After the establishment of the Chinese Republic, most common people in China had no clear and coherent understanding of press freedom. Apart from some members of the intellectual elite, the majority of Chinese people lacked essential knowledge on the issue. As a Chinese newspaper in Beijing observed in 1926, ‘the Chinese masses, no matter whether journalists and newspapermen or our common people, may not know what press freedom is exactly’. This comment seems reasonable. Despite the establishment of a ‘republican’ government, the concept of press freedom had never been effectively popularized and had not permeated most of Chinese society. In constitutional documents and school textbooks, the concept of press freedom was rarely mentioned and even seemed like an empty phrase.

Press Freedom in Constitutional Documents

As early as 1908, when the imperial court set out to prepare for the proposed constitutional monarchy, the Manchus had already tried to include the term ‘freedom of the press’ in the constitution. The Qinding Xianfa Dagang (Court Sanctioned Outline of the Constitution, 欽定憲法大綱) was the first constitutional document in modern China. It was influenced by Japan's Meiji Constitution, and most of the terms and clauses were copied from that original text. However, unlike the Japanese constitution, it vested all powers in the Chinese emperor. The Constitution stipulated that ‘Subjects, as permitted by law, have the freedom of speech, publication, assembly and association.’