in terms of overall state-societal relationships, intermediate groups,

networks of participation, and patterns of political strategy and mobilization

But we need to remember they were consecutive events The shifts in these

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contrasted aspects are tel-tale points in the upsurge of social dynamism in the

midde ream. In the case of the intermediate groups, for exampe, we mightwant to ask: what was the nderying signicance in the excessive favoritism of

the new intelectuals to the antiimperialist movements of the 1900s? Was it

possible that their favorabe account in fact was a reection on their politica

strategies of participation? To what extent did the function of a poitica

press faciitate the 1900s antiimperialist movements which the antiChristian

movements were devoid of? hat can this te s about the characteristic and

functiona difference between the ofciagentry and new inteigentsia? A

comparative stdy of these two consecutive movements can give s an

understanding of the transformative ate Qing middle realm, by which one can

highight the novelty that emerged in the 1900s with a historical sense

Print and Politics presents an overoptimistic and redctive porrait of the

formation of the late Qing midde ream. Without a social structura inquiry,

and relying soley on the jornalists' sbjective accounts, it is not surprising

that the athor concudes hat "in China it was the organs of publicity that

served as the impetus for the creation of the instittional infrastrcture that

constitutes a civil society. (p 12)

Li-Min Liou

UCLA History Deparment

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