<Articles>The Propaganda and Calamities Sparked by Incendiary Writings in Japanese-owned Chinese-language Newspapers in Modern China, Focusing on the Calamitous Incident Caused by the Shengching Shihpao in 1927

The emergence of modern Chinese newspapers began with those operated by foreigners in China, with the Japanese operating the largest number of Chinese-language newspapers and having the greatest influence. Among these newspapers was the Shengching Shihpao 盛京時報, a Chinese-language newspaper established in Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War. Subsidized by the Japanese government, the newspaper had a large circulation and widespread influence in China at that time, which also led to many disputes.In addressing the broad theme of incendiary writing and propaganda by Japanese-owned Chinese-language newspapers, this paper takes a calamitous incident sparked by the Shengching Shihpao in 1927 as an example, details its context, and examines the process of diplomatic negotiation between Japan and China. Meanwhile, it uses this incident to explore the topic of Japanese-owned Chinese newspapers' propaganda in China and their incendiary writing. This paper first makes an overview and categorization of the Japanese-owned Chinese newspapers' incendiary writings and clarifies the place of the incident caused by the Shengching Shihpao in 1927. Secondly, it considers the original cause of this incident by searching in the archives of Fengtian clique in the Liaoning provincial archives and the original news published by the Shengching Shihpao. Finally, the whole process of negotiations between Japan and China regarding this incident is clarified based on extant documents from the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Calamitous incidents sparked by writings in Japanese-owned Chinese newspapers can be roughly divided into two categories: one type was spontaneous boycotts initiated by the Chinese people, and the second was a top-down subscription ban issued by the Chinese government. The calamitous incident caused by the Shengching Shihpao in 1927 was an example of the latter type. In June 1927, the Shengching Shihpao was banned from subscription and distribution until the end of January of 1928 by the Chinese government for publishing a war telegram about the Fengtian Army 奉天軍in the Northern Expeditionary War, which the government regarded as untrue. During the period of sanctions, the newspaper led by its chief writer Kikuchi Teiji 菊池貞二continuously published editorials critical of the Fengtian clique and Chang Tso-lin 張作霖(this event was so called "the Manchuria incident of the pen" by Japanese). Because this was precisely the period of negotiations between Japan and China over the Manchuria issue, it was used by Japanese consul general Yoshida Shigeru in Mukden to implement his tough policy towards China. It then ceased to be only a serious issue for the press, but also developed into a diplomatic issue between Japan and China, which drew attention widely both domestically and overseas. Because Japanese-owned Chinese-language newspapers in modern China usually played a political role of propagandizing for Japan and criticizing China, it was not unusual for calamitous incidents caused by writings in their pages to arise. Underlying these calamitous incidents sparked by the Japanese-owned Chinese newspapers was not only the political rivalry between China and Japan, but also the psychological resistance of the Chinese to the newspapers, whose very existence was seen as "an unwanted favor." It can be said that in the case of the Shengching Shihpao, the use of a Japanese-owned Chinese newspaper in hopes of smoothing over issues between Japan and China by manipulating public opinion may not only have been ineffective but also counterproductive, making the uncertain Japan- China relations even worse.