Huang Yuanyong
Huang Yuanyong (黃遠庸), (Pen name: Huang Yuansheng 黃遠生) (1885 - 1915) was a renowned Chinese author and reporter during the late Qing Dynasty (清朝) and early Republic of China (民國初年). Regardless of his transitory life history, he has received a lot of appreciation for being a pioneer and innovator in both journalistic methodology and writing style. Huang has made significant contribution to journalism and literacy in China. His belief and enthusiasm in journalism have been addressed by and influenced a lot of his followers.
Biography
Huang Yuanyong (Given name: Huang Weiji 黃為基) was born to an educated family in Jiujiang (九江), Jiangxi Province (江西省) in China on 15 January, 1885. His father was a scholar in charge of foreign affairs in the Ningbo government, and a number of his family members were government officials. Influenced by his family, Huang immersed himself in Chinese classics when he grew up. To enhance his English standard, his family hired a foreign tutor to teach him the language.
Huang completed his secondary schooling in the Zhejiang (淅江) province. When he studied in Zhejiang(浙江吳興南潯公學), he showed his patriotism by participating in a number of student campaigns (學潮運動)and being the member of the Progressive Party (進步黨). In 1903, Huang was ranked 7th in the regional examination in Jiangxi (江西). He, however, did not follow the tradition to work for the government after the examination. In 1904, the 19-year-old Huang decided to study law in Chuo University in Tokyo. Five years later, he returned to China and started working at the local Postal Department. He also began his life as a journalist, working as a reporter for several news agencies. Huang was famous for his discussion on current affairs including politics and social issues.
Huang was assassinated in San Francisco, United States on the Christmas day of 1915, at the age of 30. Among the different rumors on his death, the majority inclined to believe that he was assassinated by Liu Beihai (劉北海), the member of 中華革命黨.
After Huang's death, more than two hundred of his articles and journals were compiled in 《遠生遺著》and published in 1919 by his campanion Lin Zhijun(林志鈞). His famous publications include 《新舊思想之衝突》, 《對於三大勢力之警告》, 《最近之大勢》, all of them showed criticism and discontentment towards Yuan Shikai's (袁世凱) government, and the idea of re-establishing the emperor government.
Life as a journalist
Background
Following the collapse of the Qing’s Emperor resulting from Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命) in 1911, Huang ceased to continue his work as an officer with the new government of Republic of China (國民政府). Li Shengduo (李盛鐸), one of the Beiyang five ministers (北洋五大臣), played an important role in influencing Huang. He advised Huang to participate in journalism by stating that,'In western countries, a majority of people working in news agencies are the ones who are familiar with modern history and international affairs. If you choose this field, there is no doubt you will become a famous reporter.' Later, Huang accepted Li’s advice and started his career as a journalist.
In 1912, the establishing year of the Republic of China, Huang Yuanyong, Lan Gongwu (藍公武) and Zhang Junmai (張君勱), who were known as The trio of youth for modern China "新中國三少年", firstly published Shao Nian Zhong Guo Weekly(《少年中國周刊》)to criticise politics. Later on, Huang and two other young journalists, Liu Shaoshao (劉少少) and Ding Foyan (丁佛言) were entitled "新聞界三".
Heyday and death knell
Huang's first job was to write articles for the 'Ya Shi Ya' Daily News (亞細亞日報) in Shanghai. The list of newspapers and magazines that he had been working for later on included:
- Shen Bao (申報) - Newspaper Reporter
- Shi Bao (時報) - Newspaper Reporter
- Dong Fang Daily News (東方日報)- Newspaper Reporter
- Shao Nian Zhong GuoWeekly (少年中國周刊) - Magazine Editor
- Yong Yan (庸言) - Magazine Editor
- Dong Fang Magazine (東方雜誌) - Writer
- Lun Heng (論衡) - Writer
- Guo Min Gong Bao (國民公報) - Writer
His publications commented on politicial issues included:
- 《官迷論》、
- 《三日觀天記》、
- 《外交部之廚子》、
- 《北京之新年》
His publication also included:
- 《懺悔錄》
Embedded with his academic background and past work experience as a postal officer, Huang took up a number of roles within the business. He had worked as a Chief Editor (主編), an appointed regional reporter in Beijing (駐京記者)and a free-lance article writer (自由撰稿人). He was well-known for being a diversified and productive journalist. In 1915, Huang’s clash with Yuan Shikai (袁世凱) eventually drove him off from his career. The news of Huang being shot to death in United State shortly after his arrival shocked the press and literary circle of China.
Collection of news articles
Among Huang's publications,《遠生遺著》 is a book that consists of 239 pieces of his articles. It was published by one of Huang's friends, Lin Zhijun (林志鈞), after Huang's death in 1919. From 1920 to 1927, four editions of this book had been published byThe Commercial Press (商務印書館). It is the first collection of news articles in Chinese History. Huang's articles included news, analysis about politics, renderings, etc. Majority of Huang's articles were about major events and important people or politicians during the turbulent China in that era.
