Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/363

Rh articles. French interests are in the capable care of L'Echo de Chine, which for eleven years has maintained a creditable record for all that gives French journalism its unique position in contemporary ephemeral literature.

Side by side with the daily Press Shanghai has been well supplied with literature of a different nature, ranging from the more serious effort of an illustrated quarterly to comic weeklies. It is impossible to give too high a meed of praise to the East of Asia, a valuable publication, unfortunately no longer continued, issued at one time by the "North China Daily News and Herald" Company, Ltd. It was started in January, 1902, under the direction of Mrs. Timothy Richard, and on her death, which occurred soon after the completion of the first volume, Mr. W. J. Hunnex was appointed editor. For some time a German edition of the magazine, under the editorship of Mr. Chas. Fink, was published simultaneously with the English edition. The special aim of the magazine was to increase the general knowledge of the East of Asia. The co-operation of some of the leading writers and thinkers in the East was secured, and the subject-matter was brought before the world in fitting dress. The magazine was printed from type and machines specially procured, on art paper in colours, with a characteristic cover specially designed by a Chinese artist. Each number contained about a hundred pages. The illustrations were from original drawings or photographs, taken in the majority of cases by the authors themselves, or under their supervision. From time to time the drawings and paintings by native artists were reproduced, displaying a pleasing contrast between Occidental and Oriental art. At the conclusion of the fifth volume the East of Asia ceased to be published, and only a few copies of the five volumes are still to be had.

In a category of its own may be placed Sport and Gossip, a bright Sunday paper that sustains its title more consistently than its owners, to judge from the frequent changes in its proprietorship.

Of the weeklies, whose name is rapidly becoming legion, priority belongs to the Eastern Sketch as the mirror par excellence of local life. Under the editorship of Mr. H. W. G. Hayter, whose facile pencil provides its most effective illustrations, the Eastern Sketch has identified itself particularly with le haut monde and political cartoons. Social Shanghai is a monthly that reflects the greatest credit upon its editor, Mrs. Shorrock; for it is a valuable record of social events in the Settlement, set out in attractive style and copiously illustrated. In the Bnud [sic] (recently under new management), an attempt is made with rapidly increasing success, to combine the light and more serious sides of everyday life. The Saturday Evening Review breaks a lance in Chinese interests, and makes its bid for popularity with several pages of comment on current events and articles culled from foreign publications. The Sunday Sun, the Mirror, and the Prince are other efforts in similar directions, which have not yet been in existence long enough to enable the degree of their hold upon the public to be gauged accurately. One and all, it is to be feared, fall short of Puck and the Rattle that flourished from fifteen to twenty years earlier. These were conspicuous for real literary efforts which give pleasure even when their original setting is forgotten. Their successors of to-day are of an essentially ephemeral nature, prompted more by a desire for commercial success than by the cacoethes scribendi of a genius, whose scintillating pen will not be denied.

THE "NORTH CHINA DAILY NEWS AND HERALD" OFFICES.

The North China Herald was founded in 1850, by Mr. Henry Shearman, and the first issue appeared on August 3rd of that year. It was a small, unambitious effort, and for many years consisted only of a double sheet the inside of which alone was devoted to the week's news. The first number contained a list of foreign residents, who then numbered 157, and subsequent issues gave the reader a short course of lessons in the local dialect. As a record of the early history of the Settlement these early numbers make interesting reading, though a present-day journalist would hardly be satisfied with the short paragraphs devoted to local events. Strenuous times were those early days, when the Taeping rebellion had reached its zenith, and the Triads were in possession of the native city. The foreign residents, no less than the Herald, regarded the daily encounters between the imperialists and the rebels without dismay, and it is amusing to read in the issue of April 1, 1854, three days before the battle of Muddy Flat, a warning against ascending in large numbers to the church tower to watch the attack of the imperialists against the city as "the upper portion of the tower is very slightly built, and if it be crowded as on Wednesday night last, and again on Thursday, a catastrophe too painful to contemplate may result." Nor to the writer who described the battle of Muddy Flat did there seem anything foolhardy or extraordinary in three hundred volunteers and sailors setting out to oust some twelve thousand imperialist troops from their camp.

The Herald was, however, more than a bare record of events. It contained many contributions of permanent value from scholars who have long since passed away.