Officialdom Unmasked: Shanghai Tabloid Press, 1897–1911

The 1911 Revolution that brought the demise of the Qing dynasty was not bloodless and peaceful. Scholars have described the violent contest for power among local political and military elites during the revolution and the slaughter of the Manchu banner populations in the regions where they were concentrated. The Chinese public certainly seemed to have smelled the gunpowder and felt the turmoil. Yet, it is known that the 1911 Revolution produced almost no public fuss, especially in the Jiangnan region, in the sense that informed rural and urban folks apparently showed no regret for or resistance to the collapse of the Qing dynasty. City markets functioned as usual, theatergoers attended plays, and people went about their daily routines without missing a beat. Only the established commercial press and its readers watched closely the collapse of the Qing. As Bao Tianxiao, a well-known writer and journalist living in Shanghai at the time, observed in his memoirs, “From the Wuchang uprising to the abdication of the Qing, the people of Jiangnan were nonchalant, treating [these events] as no big deal, just like changing sitting positions in a mahjong game, or going to a different restaurant, or sleeping overnight undisturbed, and getting up the next morning hearing that the dynasty had been replaced.”