A Petty Official Chapter 131

Ancient Chinese newspapers had many forms and titles. The most familiar ones to modern people should be the official newspapers, also called the court reports, the imperial reports, the imperial court reports, etc. They mainly published government information such as the emperor's dynamics, imperial edicts, national decisions, and the transfer of knowledge.

In addition, there are border newspapers that mainly publish border military intelligence, and newspapers such as Chumu and Chushu that mainly publish news about personnel appointments and dismissals, which actually also fall within the scope of official reports.

The official gazettes established during the Han and Tang dynasties were initially copied only to one or a few people. They were more like official documents or intelligence and cannot be regarded as the predecessors of modern newspapers.

By the Song Dynasty, things were relatively stable. The court bulletins were compiled by the Privy Council and copied by the Imperial Court to local governments. They were one of the important sources for local officials to learn about court affairs and national conditions, and were also closer to modern newspapers.

It was also during the Song Dynasty that court reports began to develop from being only available to officials to being available to scholars. In the Southern Song Dynasty, tabloids appeared. Of course, such newspapers that were not edited by the court were illegal and were only circulated privately.