Chapter 32

"A newspaper!"

Yin Shishi exclaimed; she hurriedly stood up and reached out, saying, "Give me one quickly. Hehe, I didn't expect that we would have our own newspaper in Shanyin so soon; I thought I would have to wait for many years!"

When she was in Shanghai, she was used to reading the newspaper every day.

By reading the newspaper, she could understand domestic and international affairs and also broaden her knowledge.

"Alright, Miss!"

The head steward stepped forward and handed the three newspapers to Yin Shishi and Yin Chengtao and his wife in turn.

Yin Chengtao took the newspaper, looked at it, and said, "The *People's Daily*, this name is well chosen. Hehe, I'm also quite curious; I don't know how this first newspaper of ours in Shanyin is."

As the first issue, the *People's Daily* marked its founding purpose in bold characters, borrowing the slogan of the Self-Strengthening Movement: "Learn from the foreigners' superior techniques to control the foreigners, and look at the world."

Regardless of the intention of the *People's Daily*, this superficial work still had to be done so that people wouldn't have a handle on them.

At the very least, this slogan couldn't be shouted wrong.

Yin Chengtao nodded slowly; the founding purpose of this *People's Daily* was very much in line with the trend.

He continued reading down; the first section was an introduction to the rise of Britain and the reform of its system. Because the content was extensive and writing it out in detail would take at least over a hundred thousand words, Tao Chengzhang had divided it into several parts, equivalent to a serialized novel.

"Eh!"

Yin Chengtao frowned; he discovered that this article was actually written in colloquial language.

As a person well-versed in books, seeing an article written so straightforwardly for the first time, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

But out of curiosity about the rise of Britain, he could only grit his teeth and continue reading.

As a result, once he started reading, he was directly drawn in.

Although the writing was straightforward, the article was written very well, with a clear train of thought, and punctuation marks were added, saving the effort of breaking sentences, so it read very smoothly, just as if someone were explaining it to him in person.

The application of punctuation marks in the true sense actually had to wait for the proposal by Kang Youwei later, and then until April 1919, when Hu Shi, Qian Xuantong, and others jointly proposed the "Proposal for the Promulgation of New Punctuation Marks," before punctuation marks were fully promoted.

Tao Chengzhang's use of punctuation marks was also influenced and inspired by *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*.

"Why is it gone!"

Yin Chengtao was reading with great interest when he found that there was no more, and it only talked about Cromwell winning the victory in the English Civil War.

He was still unsatisfied, but could only wait until tomorrow.

Next was Current Affairs, reporting on some major domestic events; Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and others were running around for the upcoming Hundred Days' Reform, establishing reform and strengthening societies, as well as new-style schools and newspapers, in various places.

In fact, such a society existed in Hangzhou.

Just after finishing Current Affairs, Yin Chengtao heard Yin Shishi exclaim: "Dad, Mom, this poem is actually written in vernacular Chinese, and it's so beautiful; you must look. *Rainy Alley*: Holding an oil-paper umbrella, wandering alone in the long, long, and lonely rainy alley, I hope to meet a girl like a lilac with sorrowful grievances..."

Yin's mother also exclaimed, "It really is, it has a kind of strange beauty."

Yin Chengtao's expression froze; he quickly browsed through the entire newspaper and found that it was all written in vernacular Chinese.

He had a faint feeling that the literary world would be shaken by this newspaper, and might even undergo earth-shaking changes.

"Wow, this novel is too good to read, why is there so little!"

"Dad, Mom, look, this poem and the novel are both written by one person, called Ximen Yaochuixue; this pen name is really strange. Eh, this common knowledge is also written by him; so it turns out that clouds in the sky are formed after water evaporates; no wonder it only rains when there are dark clouds; this person is truly talented."

Yin Shishi's beautiful eyes were filled with brilliance, as if she had discovered a new world.

Yin Chengtao finished reading the newspaper patiently. He nodded and evaluated: "Not bad, this Ximen Yaochuixue is indeed very talented, but this Tao Ershanren and Lu Xun are no worse. Especially Lu Xun; one article is thought-provoking and profound. I truly didn't expect that there were three such great talents in our Shanyin."

…………

"Newspaper for sale, newspaper for sale, our own newspaper for Shanyin people!"

"For only two wen, you can look at the world!"

"Hangzhou establishes the Sericulture Institute (predecessor of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University), indicating that they want to cultivate better silkworm breeds!"

……

Early in the morning, dozens of newsboys wore uniform clothing, carrying cloth bags filled with newspapers. They shouted along the streets in different areas, attracting everyone's attention.

Newspapers were still a rarity in this era, only found in big cities.

In Shaoxing, it was the first time.

What's more, it was only two wen per copy, which was too cheap for scholars.

Even ordinary commoners who could read could afford to buy it by gritting their teeth; it was only the price of half a bowl of rice.

"Eh, we actually have a newspaper in Shanyin; give me a copy!"

"Hey kid, come over, give me a copy of the newspaper too."

"My youngest son is also studying; buy a newspaper and take it home for him to read; it can also broaden his knowledge."

……

Because the price was set low, and people were very curious about the newspaper, buyers came in an endless stream.

This exhausted the newsboys, who kept running back to the newspaper office to get more copies.

However, although they were tired, they were very happy.

Because for every five newspapers sold, they could earn one wen; earning twenty or thirty wen in one morning was easy, or even more, which was more than what an ordinary strong laborer earned.

The Jiang-Zhe region was originally flourishing in literary style, with a high literacy rate, and there were many families that had passed down poetry and books for generations.

Therefore, in just one morning, the *People's Daily* sold more than five thousand copies.

For young people, this newspaper opened the door to a new world; it turned out that articles and poems could be written in vernacular Chinese, and both the beauty of the language and the depth of the concept were no worse than classical Chinese.

But for some old Confucian scholars, this newspaper was simply rebellious and harmful to the country and the people.

They were so angry that they trembled, shouting sharply:

"What kind of dog-shit is this written? So straightforward, is this for scholars to read?"

"It's an insult to literature, simply an insult to literature. These Tao Ershanren, Lu Xun, and Ximen Yaochuixue have simply read books into the dogs; the writing is so unbearable to look at."

"It's like defiling the learning of the sages; these three people should all die!"

……

The Prefect was also reading the newspaper, and he also didn't like vernacular Chinese.

It was just that even if he didn't like it, writing articles in vernacular Chinese wasn't against the law.

Even if he was the Prefect, he had no way to order the newspaper office not to use vernacular Chinese.

Unless the newspaper office published prohibited articles.

What's more, the current situation was complicated; Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and others were jumping around in the capital, wanting to learn from the Japanese and engage in some reform, so he didn't want to create extra trouble at this time and just watched quietly.

Perhaps this *People's Daily* was also established under their instigation, who knows.

He didn't want to get involved in trouble.

Not only in Shanyin City, but Tao Chengzhang had also sent people to deliver five hundred copies of the newspaper to each of the other eight counties under his jurisdiction for sale; anyway, they weren't far away, and they could be delivered by fast horse in the afternoon.

Although doing this would definitely lose money, the *People's Daily* wanted fame.

Thus, in a single day, the *People's Daily* became a hit in Shanyin Prefecture.

People discussing the content of the *People's Daily* could be seen everywhere; scholars discussed articles and poetry, commoners discussed *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, and of course, there were many people scolding and slandering the *People's Daily*.

A mighty New Culture Movement thus kicked off.

(End of chapter)