I will never regret my clothes getting looser and become haggard for her.

...

December 17, 1908 was an important day in the history of Chinese news. On this day, a new newspaper was announced to be born - this is the Empire Daily.

Although China does not have newspapers in the modern sense as early as the West, it also has its own traditional news publishing - Di Bao. Since modern times, with the erosion of European and American rains, the establishment of commercial ports in the concession has gradually taken root and sprouted in China. Local newspapers in the modern sense have also become increasingly prosperous. By the early 20th century, newspapers were opened in almost all provinces, and some even had more than 10.

Under such circumstances, in order to cope with the increasingly active press circle, the empire also tried to change. On March 14 this year, the first news law in China's history, the "Da Qing Dynasty Report Law" was announced. In the eyes of many historians, the content carried by "The Promise" is ridiculous, such as the most criticized one is "No words that slander the palace ban, confusing the political system, and disturbing the public security" is allowed, and even satirized it as "the foot of the Qilin's skin exposed."

However, from nothing to something, from rough to exquisite, from imperfect to complete, from careful to generous, are the objective laws of the development of things. To force one to transcend this stage and summarize it with so-called defects, drawbacks, conservative, and feudal remnants, it can only be the ignorance of the commentator - have you seen anyone ridicule the stumbling steps of toddlers?

However, the Empire Daily is the best among the finest products, the anomaly in constants - this is the newspaper header title written by the emperor, Kang Youwei as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Liang Qichao and Yang Du as the chief editor, is the only newspaper distributed nationwide and the only newspaper that does not require news review - at 7 pm the day before the release, the emperor could see tomorrow's manuscript samples in his study room, which facilitates timely changes.

The investment background of the newspaper is even more prominent, and the first issue has a stock description of the newspaper. The total share capital of this newspaper is 1 million taels, of which:

The emperor is 500,000 taels; the queen is 50,000 taels; Prince Qing Yili is 20,000 taels; Prince Chun Zaifeng is 20,000 taels; Prince Su Shanqi is 20,000 taels... Almost all the most prominent and most important ministers are listed above. In a word, if you don’t find someone’s name in this list of shares, it means that he is not a person in the core decision-making circle.

Almost at the same time, newspapers opened by major powers in China congratulated the establishment of the Empire Daily with eye-catching marks, believing that this showed the empire's determination to reform itself and follow the trend. "It is not only an epoch-making milestone in the history of Chinese news, but also an important basis for the history of China's political development..."

The content of the first issue is also shocking.

The front page of the column is the emperor and the queen's imperial appearance. Although the black and white photos are not very clear because they are printed in ink, the emperor's spirit and elegance of the queen remain deeply in the hearts of ordinary Chinese people for the first time - any ordinary citizen who can afford the price can pay for a newspaper like this to pay for. There are not only imperial books, imperial appearances, and even imperial edicts on it - more than 99% of Chinese people have never had the opportunity to view, but it is very easy now.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Affairs were worried that someone would buy it and damage the newspapers greatly, and would be disrespectful. They wrote several letters to stop it, but they were rejected by the emperor's heartfelt laughter: "Even the newspapers that publish my photos are just newspapers. After reading it, the common people felt unsatisfied. They could wipe the table, wrap the miscellaneous items, and even throw them on the ground and step on them a few times, it would be nothing great."

The emperor obviously underestimated his influence among the people. Except for a very small number of people who are almost negligible, most people have an extremely respectful attitude towards newspapers and the content published in newspapers. Some gentry even set up a tribute hall at home, mounting the front page of the newspaper in a frame for daily viewing and greetings. The price of newspapers is not cheap, and it is marked as 5 cents of the ocean, equivalent to 2.5 kilograms of rice. However, except for the first few pictures sold at the original price because the newspaper boy did not know the goods, almost every other newspaper was at a premium. From 1 cent to 3 cents, or even 1 yuan, they didn't have to worry about sales. Some months later, some people came from other places and exchanged 30 oceans for such a first issue number.

The following column is a more shocking content than the emperor's line - the "Self-Sin" drafted by Zhang Zhidong and published in the name of the emperor.

This is a written record of the emperor's mistakes to the world. It was presented in a bold manner before everyone, replacing the original attitude of hiding and hiding. The emperor's attitude was very sincere. On the one hand, he reviewed the country's governance process over the past 34 years, and lamented the harsh fact that "those who misled the country are in a private word, those who trapped the world are in a case, those who were in a bad luck are in a wild word, and those who harmed the people are in a irritable word", and conducted a fundamental review and apologization for the empire's major policies over the past 34 years. Although anyone with a discerning eye knows that most of the policies were not made by the emperor, he still generously took all the responsibilities on himself.

——"The crime is in my own hands"; on the other hand, the "Edict of Sin" once again declares the determination to "great power is unified in the court, all the affairs are determined by the public opinion, and public opinion is made public", reiterates the understanding that "there is a constant tradition that will last forever, and there will be no unchanging governance laws", and clearly states that it is necessary to fundamentally "change the course" and "clearly cut off from the old and ill" and pay special attention to "adopting new policies and stepping up constitutionalism", calling for "opening up the road of speech and actively offering suggestions" - allowing officials and citizens to express their opinions freely to the newspapers through letters or telegrams and not being pursued, but slandering the government and slandering others, and conspiring to subvert the plot are not included.