Obligation as a journalist
Mission to acheive
Huang's entries and articles demonstrated his belief and persistency to tell the truth, obligated with the basic criteria to be a responsible journalist. He would begin working on his articles until he had collected sufficient information mostly from the person concerned and with careful verification and research. Instead of directly reporting the news and events, Huang also made serious analysis and investigation objectively in order to bring out the significance of every matter concerned.
He was not afraid of great power or authority, notwithstanding his broad connection and close relationship with many officials, executives and the upper-class people. He criticized that the government of Yuan Shikai was no less than the corrupted and decayed Qing's government, especially when Yuan had revealed his ambition to retrieve the old monarchic system (君主制度) and crown on himself. For instance, a series of ad-hoc articles《大借款波折詳記》,《借款內脈之解剖》,《斷送蒙古聲中的大借款》,《最後借款之命運》, which reported and analysed on the Big Loan Incident (大借款事件) about Yuan were released.
Being the journalist, Huang had showed his objectivity and political independence in news-reporting. Even he disliked Yuan, he still had contacted with Yuan because this could not only show his independent through not showing his bias towards Yuan, but also this could allow him to have a larger space and freedom to report other news. When Yuan showed his ambition of being the emperor, Huang had even criticized Yuan in the newspapers. In this case, there is no doubt that Huang had fulfill the obligation as being the journalist.
Four basic elements
On the other hand, Huang emphasized that a journalist should have four ability: ability to think, ability to run, ability to hear and ability to write. According to 李傳梓《反袁之勇士報界之奇才》, he had interviewed and reported many important people at that era including 孫中山, 黃興, 宋教仁, 章太炎, 蔡元培, 袁世凱, 黎元洪, 唐紹儀, 陸征祥, 趙秉鈞, 熊希齡 and 段祺瑞etc. Moreover, Hunag had reported many important events of China, e.g. the assassination of Song Jiaoren宋教仁, the resignation of Yuan Shikai (袁內閣兩次倒台), signing of Twenty-One Demand, the resignation of 唐紹儀 etc. He had revealed the truth to the readers.
Clash with Yuan Shikai
Initially, Huang’s patriotic ideal had driven his supportiveness towards the new Republic of China under Yuan's leadership, looking for the betterment of China in a new leaf. But to his great disappointment, what underneath the sugar coating of 進步黨 was still a corrupted and decayed system.
For instance in the articles the Big Loan Incident (大借款事件) and the Acceptance of 21 Conditions (廿一條), Huang had revealed Yuan’s secret deal with the foreign power and betrayed the nation’s interest for his own sake. Huang had once described the status of the government as “idealess, dead-ended, hopeless (無理想、無解決、無希望的政府)”. But what’s really upsetting Huang was the threatening on the freedom of press since Yuan had gradually put the screw on many press to eliminate opposed voices. For instance, journalists were prohibited to sit for the political meetings (政治會議), whereas the censorship of newspapers became the custody of the Police Authority (警察官署). To the political party, press is the most effective way to establish and consolidate controls over the public, as a result, Yuan had practiced strict control over the press as 71 newspapers were banned, 24 journalists were assassinated and more than 60 journalists were arrested during the period from April, 1912 to June, 1916. Huang’s enthusiasm towards journalism was gradually eroded and he became pessimistic for its future.
The incident that triggered the final clash of Huang with Yuan happened in 1915. Yuan realized the influence and power of press to serve as the propaganda in promoting his idea on retrieving the monarchic system. At first he offered Liang Qichao (梁啟超) two hundred thousands dollars to write an article in favor of him but Liang refused. Then he approached Huang because of Huang's well-known name and offered him ten thousands dollars for the post of Minister and the Chief Editor of Ya Shi Ya Daily News (亞細亞日報), which was under his control, and publicized it without Huang’s consent. Unwilling to violate his principles as being a journalist, Huang first posted his announcement entitled《黃遠生反對帝制並辭去袁系報紙聘約啟事》in all newspapers in Shanghai, including Shen Bao 《申報》 and several announcements on newspapers, including Shen Bao 《申報》, 《時事新報》 to clarify his clear cut with Yuan from 6th September, 1915 to 14th September, 1915.
However, Ya Shi Ya Daily News (亞細亞日報)still used Hunag's name as the Chief Editor and Huang had clarify that he was independent from Ya Shi Ya Daily News (亞細亞日報) by publishing his announcements on Shen Bao 《申報》from 14th September 1915 to 20th September 1915. Later on, Huang decided to stay away from the muddle and refresh himself by continuing in academic studies on 24th October, 1915. Huang landed on the United State via Japan, but never did he realize that this was the very last and one way trip in his lifespan.
