Wanli Xinming

Chapter 115 Questions About Newspaper Distribution Explained

Well, Lao Mo took out the newspaper in the last chapter. I saw that many book friends said that the daily newspaper was impossible. Lao Mo explained it here. This chapter is free.

When it comes to the printing of newspapers in the Ming Dynasty, news historians involuntarily and coincidentally cite a classic statement by Gu Yanwu, a famous literati in the Ming Dynasty:
"Stealing this compilation, it can only be based on the mansion newspaper, and it is rough and rough, for future generations. It is also possible for Liu Xunzhi's "Old Tang Book". I recall that there was only a movable version in the 11th year of the mansion newspaper until Chongzhen. In the past, it was not a manuscript"

Readers please note that in the 11th year of Chongzhen, the Di Bao has been printed with movable type.So when did non-movable type printing begin?
See page 1332 of "Wanli Dixiao": "Yesterday, I was sick and woke up, and I suddenly heard that it was a biography of the diary. Recording was popular, and the ministers were different."

It can be seen that during the Wanli period and the Ming Dynasty, there were already inscribed and printed (engraved) Di newspapers, which may be parallel to the "scripts" mentioned by Gu Yanwu, and the manuscripts are the main ones.

So how many days does Di Bao publish an issue?
First look at the "Ming Hui Dian", Volume 213 once said: "The six subjects receive the inscriptions of each yamen every day, copy them into volumes one by one, and send them to the cabinet every five days for compilation."

According to this record, many scholars arbitrarily say that Di Bao (also known as Chao Bao or Copy News) publishes an issue every five days.However, judging from the records of the Ming Dynasty opera theorist He Liangjun in "He's Yulin", "the book is received every day in the six subject gallery" and other materials, and many scholars have verified that the Dibao should be issued every day. ——Even if one issue is published every five days, it means that the Ming Dynasty had the technical conditions to publish newspapers, not to mention the guidance of travelers.

How many words can this issue have?The content of the Dibao comes from the memorials approved by the emperor. During the youth and heyday of Wanli, 20 to 30 pieces were approved every day. If half of the memorials could be made public, according to the research of Su Tongbing, a scholar of Taiwan news history, each issue of the Dibao should be published on the seventh day. More than a thousand words.

After talking about the Dibao, let's talk about the release of the "Huangming Nanjing Daily" in the novel.

From the textual research of Ming Dynasty literature, novels, operas, and scriptures, the publishing speed of Di Bao is very slow, which is closely related to the speed of information transmission in ancient times.

It can be seen from the "Ming Hui Dian" that the Ming Dynasty had strict regulations on the speed of information transmission. Let's take an example:
"Shaanxi Dusi, 2650 miles by land, 43 stops, 86 days."

That is to say, it will take 86 days for the information sent from Shaanxi Dusi to the capital, if it is not urgent.

Conversely, if you go to the imperial military post, the newspaper will have no timeliness at all.

Therefore, the audience of the "Huangming Nanjing Daily" set to be published in this book is mainly the citizens of Nanjing City and surrounding cities, and it is used as a cultural product to go to the province through the network of books sold originally by Qingliu Bookstore (Lao Mo has foreshadowed). spread out.

So how big is the Nanjing City newspaper market?

When Nanjing City developed to the Wanli period, industry and commerce were extremely developed.According to the research of later generations, its population is at least 120 million, and some scholars have verified that it is about 300 million. In terms of time, Lao Mo will not list the sources one by one. You can search it on the Internet by yourself.

Lao Mo obtained the minimum figure verified by later generations, 120 million.So what is the literacy rate?The literacy rate of the Ming Dynasty is most intuitively reflected in the vernacular novels. Three of the four major masterpieces appeared in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, there are classics such as "San Yan Er Pai" and "Jin Ping Mei". It shows that the literate population in the Ming Dynasty fully supported the tome of works.

Secondly, see "History of the Ming Dynasty. Biography of Yang Jizong": "In the early days of Chenghua, Wang Ao recommended, promoted Jiaxing prefect. Daxing set up a school, and folk children did not become scholars at the age of eight, and their fathers and brothers were punished."

The legal basis for Yang Jizong's fines is based on the fact that the Ming Dynasty set up a school in the folk Daxing, and also stipulated the age of entry, "people under the age of [-] will be admitted to social studies".This is the rule of the imperial court on universal education.

Based on the above and other materials, later scholars have verified that the literacy rate of men in Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty should have exceeded 45%, and the minimum could reach 30%—the literacy rate of women was very low and ignored.

Having said all this, readers may well know, can the literate population of at least 20 support a daily newspaper published in this city?Not to mention there are also subscriptions to service industries such as teahouses - Lao Mo arranged for the protagonist to open the first daily newspaper in Nanjing, not out of brains.

Why do people think that the Lao Mo daily is a little bit ridiculous?Everyone has overlooked one point. After the Manchu Qing entered the customs, the killings in the entire south were extremely tragic. You can Baidu for details. Lao Mo does not want to read these materials-these massacres are also occasionally seen in the "Qing History Draft". Future generations, don't think this is something that needs to be obscure.

After the massacre, the Daxing of the Literary Prison, from Shunzhi to Qianlong, was unprecedented in intensity.Therefore - the entire Chinese nation is lagging behind in terms of literacy and knowledge, and the "numb Chinese" criticized by Lu Xun did not come about because our ancestors had always been like this, but only after a hundred years of domestication under the butcher knife. Collective numbness and ignorance, insensitivity to new knowledge and new things.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, at least in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese nation was ready to enter modern times economically and culturally.Regrettably, this process was ruined by a combination of factors such as the climate of the Little Glacier, the corruption of the Ming government, and the ills of the institutional mechanism—and this was one of the motivations for Lao Mo to write this book.

To sum up, please have more confidence in your own culture.The legacy of our ancestors made China proudly lead the world for nearly 2000 years, and it was only nearly 200 years before it fell behind. What we have to do is not to blame our ancestors and scold the Qing Dynasty, but to do a good job in every job at hand. Through everyone's efforts, let our great nation return to her original position.

In the end, this explanatory article by Lao Mo is not to provoke a fight, nor to refute it.It's just an explanation for everyone's questions, nothing else.Lao Mo always welcomes everyone's comments, no matter what point of view you put forward, Lao Mo can benefit from it.thank you all!
Mojie.

Also: I'm very sorry, Lao Mo did not click for free, and the writer's assistant is not allowed to delete the VIP chapter, which has caused losses to everyone, please forgive me.It will be free in the next chapter, to restore the loss of this chapter to everyone.Sorry again!
(End of this chapter)