世界日報
- Notice from the Zhengyan Evening News
- Proclamation of the Zhenwei Third and Fourth Joint Army Group Headquarters
- Living English Readers
This Peking daily carried three legible items of interest. A new evening paper, the Zhengyan Evening News, announced its scheduled launch on October 17, claimed a daily sheet twice the size of any existing evening paper in the capital, set out its copper and silver prices, and invited paid contributions of news and short sketches to its office outside Xuanwu Gate. The headquarters of the Zhenwei Third and Fourth Joint Army Group told residents that troops quartered inside the city as a temporary measure would move elsewhere now that order was returning, and directed anyone harmed by unruly soldiers to report names under two earlier proclamations. An advertisement promoted the first volume of a six-volume Living English Readers series built on the direct and oral methods, with Craigie pronunciation marks and a compiler said to have taught at St. John's University.
This reading covers three items: the Zhengyan Evening News notice, the first legible column of the army headquarters proclamation, and the opening of the Living English Readers advertisement. The proclamation continues into a lower section that is only partly legible, and the small names beside the army group commander are not transcribed. The end of the Zhengyan notice runs into text that seems to belong to an adjacent book advertisement. The medicine advertisements along the right edge are dark and smudged, and much of the small print in the book lists and telephone notices is only partly legible. [?] marks characters that could not be made out.
Translation
Notice from the Zhengyan Evening News
Monday. Zhengyan Evening News: notice of scheduled publication and call for contributions. This paper is scheduled to begin publication on October 17. It will issue one large sheet daily, double the size of each of the evening papers now published in Peking, with well-informed news and abundant material. Retail: six copper coins per copy; 45 cents in silver per month; 4 dollars 50 cents in silver for the full year. This paper strives for excellence. Besides engaging dedicated staff for news gathering and all kinds of writing, it will not stint on generous payment in soliciting all kinds of important news, social [?] news and short sketches. Contributors are asked to send their manuscripts directly to this office on Shanxi Street, outside Xuanwu Gate. Pieces selected for publication will be generously paid; those found unsuitable will not be returned, for which we beg your pardon. This notice is hereby given. Sales [?] full; finely printed in sixteen cases with fitted cloth slipcases, sent out immediately. Publisher ○ Jin, Peking
Proclamation of the Zhenwei Third and Fourth Joint Army Group Headquarters
Ninth month of the bingyin year [?]. Proclamation of the Headquarters of the Zhenwei Third and Fourth Joint Army Group. Whereas the stationing of this army inside the city was originally a temporary expedient, and we are well aware that soldiers and civilians alike find it inconvenient; now that order in the capital is gradually being restored and public security is no longer in doubt, we shall choose a suitable site and move elsewhere forthwith. We fear, however, that [?] [?] may not be thorough, and it is hard to prevent lawless soldiers from defying law and discipline and harassing the neighborhoods. Any person who has been harmed should, in accordance with this headquarters' two previous proclamations, [?] state in detail the full names
Living English Readers
Six volumes in all; Volume 1 now published, price 80 cents. In English teaching, what matters is the ability to use the language. This book adopts the most advanced methods of teaching foreign languages. Drawing on the things within the surroundings of teacher and pupils, it uses the direct method and the oral method, applying them as occasion requires, so that interest arises continually and real results are easily obtained. Each lesson is divided into text, pronunciation, idioms, grammar, listening, conversation, translation, penmanship, composition planning and other exercises, so that pupils have ample opportunity to practice with ears, eyes, hands and mouths. The whole book marks pronunciation with Craigie's notation, making pronunciation especially easy. The compiler taught for many years in the English department of St. John's University and knows well how to remove the difficulties Chinese students face when they first learn English; it therefore goes without saying that this book suits their needs. Outline of the book's contents
Context
The Fengtian commanders behind the joint army group
The headquarters that signed the proclamation appears to be the joint command of two Fengtian generals. Han Linchun took command of the 4th Front Army and formed a joint command with Zhang Xueliang's 3rd Front Army, a pairing that matches the 'Third and Fourth' army group named in the notice. Han and Zhang Xueliang fought hard against Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun at the South Gate of Changping in the Peking area in 1926. The same campaign shows why discipline mattered to this command: when the Fengtian commander Wu Junsheng's army pillaged the surrounding area, Han and Zhang removed Wu and the officers involved. The proclamation's offer to hear complaints against lawless soldiers is consistent with a command that had already disciplined its own officers for plunder.