Riddle of his death
The death of Huang is still the mystery in the Chinese History. The main reasons are that not only at that time it was political instability in the China, but also the venue of this assassination was far away from China. As a result, no one could prove the reasons behind the assassination of Huang.
There were two versions about the murder of Huang. One was that Huang was killed by the murder who was sent by Yuan Shikai as Hunag had showed his attitude against the monarchic system introduced by Yuan. Another version was that he was mistakenly assassinated by Liu Beihai (劉北海), the member of 中華革命黨 (which is known as Nationalist Party 國民黨) as they believed that Huang had worked for Yuan and his purpose of visiting the U.S. was to introduce the monarchic system . No matter which version is the truth, it is obvious to find out that the death of Huang is related with the ambition of Yuan to be the emperor.
The date of the assassination has even been doubted nowadays. Many information have stated that Huang was murdered on 27th December, 1915. They are mainly streamed from the opening of 《遠生遺著》as Lin Zhijun (林志鈞) recalled that he had heard that news at the night time of 27th December, 1915. However, some intellectuals including Li Shengduo (李盛鐸) believed that Huang was indeed killed on 25th December as the date of hearing the news does not mean that Huang was assassinated on the same day. As the communication was not advanced enough to send the news immediately in the past, it was normal that news would deliver two days later. Therefore, it has been generally accepted that the date of his death was on 25th December, 1915.
Innovation
Education
Huang's development of innovative perspective was not a matter of coincidence. Despite the fact that Huang had acheived a good result in the Imperial examination (科舉考試), he made his bitter comment on the system . He stated that after the collapse of Qing's government, the examination system was collapsed too. A new examination system and schools were newly and quickly introduced into the new China. As a result, there were a large number of people who gained nothing in the old system and could not fit into the new system. He classified them as “遊民階級” who would become threat to the stability of the society. His unique and innovative ideas in those days were attributed mostly to his macro-sociological ways of thought.
Writing Style
Before Huang started writing news articles, his writing style was known to be totally different. As the Classical Chinese literature (中國古典文學) and language was still in widely used in the late Qing dynasty, Huang was also an eminent classical literature writer. He was proficient in writing gorgeous and fluent language with massive use of rhetoric and allusion.
However, Huang realized that news article should be comprehensible enough to be read by the Chinese citizens and that the contraints of classical Chinese language might obstruct his flow of expression and comment. Therefore, Huang decided to alter his style of writing. Written in simple, fluent spoken language, Huang's articles fully dispalyed his critical and satirical mind. He criticized and satirized on people and events impartially which he regarded as unreasonable.
Influence to China
Influence to Journalism
Huang's entries and articles have taken an important role in bringing China from tradition to modern. Actually, Huang and other famous journalists such as Kang Youwei (康有為) and Liang Qichao (梁啟超) had formed 'A Group of Journalists' (報人集團). The group played an important role in late Qing. As they were the one who were well educated, their opinion would be released into the society such that the dark side of the society would be disclosed. Eventually, people would aware of these problems. This would be a major improvement for the Journalism in China.
In fact, he was most active in some time before and after the Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命). In this period, it was the dark age of the cultural aspect of China. In the narrow gap between old and new, past and present, China and West, he had shown his concern and worry in this particular period. Strictly speaking, there were nobody who would write so many articles as Huang at that time. Therefore, Huang had filled this rare part of history by ink.
Influence to Literature
Many intellectuals, such as Chen Duxiu (陳獨秀), were influenced by Huang's idea. They had formed "New Youths" 《新青年》and promoted it and "New current of ideas" 《新潮》in Shanghai. More than thirty articles had mentioned Huang's name and his idea. One famous intellectual, Hu Shih (胡適) even commented Huang as the "First Voice" of promoting new literature in his book 《五十年來之文學》.
Huang has been regarded as the pioneer of the May Fourth Movement (五四運動). He had firstly advocated the Literary Enlightenment Movement (文藝啟蒙運動) by promoting modern Chinese Literature and introducing new western ideas to China. In his article,《懺悔錄》, he had put forward that the pre-requisite of making the betterment of the society is to improve the personality of the citizens. (“今日無論何等方面，自以改革為第一要義”要改革國家”).
External Links
References
- 楊宗生：《中國名人與傳媒 — 名記者的正氣歌》，香港：香港新聞出版社，2002年。
- 李龍牧：《中國新聞事業史稿》，上海：上海人民出版社，1985年。
- 李良榮：《中國報紙文體發展概要》，福建：福建人民出版社，2002年。
- 張靜廬：《中國的新聞紙》，中國光華書局，(中華民國)十七年。
- 何敬中，魏和平：《百年新聞聚焦》，北京：中國經濟出版社，2001年。
- 方漢奇，張之華：《中國新聞事業簡史》第二版，中國人民大學出版社，1995年。
- 唐振常：《史海尋渡 》，天地圖書有限公司，2000年。