Under the "Edict of Sin", there are nine edicts, which are also shocked by the world, with the general meaning as follows:

Article 1: The first year of the Reform Movement will be changed next year, and the first year of the Reform Movement will be approved by the whole world;

Article 2: Braids hide dirt, hinder hygiene, and hinder health. Whether to stay or not is decided by the people. Patrols and newly established army will have short hair. Only then did everyone realize that the braids behind the emperor's head in the imperial emblem had long disappeared;

Article 3: The Imperial Guards were organized, Yinchang was appointed as the general secretary, Feng Guozhang was appointed as the general secretary, Liangbi was appointed as the imperial chief commander, and Zaitao was appointed as the inspector, with the imperial guards, the emperor's double salary, the military salary was the same as the newly established army, and the emperor's salary was paid by the treasury;

Article 4: If the new army is built, military rituals are the highest etiquette. The rituals of all armor and armor shall be abolished;

Article 5: The royal family must be simple, and the constant is 20 million taels. It remains unchanged for 10 years. If the national finance has not improved after 10 years, it will remain unchanged. In the future, if there are rewards and gifts, the treasury will be distributed;

Article 6: In the future, the treasury will sponsor the navy's military expenditure every year to consolidate coastal defense;

Article 7: In order to encourage academics, the Imperial University was specially renamed Imperial University, and the treasury invested 500,000 taels to establish a scholarship to support students with excellent academic performance. A "Eastern Academic Affairs Office" was set up, and the royal family gave Tsinghua Park as the site of the school;

Article 8: The three major weaving bureaus in Suzhou, Jiangning and Hangzhou are assigned to local governments for processing and are allowed to be commercial and offices. In the future, if there is purchase, all transactions will be made fairly. After the local government is allocated, the Office of the Internal Affairs can streamline a large number of personnel related to weaving affairs, and the exquisite fabrics manufactured by the Weaving Bureau can also be used for civil use;

Article 9: Since the first year of the Reform Commission, according to the regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, all original tribute items in various places will be processed separately according to the principle of reduction, exemption and suspension, so as to effectively reduce the burden on the people. If the royal family needs it in the future, they will purchase them fairly. The abolition of the tribute system will eliminate a major harm in the local area, and the disadvantages of the superiors and subordinates will also greatly reduce it.

The second page of the first issue is an important political news. A large number of officials’ appointments and removals and policy guidelines are published on it. Please choose the following questions:

He was then removed from the post of Pu Yi as Minister of Rites, Minister of Rongqing School, and Minister of the Ministry of Law;

Rong Qing was appointed as the Minister of Rites, Yan Xiu, former Minister of the School of Education, promoted to the Minister of the School of Education, Wu Tingfang was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Law, and Jingchong of Tang was appointed as the Minister of the School of Education;

The Army Department was changed to the Ministry of National Defense, Tieliang was appointed as the Minister of the Shangshu, Wang Yingkai and Sa Zhenbing were appointed as the Minister of the Secretariat; the Military Advisory Office was changed to the General Staff Department, Wang Shizhen was appointed as the Chief of Staff, and Ha Hanzhang and Tan Xueheng were appointed as the Deputy Chief of Staff;

The Enjun Zhengwen Society was reopened, and Chen Jingren, the head of the Ministry of Justice, was restored to his post;

...

The third and fourth editions of the first issue were published in the list of petitions sent by various provinces, including Zhili, Fengtian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and other provinces. The original text was published. Except for a few who advocated that the National Assembly would be held after the constitution was completed in 9 years, the rest were required to be held as soon as possible, and even required to be held within 3 years.

The publication of the first issue of the Empire Daily has had a great impact on public opinion. Although the distribution scope on the first day was limited to the capital, its influence was spread all over the country. In order to attract attention and attract readers, newspapers in various places even did not hesitate to reprint the full text outside the issue. In an era when the copyright law was not yet issued, this behavior was not only not pursued but deserves encouragement and affirmation.

The impact of the first issue is all-round. Since the newspaper published a report by the Minister of Military Affairs, Shanqi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, who accepted the petition for the early opening of the parliament with a smile, different public opinion that had originally floated abnormally in the capital quickly disappeared, and the slow-moving faction stopped, replaced by expectations and enthusiasm for the nine-year preparation outline.

The "Nine Years Preparation for Preparation for the Constitution" restless in the mother's womb is about to usher in the moment of breaking out of the cocoon and turning into a butterfly. In order to transform the light and glory of that moment, it has been suppressed for too long and wronged for too long, but it finally ushered in its new life. At the end of 1908, the old empire completed its gorgeous turn!

On December 29, 1908, the edict: "The "Preparation Outline for the Nine Years of Preparation for Constitutional Establishment" has been unanimously agreed and approved by the publication. I will be approved by the emperor after I take the oath of the Taimiao."

On the same day, the Imperial Heaven Supervision Record recorded:...Five stars come out of the East and benefit China!
Chapter completed!