Why troops were quartered inside Peking
Soldiers were inside the city because the northern armies had taken Peking by force earlier in 1926. In April, Zhang Xueliang's army occupied the capital, with Wu Peifu's troops arriving a little later, and the occupying forces sacked the city, causing much chaos. About six months later, the proclamation calls the quartering of troops within the walls a temporary expedient and says order in the capital is only 'gradually' being restored. It also refers to two earlier proclamations on how victims should report abuses, which shows that the headquarters had already issued instructions on abuses by soldiers twice before. The proclamation appeared after the Kuomintang had launched its Northern Expedition in July 1926.
An evening-paper launch advertised in a rival's daily
The notice ran in the Shijie Ribao (World Daily), which the journalist Cheng Shewo founded after graduating from Peking University in 1921, together with the World Evening News. A newcomer evening paper was therefore advertising in a daily whose proprietor already ran an evening paper in the same Peking market. The Zhengyan Evening News made its case on size and price: one large sheet a day, which it said was double the size of every existing Peking evening paper, six copper coins per copy, and monthly and yearly rates in silver. It also promised to hire its own reporters and to pay generously for outside news, social news and short literary sketches. The size comparison and the promises of well-informed news are the advertiser's own claims about itself.
Living English Readers and Faucett's direct method
The advertisement's details closely match the work of the American teacher Lawrence Faucett, though the legible text names no compiler. Faucett went to China in 1922 for the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church and began teaching as an assistant professor of English at St. John's University in Shanghai. His daughter recalled that his direct method used many visual aids and flashcards and could be taught without the teacher using Chinese, the same approach the advertisement describes as the direct and oral methods built on pupils' surroundings. He was also a committed advocate of the pronunciation marks devised by William Craigie, the 'Craigie notation' the advertisement promises, and he promoted that system in publications issued by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. A series of Living English Readers by Faucett was published at an uncertain date, but the account of his career counts four readers, not the six volumes announced here. Faucett resigned from the mission in July 1925, so if he is the compiler, the advertisement's 'many years' at St. John's describes a stay of roughly three years.
Original
正言晚報啟事
星期一正言晚報定期出版徵求稿件啟事本報定期十月十七日出版日出一大張較比北京現有各晚報加大一倍消息靈通材料豐富零售每份銅元六枚每月大洋四角五分全年大洋四元五角本報力求精美除聘定專員擔任新聞探訪及各種文字外并不吝重酬徵求各種重要消息社 [?] 新聞及短篇小品文字倘荷惠稿希逕寄宣外山西街本社如經選載酬貽從豐不合恕不檢還此啟銷 [?] 售滿精印十六函定布套即寄發行 ○ 錦北京
鎭威第三四方面聯合軍團司令部佈告
丙寅年九月 [?] 鎮威第三四方面聯合軍團司令部佈告照得本軍駐守城內原屬一時權宜之計深知軍民均感不便目下京師秩序逐漸恢復治安無虞自當採擇相當地點即行遷移他處惟誠恐 [?] [?] 未周難免有不逞軍人罔遵法紀擾害閭閻倘有被害之人應遵照本部前兩次佈告 [?] 明詳細姓名
英語活用讀本
全書六冊第一冊出版定價八角英語教學, 貴能活用. 此書採取最進步的教授外國語方法, 就師生環境所及之事物, 用直接法及口演法, 因時致用, 故能興趣環生, 易收實效. 每課分課文, 讀音, 習語, 文法, 默聽, 會話, 繙譯, 書法, 構思以及其他練習, 務使學童在耳目手口上, 均有充分的練習機會. 全書用克賚基符號注音, 俾發音格外便利. 編者曾任聖約翰大學英語科講席多年, 深知如何解除中國學生初習英語之困難, 故此書之適合需要, 可無待言. 本書內容大要