時報
- China Chemical Industry Society 15th Anniversary Grand Gift Offer
- Mr. Liang Rengong's Yinbingshi Collected Works, Re-edited in the Yichou Year
- Shanghai Bond Association Notice on Postponing the Draws of the 5 Kinds of A and B Bonds: Dongfang, Jiangnan, Zhongnan, Liji and Charity
This page of the Shibao for 27 October 1926 carried only advertisements and notices. The China Chemical Industry Society marked its 15th anniversary with a gift promotion, offering four jiao in gifts for every yuan spent and warning that only a few days remained. Another advertisement laid out the contents of Liang Qichao's re-edited Yinbingshi collected works, arranged in four collections by period of his life, plus a supplement of colophons, poetry, fiction and remarks on poetry. The Shanghai Bond Association announced that five lottery-bond offices had jointly postponed their prize draws because dealers in other ports had asked for a delay, citing the political situation, and said the new dates followed below.
This is a partial reading of three short passages from a page made up entirely of advertisements and notices, with no news reports. The OCR is badly garbled; the rate table, dictionary glosses, the edges of the department-store texts and store names in display type could not be read, and the list of postponed draw dates is not included. The available evidence does not cover how the five lottery-bond issues were organised, licensed or sold, or the publisher and pre-subscription terms of the Yinbingshi edition, so the commentary does not address them.
Translation
China Chemical Industry Society 15th Anniversary Grand Gift Offer
For every one yuan of goods purchased, four jiao in gifts. Only a few days remain.
Mr. Liang Rengong's Yinbingshi Collected Works, Re-edited in the Yichou Year
First collection: writings from before the Wuxu year. Second collection: writings from his residence in Japan. Third collection: writings from after his return to China up to the European War. Fourth collection: writings from the European War peace settlement to the most recent. Supplementary collection: colophons, shi poems, ci lyrics, qu songs, fiction, remarks on poetry and more.
Shanghai Bond Association Notice on Postponing the Draws of the 5 Kinds of A and B Bonds: Dongfang, Jiangnan, Zhongnan, Liji and Charity
Recently, fellow dealers selling the bonds in the various ports, owing to the political situation, asked the five bond offices to postpone their prize draws, and this was announced in the newspapers and is on record. The postponed dates jointly resolved by the five bond offices are now listed below in order.
Context
The fighting behind the 'political situation' in October 1926
The Shanghai Bond Association gave only one reason for postponing the draws: 'the political situation'. The notice does not name any battle, but autumn 1926 was the first phase of the Northern Expedition. The National Revolutionary Army attacked across the Jiangxi border on 4 September 1926, took Hanyang and Hankou on 6 and 7 September, and captured Wuchang on 10 October. The fighting then came close to Shanghai itself. On 16 October the Zhejiang civil governor Xia Chao declared the province independent and sent troops against Sun Chuanfang's Shanghai, but he was almost immediately forced back. Sun's forces had crushed the rebellion by 23 October, four days before this page was printed. It is reasonable to read the dealers' request against this background, but the notice itself does not say which events it meant.
Who controlled Shanghai and the dealers' ports
In autumn 1926 Shanghai lay inside Sun Chuanfang's domain. In the fall of 1925 Sun had launched a counterattack that drove Zhang Zongchang's forces out of the Chinese districts of Shanghai, and he went on to extend his rule over all of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui and Jiangxi, with his headquarters in Nanjing. When the notice speaks of fellow dealers 'in the various ports', it most plausibly refers to agents in towns within or near this five-province zone, though the page does not list them. Jiangxi had become a battlefield in September and Zhejiang had rebelled in October, so it is a reasonable inference that selling bonds and collecting payment across the network had become difficult. That would explain why the five Shanghai offices postponed together rather than separately.
How the four collections follow Liang Qichao's life
The advertisement divides Liang Qichao's writings by period: before the Wuxu year, his residence in Japan, from his return to China up to the European War, and from the peace settlement onward. These divisions correspond to the turning points of his career. Liang lived in exile in Japan for 14 years, from 1898, the Wuxu year, to 1912, and during that stay he wrote numerous articles and books, most of them published in journals he had founded. The second collection therefore gathers the writing of those productive years of exile. Collections of his work had been compiled before: in 1904 a Japanese editor, Shimokawabe Hangoro, edited compilations including the Yinbingshi wenji leibian, published in Tokyo. The re-edition advertised here, dated to the Yichou year (1925), followed a chronological plan that took his writing up to the most recent years.
Original
中國化學工業社第十五週紀念大贈品
購貨一元贈品四角為日無多
梁任公先生乙丑重編飲冰室文集
一集戊戌以前作二集居東瀛作三集歸國後至歐戰前作四集歐戰和議以迄最近作附集題跋詩詞曲小說詩話等
上海債券聯合會為東方江南中南利濟慈善五種甲乙券展期開獎通告
近據各埠銷券同業因時局關係請求五券局展期開獎曾經登報通告在案茲將五券局公同議決展定日期挨次列下