Expedition to Europe

January 1919 was definitely a tragic month for the news and publishing industry of the Republic of China, which was once flourishing.

If we look back, the two months of impetuousness and tyranny at the end of 1918 were the last madness of those tabloids.

It was precisely because of those two months of "national carnival" that the death knell for the news and publishing industry of the Republic of China was sounded.

What is a "tabloid"? Compared with the British "Times", the French "Le Figaro" and the American "New York Times", as long as the newspaper is not distributed nationwide, it is a tabloid.

If you count it this way, all newspapers in the Republic of China are tabloids.

At the end of January, a newspaper called "Daily News" was quietly launched in the French Concession in Tianjin, and the circulation of the first issue on the first day reached 100,000 copies.

100,000 copies?

Everyone who heard the news would be shocked, especially the former media people, because just a month ago, the total daily sales of all newspapers in Beijing did not reach 50,000 copies.

The reason why the sales volume is so terrifying is actually very simple. The newspapers of this "Daily News" are not bought at all, but given away, and this free giveaway will last for a month.

Free giveaway...

How can those small newspapers that rely on selling newspapers to recover costs and then make profits survive?

Not to mention that the profit point of newspapers depends on advertising, if your newspaper has no sales, no one will advertise on it.

Not all newspapers rely on selling newspapers to survive. Some newspapers still have additional income, such as some unidentified financial assistance, so those newspapers can still persist for a period of time.

Since money is not a problem, the content of the page is the competition at this time.

Even if they are both given away, the role of taking them home to read carefully and taking them home to put them in the toilet as toilet paper is completely different.

So at this time, many people were surprised to find that the "Daily News" actually has 16 large press stations across the country and employs more than 200 professional reporters. Moreover, the Daily News also has branches in many overseas countries, and has cooperative relations with the British Times, the French Le Figaro, and the American New York Times. They share resources and can exchange what they have. In many cases, a piece of news can be published in several newspapers on the same day.

At the same time, the Daily News is not just born, but has been published for a while. In Lanfang, Corsica, France, and even in the United States, the Daily News already has a group of fixed readers. The money earned by the Daily News from other places can be used to make up for the deficit of the Republic of China.

This is not something that ordinary people can play. It is estimated that the financial backers behind those tabloids may not have such great power.

What is the power of capital?

This is the power of capital!

People don’t bother with you at a low level at all, and directly use money to destroy your hard-earned right to speak.

The Daily News is roughly divided into three pages, one is international current affairs, one is people’s livelihood, and the other is business news.

The international current affairs section is mostly reprinted, all of which are major news that happened in various corners of the world within the previous day, ranging from the ongoing Paris Peace Conference to the gossip of the British royal family. People who care about the international situation can find anything they want here.

Almost every report will be accompanied by an "Editor's Note", which not only details the source of the reprint, but also briefly introduces the author's situation and the background of the article, so that readers can have a general understanding of the national background involved in the article and the author's political inclination.

Rather than news, this is more like a popular science book, which not only allows politicians who care about current affairs to have a clearer grasp of the international situation, but also allows new readers to quickly adapt and not be confused.

Minsheng Zatan mainly focuses on the domestic situation, ranging from the ongoing North-South War to the former Qing royal family who still occupies the Forbidden City secretly transferring cultural relics. This type of article only explains the facts without any analysis or comment, and the right and wrong are left to the readers to judge.

Minsheng Zatan has no columns throughout the article, nor any commentary articles by so-called "Chinese masters". It is just a simple news report without any private goods.

This makes many "masters" worried and fearful. Without the support of newspapers and readers, can "masters" still be called "masters"? Can old masters still communicate normally with female students in their prime?

In fact, the "masters" of the Republic of China lived a very comfortable life. They taught in various universities and received astronomical salaries. They earned extra income by scolding people in the newspaper every day. When they were in a good mood, they could talk about their ideals with female students. Their lives were really comfortable.

An unexpected fact is that almost all "masters" during the Republic of China were literary, and there were very few science and engineering and agriculture and forestry. However, these guys who were used to sitting and talking and only boasting were actually named "masters" one by one. It is really speechless.

If you really love your country, then stop pointing fingers and criticizing current social ills all day long. If you were in power, you might be able to build 2 million kilometers of railways a year. At the very least, do your job well and let students stay in the classroom and study with peace of mind instead of taking to the streets every now and then. Doing so will do nothing for the country except to attract attention and cultivate a group of angry young people to make a name for yourself.

The last business news is a kaleidoscope, covering everything from the function of washing machines to the price of rice in Siam. Ordinary people can only see which restaurants in Beijing are good, cheap and large in quantity. The sharp-eyed business elites can naturally find business opportunities.

No matter what era, information asymmetry can lead to huge profits. So almost within a week, the Daily News received tens of thousands of subscription requests. Most of these readers are businessmen. Their eyes are naturally focused on the business news page. As for the other two, they are also subscribed together. Even if they can't generate profits, they can always broaden their horizons.

