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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
Publication of local newspapers and magazines was supported and largely flourished over much of China in the 1950s. Although for the most part western scholars had little access to the county dailies and smaller bulletins and tabloids of that period, it was apparent that the Chinese tradition of reporting and chronicling local events in written form continued with little interruption in many localities. In the early and mid 1960s, however, under both economic and political pressures, hundreds of county newspapers and other small publications were closed down or amalgamated. Since then, without much access to local or even many provincial newspapers, scholars outside China have known little of the structure and development of the local press and other news media.1 How many county newspapers survived the 1960s or were revived? To what extent have county wire broadcast networks been developed to meet the need for the dissemination of local information to rural and urban populations? What impact, if any, have the news services of these broadcast networks had on remaining local and provincial newspapers? With the current publishing boom in China, should we expect widespread revival of county-level newspapers or general news magazines?
1. One recent wide-ranging addition to the literature in this area, however, is the collection edited by Chu, Godwin and Hsu, Francis, Moving A Mountain: Cultural Change in China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1979). See especially the contribution on local newspapers by Lynn White.Google Scholar
2. This report is based on information gathered in June, July and August 1979, in a brief survey of three newspapers and of eight county and district wire broadcasting systems scattered in seven Chinese provinces. The data on Shulu and Wuxi counties and on Hebei ribao was collected while I was on a five-person research team (supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) investigating patterns of county development in China. I am grateful to the other members of the group, Stephen Andors, Phyllis Andors, Marc Blecher and Mitch Meisner, for allowing use of that material here. Information on the other six networks and two newspapers I collected individually, with much appreciated assistance from my travelling companion Henry Shue, and with financial support from the Yale University Council on East Asian Studies and the Yale-China Association.
3. In a popular decision, for example, a Guangdong prefectural paper, Foshan bao, was closed down in 1976 apparently because, by then, compared to the county broadcast stations in the prefecture, it was late in relaying the news; and compared to Nanfang ribao, the provincial paper, its coverage of prefecture news was little better since it often carried only the very same stories.
4. Many counties already have a few informal, limited-circulation bulletins emanating from a local government bureau such as public health, or a mass organization such as the Youth League, that keep selected units. and individuals informed of relevant developments and issues. Such special interest newsletters and bulletins may tend to serve as the basis for more regular and elaborate specialized publications in the future.
5. Datong, in northern Shanxi near the border with Inner Mongolia, is a municipality of some 770,000, including the city proper, two suburban districts and some mining areas.
6. Hunan ribao estimates five or more readers per copy printed while the other two papers claim even higher rates. Hebei ribao and Datong bao are sold exclusively on subscription to work units and individuals, but Hunan ribao reserves a few copies for sale on the street as well.
7. Payments average between ¥3–5 and occasionally go as high as ¥15–20.
8. Hebei ribao reported just one-thirtieth of its total income from advertising; the remainder from sales.
9. Hunan ribao representatives said their paper is making a profit but they appeared to neglect to make deductions for mailing costs and payments to the Xinhua news service. Depending on exactly how the books are kept, provincial papers may turn a small profit, but certainly not a large one.
10. In Shanxi, as in Hunan, there are no prefectural papers and only four municipal papers, counting Datong.
11. The information gathered on broadcasting stations has been much abbreviated here. For a fuller discussion of these networks, see Shue, Vivienne, “China: on the wire,” Inter Media (Newsletter of the International Institute of Communications) Vol. 8, No. 2 (March 1980), pp. 18–20.Google Scholar
12. Most networks surveyed are now gradually converting to concrete poles and plastic or tar-coated wire.
13. Several stations dated their period of most active expansion from around 1969. In Shulu County before 1969 expenditures on broadcasting hovered well under 1% of totai county budgetary outlays. But between 1968 and 1969 spending on the broadcast network took a jump from ¥7,000 to ¥53,000, or from 0.6% to 4.2% of the county's budgeted expenditures. Spending remained relatively high through 1970 and 1971, then declined gradually over the following years to just 0.8% of county budgeted outlays in 1978.
14. For further details on variations in station finance, see the report in InterMedia cited above.
15. In the counties, locally generated news tends to revolve around production questions as indicated by these sample headlines from the Shulu County network on a single day in early June: “Wangkou Brigade of Wangkou People's Commune makes full use of machinery in harvesting wheat for speed and high quality”; “Report on Fanzhuang People's Commune,” which did good work in the distribution of labour power during the busy season; “Dialogue” on preparatory work that must be done before putting wheat into storage; “Report on the experiences of two new team leaders;” “Lost and found,” a true story of a little boy who found a lost wristwatch and then searched until he found its owner; “Letter from a commune member” suggesting that close attention be paid to the condition of the threshing ground.