The ''Peking Gazette'' was an official bulletin published with changing frequency in
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
until 1912, when the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
fell and
Republican China was born. The translated name, as it is known to Western sources, comes from
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
-era
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, who followed the bulletin for its political contents. The ''Peking Gazette'' became a venue for political grievances and infighting during the reign of the
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor (4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shenzong of Ming, personal name Zhu Yijun, art name Yuzhai, was the 14th List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reig ...
in the late Ming dynasty, when ''
literati'' factions would submit politicized memorials that the Emperor often abstained from reviewing. From around 1730, the publication was in Chinese called ''Jing Bao'' (京报, sometimes transliterated ''Ching Pao''), literally "the Capital Report". It contained information on court appointments, edicts, and the
official memorials submitted to the emperor, and the decisions made or deferred.
[Wolfgang Mohr, ''Die moderne chinesische Tagespresse'', vol. 1 (Wiesbaden, 1976), pp. 13–14.]
Author J.C. Sun in his book ''Modern Chinese Press'', published in 1946, said the ''Gazette'' seemed to have been
Publication type
Contrary to a sometimes voiced belief, the ''Peking Gazette'' was not a
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
, but a government bulletin, although it might be considered a distant precursor:
See also
*''
Tipao''
*''
Kaiyuan Za Bao''
*
History of Chinese newspapers
*
List of the earliest newspapers
References
External links
English translations from the ''Peking Gazette'' from the 1870s
Newspapers published in Beijing
Qing dynasty literature
Publications disestablished in 1912
Defunct newspapers published in China
Government gazettes
{{China-newspaper-stub