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Friday 18 January 2019

Dibao - After Acta Diurna

Dibao
Dibao (Chinese: 邸報; pinyin: dǐbào; Wade–Giles: ti³-pao⁴; Manchu: doolame araha boolara bithe), literally "reports from the [official] residences", were a type of publications issued by central and local governments in imperial China. While closest in form and function to gazettes in the Western world, they have also been called "palace reports" or "imperial bulletins". 

First Publication
Different sources place their first publication as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) or as late as the Tang Dynasty (June 18, 618–June 4, 907).

Han Dynasty
Han government carried out the “Jun xian zhi” 郡县制, the eparch and county system which is helpful in concentrating the central power. The country was divided into many eparches and counties but governed by the central government as a whole. Every eparch sets up its office in the capital Chang’an, which has the same function as the provincial office in today Beijing. These offices were called “Di”s. “Di” Officers are selected by the eparchial government. 

Origin of Name Dibao
Their responsibilities included collecting the messages announced by the administrative agents or even the empire, then writing them on the bamboo placard or the damask, and deliver them to their shire leaders via the early post station for reading. So these placards or damasks with information were called “Dibao”s 《邸报》.

Content
They contained official announcements and news, and were intended to be seen only by bureaucrats (and a given dibaomight only be intended for a certain subset of bureaucrats). Selected items from a gazette might then be conveyed to local citizenry by word of mouth and/or posted announcements. 

Flourish
The continuous enforcement of central royal power in ancient China has also brought the development of “Dibao” into full bloom. Although the name of “Dibao” had been changed for many times in the period from the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, to Qing Dynasty, its publication has never been interrupted. In addition, its essence and contents hadn’t been changed a lot. 

Variation
Frequency of publication varied widely over time and place. Before the invention of moveable type printing they were hand-written or printed with engraved wooden blocks.

European Style 
The introduction of European-style Chinese language newspapers, along with the growing intersection of Chinese and global affairs generally, applied pressure for the Dibao to adapt, and circulation of the Beijing Gazette was in the tens of thousands by the time publication ceased altogether with the fall of the Qing Dynastyin 1911.

Beijing Gazette
The gazettes from Beijing at this time were known as Jingbao (京報), literally "reports from the capital".

Other Names
Dibao (ti-pao), sometimes called headmen or constables, were local officials in Qing and early Republican China, typically selected from among the prominent landowners.

Administrative System
The dibao administered villages under the ordinary Chinese administrative system. A similar office called the shoubao (shou-pao) was established under the Qing in 1725 to manage the Banner system.

Perished
After 1900, they began to be replaced by less autonomous cunzheng, although this transition was not completed until the Republican era.

YouTube Video
https://youtu.be/3jfcJIxZ4qs

References
Wikipedia, iloveyou4096 WordPress, History of Information, Chai Library, Jstor

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