世界日報
- Notice from the Zhengyan Evening News
- Bound Volumes of the World Daily Supplement
- Practical English Readers
This partial reading of the World Daily for 16 October 1926 covers three items. A notice announced that the Zhengyan Evening News would begin publishing in Beijing on 17 October as one large daily sheet, claiming twice the size of the city's existing evening papers, listing its copy, monthly and yearly prices, and inviting paid contributions to its office outside Xuanwu Gate. Above it survived the closing lines of a proclamation to merchants, signed by army group commanders Zhang Xueliang and Han Linchun, promising strict secrecy. The paper also advertised monthly bound volumes of its own supplement edited by Liu Bannong, about 120 pages and more than 150 pieces each, and a six-volume English reader built on the direct and oral methods by a former St. John's University English lecturer.
This reading covers only part of the page. The margins are cropped and the right edge is dark, hiding the medicine advertisements in r0c2, r1c2 and r3c2. Small type in r1c0 and r3c0 is blurred. The column ends of the Zhengyan Evening News notice are cut off at the bottom of the tile, so the opening of the military proclamation and some prices are missing. The OCR candidate was heavily corrupted and was not used where it differed from the image.
Translation
Notice from the Zhengyan Evening News
[?] county. This headquarters will keep it strictly secret and will never make it public. We therefore once again earnestly proclaim this, so that all you merchants may each be informed. This proclamation is hereby issued. [?] Republic of China, Year 15, October. Army Group Commanders Zhang Xueliang, Han Linchun.
Zhengyan Evening News: Notice of Publication Date and Call for Contributions
Publication is fixed for October 17. One large sheet will appear daily, twice the size of each of the evening papers now published in Beijing, with prompt news and abundant material. Retail price 6 copper coins per copy; 4 jiao 5 fen in silver dollars per month; 4 yuan 5 jiao in silver dollars for the full year. This paper [?]. Besides engaging dedicated staff to handle news gathering and writing of every kind, it will spare no generous fees in soliciting all kinds of important news, social news and short sketches. Should you favor us with contributions, please send them directly to this office on Shanxi Street outside Xuanwu Gate. Pieces selected for publication will receive payment; those not suitable will not be returned, for which we ask your pardon. This notice is given.
Bound Volumes of the World Daily Supplement
World Daily. Bound Volumes of the World Daily Supplement, Volumes 2 and 3. The World Daily Supplement is edited by Dr. Liu Bannong, professor at Peking University, and those who write for it are likewise largely scholars of deep learning of the day. Each bound volume gathers one month's contents into a single book; its printing and binding are both extremely fine, entirely unlike the ordinary sort bound from old newspapers, crude in form. Each volume runs to about 120 pages, with more than 150 pieces; rich in content, giving equal weight to learning and to enjoyment, it is something every young person should have in hand for after-class hours. Actual price per volume [?]; postage 2
Practical English Readers
Practical English Readers. Complete in six volumes; Volume 1 now published; price 8 jiao. In teaching English, what matters is being able to put it to use. This book adopts the most advanced methods of teaching foreign languages: drawing on things within reach of teacher and pupils, it uses the direct method and the oral method, applying them as occasion suits, so that interest arises at every turn and real results are easily achieved. Each lesson is divided into text, pronunciation, idioms, grammar, dictation, conversation, translation, penmanship, composition and other exercises, so that pupils have ample opportunity to practice with ears, eyes, hands and mouths alike. The whole series marks pronunciation with Craigie symbols, making pronunciation especially easy. The compiler lectured in English at St. John's University for many years and knows well how to remove the difficulties Chinese students face when they first learn English, so it goes without saying that this book meets the need. Outline of contents: the lessons in each volume suffice for thirty weeks of teaching; when using Volume 1, [?] [?] pay 3 yuan
Context
Cheng Shewo's World Daily and Beijing's evening papers
The notice for the Zhengyan Evening News ran in the World Daily, a paper founded by Cheng Shewo. Cheng moved to Beijing in 1917 and graduated from Peking University in 1921; after graduating he founded the World Evening News, the World Daily and the World Illustrated. The house that printed this page therefore already ran an evening paper of its own. That puts the newcomer's boast in context: when the Zhengyan Evening News promised a single large sheet twice the size of every evening paper then published in Beijing, the comparison included the World Daily's own sister title. The notice names neither the backers of the Zhengyan Evening News nor any tie between it and Cheng's group, so its size, prices and Shanxi Street address rest on the notice alone.
Liu Bannong, the newly minted doctor behind the supplement
The advertisement sells the supplement on the name of 'Dr. Liu Bannong, professor at Peking University'. Liu had made his name in the New Culture Movement: his writing first appeared in New Youth in 1916, and in 1917 he took a teaching post at Peking University. He then studied abroad, earned his PhD in 1925 at the Institut de Phonétique of the Sorbonne, returned to China the same year to resume university teaching, and taught vernacular literature at Peking University. The doctoral title used in this autumn 1926 advertisement was thus barely a year old, and it lent academic weight to a monthly compilation pitched to young readers as combining learning with enjoyment. The figures of about 120 pages and more than 150 pieces a month, and the praise for its printing and binding, are the World Daily's own sales claims.
Why Zhang Xueliang and Han Linchun signed as joint army group commanders
The proclamation fragment at the head of the notice column carries two signatures as 'army group commanders': Zhang Xueliang and Han Linchun. Han had been appointed commander of the 4th Front Army previously led by Jiang Dengxuan and had formed a joint command with Zhang Xueliang's 3rd Front Army, which is why the two issued orders together. In the 1926 campaign against Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun they fought hard at the South Gate of Changping near Beijing, and under Han's command they defeated the Guominjun in August. By the time this page appeared in mid-October, the pair led the combined Fengtian force that had fought in the Beijing area, and their joint name on an order to merchants reflected that shared headquarters.
Fengtian troops in Beijing and the city's merchants in 1926
The surviving lines of the proclamation address merchants and promise that the headquarters will keep something strictly secret and never make it public; the opening, which would show what the merchants were being asked to report or provide, is cut off. The order came from an army whose arrival had been hard on the city. During the Anti-Fengtian War, in spring 1926, Zhang Xueliang's army occupied the capital, with Wu Peifu's troops arriving a little later, and the occupiers sacked Beijing and caused much chaos. During the August fighting near Changping, the Fengtian commander Wu Junsheng's troops pillaged the surrounding area, and Han and Zhang removed Wu and the officers involved. The legible text does not say whether the promised secrecy concerned such misconduct. The proclamation is dated October 1926, three months after the Kuomintang launched its Northern Expedition in July.
Original
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