It was just a first issue. Many people in China suddenly realized that the whole world had stopped fighting, only the Republic of China was still in flames; it turned out that although the Qing Dynasty had collapsed, the emperor still lived in the Forbidden City and had been secretly transferring the property that originally belonged to all citizens.

So the focus of the public's attention immediately shifted from the foreign legion to the domestic warlords and the emperor in the Forbidden City.

In fact, few people really care about the Foreign Legion. Many ordinary people have never heard of the Foreign Legion before. Many students who were the most angry in the march had never seen anyone in the Foreign Legion before. If there were no people with ulterior motives to fan the flames, the public would really not care.

Chinese people are still very realistic. Unless it is related to their own interests, few people will speak up for others.

Now the problem is that the domestic war has endangered the national economy and people's livelihood, and the behavior of the former Qing royal family is even more like theft. This is always related to their own interests, so the focus of public opinion immediately began to shift.

It doesn't matter whether the Foreign Legion will come back or not. Anyway, they have never come back. The chaos of domestic warlords and the theft of the former Qing royal family are more worthy of condemnation.

Almost the next day, people gathered in front of the Purple Gold City Gate and asked the abdicated emperor to get out of the Forbidden City.

Well, it seems that "get out" has a tendency to become a national curse.

In fact, the protests at that time were sporadic. Once the driving force was lost, whether it was students or businessmen, few people really wanted to confront the government. Do you really think that they are all "patriotic" and stupid? When group behavior becomes individual behavior, Chinese people have always been "self-conscious".

At the end of January, the Beiyang government issued the "News Management Regulations", which stipulated the newspaper access system, news review system, and qualification certification of practitioners.

There is no doubt that only the "Daily News" in the Republic of China has complete qualifications, because a deposit of 100,000 oceans alone has wiped out 99% of newspapers.

This 100,000 oceans is non-refundable. If the newspaper violates the "News Management Regulations" in any way during its operation, the 100,000 oceans will be confiscated. The newspaper will not be closed, but if it wants to reopen, then it will take another 100,000 oceans.

Take a look at the provisions of the "News Management Regulations":

The original text is in Liu # 9 @Book/Bar!

It is not allowed to oppose the basic principles established by the Constitution;

It is not allowed to disrupt social order and undermine social stability;

It is not allowed to insult or slander others and infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of others...

The above is just an excerpt. The full text has nine chapters and 73 articles. If any one of them is violated, the deposit will be confiscated immediately, and the newspaper will suspend publishing for rectification. The publishing rights will be re-granted when the competent department deems it appropriate.

When seeing this "News Management Regulations", most media people were disappointed. Let's not talk about anything else first, let's first understand the content of the "Constitution".

So this "News Management Regulations" immediately caused an uproar, and many "scholars and masters" publicly criticized this as a regression of freedom and the sadness of civilization.

The Beiyang government did treat this group of literati with leniency, so the "News Management Regulations" that had been passed by Congress became a trial period of half a year, and it would be decided whether to officially implement it after half a year.

Well, it's January now, half a year...

For Qin Zhiyuan, the things that happened in the Republic of China did not need to be arranged by Qin Zhiyuan himself. Qin Zhiyuan just gave an order, and Lance and Philippe would naturally execute it.

Lance and Philippe are old friends of Qin Zhiyuan. They have known Qin Zhiyuan for two years. They are both senior media people. The key is that they can always keep in line with Qin Zhiyuan.

Now, Lance and Philippe have joined Lan Fang.

Lance is the editor-in-chief of "Daily News" and Philippe is the director of the Press Office of the Prime Minister's Office of Lan Fang.

Their positions are not fixed. This year, Lance is the editor-in-chief of "Daily News" and Philippe is the director of the Press Office. Next year, they will be transferred here. Philippe will be the editor-in-chief and Lance will be promoted to director...

No, in Lan Fang, there is no such thing as promotion or demotion.

Qin Zhiyuan is very disgusted with the official-centered thinking, and he hates those strange phenomena such as "you can only go up, but not down", "one day as an official, a lifetime as an official", etc.

Therefore, in Lan Fang, even if he was the prime minister, as long as he was opposed by the parliament, Qin Zhiyuan would remove the prime minister and then reappoint a new prime minister elected by the parliament.

Even the prime minister was like this, not to mention the people below.

All civil servants should work if they can, and leave as soon as possible if they can't. If they are kicked out, they have to wait for the investigation of the internal affairs department led by Gao Hongshi.

As for the salary, it is really not very high, basically the same as that of ordinary workers.

There are almost no social privileges, because Lan Fang is gradually improving the legal system, and everything has rules to follow. It is not so easy to find an acquaintance to open a back door, and you have to avoid the eyes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Doesn't it seem that there is almost no benefit?

This is the result Qin Zhiyuan wants.

The official team is different from the army. It is nonsense. It will only lead to the Chinese who are seriously flooded with "officialism" to sharpen their heads to drill into the bureaucracy.

If you don't want to do it, please leave.

In the Chinese world, there is never a shortage of people who want to be officials.