Jottings from the Granite Studio

Over at Danwei, there’s a round-up of opinion on the recent Xinhua ruckus, one quote in particular caught my eye:

“From time immemorial Chinese newspapers … have been little more than mere official publications over which the Government has always exercised a rigid censorship. It is gratifying to notice, however, that the power of the Press is beginning to make itself felt even in China, and there can be no doubt that newspapers will become increasingly an important factor in … affairs, moral, religious and political……What has been done is utterly insignificant compared with what will be accomplished when freedom of speech and of the Press are fully accorded. As a recent Chinese writer says, “a free Press would become the people’s most effective weapon against public outrages and political intrigues. It would be a deadly weapon against corruption, a guillotine over the heads of unscrupulous officials, the relentless foe of oppressors of the poor and a powerful factor for the proper administration of national affairs.”

The source? The North China Herald. The date? 1907. I’ve used the NCH for my own research on numerous occasions and despite its not-so-occasional colonial huffiness with the Chinese people, it’s fascinating to see how ‘current’ some of its articles can be. Thanks to Danwei and the scholar of Moganshan for digging into the archives.