to the domain of general subjects and international questions. Its Chinese section is unusually weighty, containing daily native accounts and translations of official documents, which conduce to an understanding of the Chinese mind and its workings better than elaborate treatises. In common with the majority of its English contemporaries, the Echo de Chine has a weekly edition. This consists of fifteen pages containing the chief features of the daily editions, and is intended principally for subscribers in the interior
AN ISSUE OF “L’ECHO DE CHINE.”
of China and in France. Since Mr. A. Monestier, the editor, and Mr. J. J. Chollot, the managing director, took over the conduct of affairs two years ago, the paper has made very gratifying progress.
- The Sin Wan Pao.
The Sin Wan Pao is a leading semi-official Chinese paper. It was first published by Mr. F. F. Ferris, in the year 1903, for some prominent Chinese merchants in Shanghai. In its early years the venture did not prove very successful, chiefly because at that time very few Chinese were accustomed to read newspapers. The circulation did not exceed three thousand copies a day, including the copies sent to subscribers in other parts of China, although at that period there was only one other Chinese paper in Shanghai—that published by Messrs. Major, Brother & Co. After the Sin Wan Pao had been in existence three years it was found necessary to raise additional capital. Some improvement in the paper followed, and shortly afterwards, during the China-Japan War, the circulation reached four thousand copies a day. Later on, owing to lack of funds, the paper was printed by indifferent machinery, on poor Chinese paper, with worn type. As a consequence the circulation fell to two thousand copies a day, and the leading Shanghai firms could not be induced to advertise in the paper. In 1899, Mr. A. W. Danforth, who was then the proprietor, liquidated his business on the failure of the cotton trade, and the paper was acquired by Dr. John C. Ferguson, a well-known American subject in Shanghai. Since that date a great improvement has been made in
ALPHONSE MONESTIER,
Editor, L’Echo de Chine.
the editorial staff and the management. In 1900 the paper competed successfully with three younger rivals. It gave the latest and most reliable reports on the situation at Peking during the Boxer trouble, and it contained the first account that reached Shanghai of the attack upon the foreign legations in Peking, and the massacre of foreigners. When the news of the murder of Count von Kettler, the German Minister at Peking, was announced, the office of the paper was besieged by natives eager to obtain copies of the paper at thrice the usual price. The circulation leapt up immediately to ten thousand, and the advertisements began to flow in freely.
During the Russo-Japanese War the Sin Wan Pao gave fuller accounts of the campaign daily than any of its local Chinese contemporaries, both the Reuter and Tokyo services being utilised. Special supplements were issued from the office free of cost, even as late as midnight, The editorial staff worked from dawn to midnight, and the paper was enlarged from six to sixteen pages. After the war, two modern-pattern machines were ordered from America to cope with the large circulation. In 1906 the proprietors converted the enterprise into a limited liability company, and registered it in Hongkong with a capital of Tls. 100,000, which was raised by the issue of shares both to Chinese and foreigners. A dividend of 16 per cent. for the year 1907 was declared in February, 1908. The Sin Wan Pao now has a circulation of one hundred and fifty thousand copies a day, excluding copies sent to San Francisco, Honolulu, Sydney, Singapore, Java, Manila, and Japan, and it has gained considerable influence among commercial and official circles in all parts of the Chinese Empire. A rotary machine—the first to make its appearance in China—has been imported from America, and, when erected, will produce fifteen thousand copies, cut and folded, an hour. The paper will then be of the same size as The Times, of London, and the price will remain 14 cash, or 1½ cents per copy, as at present. A new building of four storeys, lighted by electricity, is being erected
