The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

A newspaper is a very interesting thing. It is weak against the strong and strong against the weaker.

Shanghai is the city with the largest number of newspapers in the country. There are not only regular newspapers such as "Shenbao" and "News", but also gossip tabloids such as "Crystal Daily" and "Robin Hood".

In the era of the Republic of China, the atmosphere was very open, but the ideology was very conservative, and the effect of "people's words are terrible" brought by newspapers was very terrifying.

Historically, Ruan Lingyu was forced to death by gossip tabloids. Lu Xun couldn't stand it, and wrote a special article to scold those lace newspapers. The title was "On the Fear of Human Words".

Not only Ruan Lingyu, but a year before Ruan Lingyu committed suicide, a female writer named Ai Xia also couldn't stand the public opinion and committed suicide. Lianhua Films also specially adapted this incident to make a movie, and let Ruan Lingyu play Ai Xia. The movie exposed the ugly faces of gossip tabloids and reporters.

But what was the result?

The Shanghai Journalists Association jointly protested, believing that the film vilified journalists, and Lianhua Films had to apologize publicly and voluntarily deleted the content of the film.

In the Republic of China era, there were many passionate journalists, but there were also many vitriolic journalists. Moreover, due to the imperfect laws and supervision, those tabloid newspapers had no professional bottom line. It's nothing more than gossip and sex scandals, and there are even stories made up of real people, and even the bed affairs are described in a similar manner.

Even after Ruan Lingyu committed suicide, unscrupulous journalists did not let her go, because public opinion at the time generally sympathized with Ruan Lingyu and hated tabloid reporters. These inhumane reporters actually distributed leaflets at the entrance of the funeral home, distorting the real reason for Ruan Lingyu's suicide, and alluding to the fact that Ruan Lingyu died in a movie she starred in.

...

Zhou mansion.

Zhou Hexuan frowned and put down "Jing Bao", and asked, "How are you going to respond?"

"I..." Ruan Lingyu lowered her head and said weakly, "Mr. Zhou, I won't come to your place tomorrow, lest others make irresponsible remarks and tarnish your reputation for nothing."

"What kind of reputation do I have?" Zhou Hexuan laughed, "It's you, don't let it get you."

"En." Ruan Lingyu responded without saying anything.

"Jing Bao" broke the news very fiercely, and revealed all of Ruan Lingyu's life experiences. For example, her mother is a maid of the Zhang family. For example, Ruan Lingyu lived with the master's young master at the age of 16. For example, she relied on nepotism to become a movie heroine. For example, she seduced Zhou Hexuan for money.

The most outrageous thing is that the article in "Jingbao" is also mixed with all kinds of groundless speculation. The newspaper analyzed, why can the daughter of a maid afford to go to an aristocratic girls' school? Mostly because this maid had an affair with the master of the Zhang family.

"Jing Bao" even described He Aying's other adopted daughter as the illegitimate daughter of Ruan Lingyu and Zhang Damin, and made it up in a decent way.

Ruan Lingyu is only 20 years old, and her younger sister is almost 10 years old. Could it be that she can give birth to an illegitimate daughter when she is 10 years old?

It's a pity that most people choose to believe this kind of illogical nonsense, because the information is not smooth, and because rumors spread at no cost.

In a short time, Ruan Lingyu changed from a popular movie star to a slut that everyone scolded.

"This matter is not simple," Zhou Hexuan said with a sneer. "The reporter is not a detective. How could he know you so well? I think someone is playing tricks, and they are people who know you very well."

"Someone harmed me?" Ruan Lingyu said in surprise, "No way! What good will it do him?"

"The design of the frame is nothing more than an enmity, and there is a relationship of interest," Zhou Hexuan said. "One is a public enmity, and the Star Film Company is the most suspected; the other is a personal enmity, and the Zhang family is the most suspected. Can't you find someone to find out?"

Ruan Lingyu thought for a while and said, "Let's forget it. The more things get worse, the more troublesome it will be. I'll ask the reporter to make it clear."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." Zhou Hexuan said.

"Yeah." Ruan Lingyu smiled miserably, but at the same time felt very comfortable. It's really good to have a man to rely on.

But Zhou Hexuan thought more. While asking Du Yuesheng to help with the investigation, he personally visited Shi Liangcai, a strange person in the newspaper industry.

This is an exchange between reporter and reporter, and Zhou Hexuan is also a reporter.

...

"Declaration" building.

This is a building built a few years ago, specially used as the office space of "Declaration".

This move can be called a big deal. The construction of the headquarters building in Shanghai, where every inch of land is expensive, shows the rich financial resources of "Shenbao".

Just last year, Shi Liangcai even bought his deadly rival "News" and became the owner of the two largest newspapers in China. Unfortunately, due to the intervention of the National Party and the dissatisfaction of the original shareholders of "News", Shi Liang only got part of the shares.

"Chairman, Mr. Zhou Hexuan is looking for you, I will arrange him in the reception room." The secretary knocked on the door.

"Mr. Zhou?" Shi Liangcai got up quickly, put down the pen in his hand, and went out to greet him in person.

Shi Liangcai quickly walked into the reception room, laughed and said, "Mr. Zhou, why are you free to visit my company?"

Zhou Hexuan clasped his fists and said, "I have admired Mr. Shi's name for a long time, and I am here to pay my respects today."

"Don't dare, please sit down!" Shi Liangcai greeted warmly.

Shi Liangcai is a standard southerner, not tall and thin, with all his hair combed back, revealing a broad forehead. Such an inconspicuous middle-aged man is the most powerful newspaper tycoon in China. Today, "Shen Shen" has a single-day circulation of nearly 200,000 copies, and has branches and distribution points in dozens of cities at home and abroad.

Zhou Hexuan has great admiration for Shi Liangcai, not only his business talent, but also his professional ethics and national integrity.

Although "Shenbao" is very commercialized, you can see advertisements everywhere when you open it, which was ridiculed by Zhang Jiluan and Hu Zhengzhi as advertisement paper. However, Shi Liangcai is not a person who only recognizes money. After the September 18th Incident, he became more and more progressive and patriotic.

When the Left Federation was severely suppressed by the Nanjing government, Shi Liangcai reorganized the supplement of Shenbao, Free Talk, and invited two left-wing writers, Lu Xun and Mao Dun, to publish a large number of progressive articles criticizing the current malpractice, so that he was repeatedly warned and punished.

Because Shi Liangcai publicly opposed the "suppression of bandits", refused to subscribe for huge bonds, donated huge sums of money to the 19th Route Army who insisted on resisting Japan, and published articles criticizing the Kuomintang dictatorship from time to time, he finally completely angered the Nanjing government.

But Shi Liangcai's social influence is too great, and Chang Kaishen wanted to kill him but dared not.

Once, unable to bear it any longer, Chang Kaishen called Shi Liangcai over and threatened, "Mr. Shi, I have a million troops!"

Shi Liangcai straightened the joystick, and said with the same speed and intonation: "Chairman, I have a million readers!"

The duel between guns and pens finally ended with the victory of guns.

Shi Liangcai died, and was assassinated by a shameless political party, and died at the hands of KMT secret agents.

The two chatted for a while before Shi Liang asked, "Mr. Zhou is here today, is there anything urgent?"

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I would like to initiate the establishment of a group, the China Newspaper Industry Association, not only to standardize the industry ethics of journalists, but also to unite and cooperate among major newspapers to fight against the dictatorship of speech by the National Party. I hope Mr. Shi can support it."

"This is a good thing!" Shi Liangcai said happily.