Joining the Global Public

Rudolf G. Wagner is Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Heidelberg and the author or editor of many books, including A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bi's Commentary on the Laozi with Critical Text and Translation, also published by SUNY Press.

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroductionRudolf G. Wagner1. Domesticating an Alien Medium: Incorporating the Western-style Newspaper into the Chinese Public SphereBarbara Mittler2. Useful Knowledge and Appropriate Communication: The Field Journalistic Production in Late Nineteenth-Century ChinaNatascha Gentz3. Joining the Global Imaginaire: The Shanghai Illustrated Newspaper Dianshizhai huabaoRudolf G. Wagner4. New Wine in Old Bottles? Making and Reading an Illustrated Magazine from Late Nineteenth-Century ShanghaiNanny Kim5. Shanghai Leisure, Print Entertainment, and the Tabloids, xiaobao Catherine Vance YehList of ContributorsIndex

"…this book is filled with stimulating ideas, considerations, and descriptions one has read about never before. Thus, this collection of essays is highly recommended, not only to those who do research on the early history of the news media in China but also to anyone interested in the complex transformation process that China underwent on its way toward modernity." — China Review International"No one has done more to advance our knowledge and understanding of late Qing media and the 'public sphere' than Rudolf G. Wagner and his fellow scholars clustered around the University of Heidelberg … This collection considerably enhances the current literature on the development of China's modern, urban press and print culture." — Journal of Asian Studies"…quite simply the single best work in English to turn to now if one wants a sophisticated introduction to Shanghai periodicals during a crucial period in both that city's development and the history of the Chinese press." — China Quarterly"This book is extraordinarily interesting to read and the most fascinating work on Chinese history I have read in quite some time. Contributors keep coming back to the much-discussed issue of a Chinese 'public sphere,' but avoid the mechanical consideration of this question that dominates the recent literature. Instead, we get a very wide range of insights into matters of cultural, political, and social change, as signified in the pages of the journals under study." — William T. Rowe, author of Crimson Rain: Seven Centuries of Violence in a Chinese County