New Media And Relations Network In The Late Qing Dynasty

Abstract:Tracing the organizational behavior and evolution of the renowned late-Ching Dynasty newspaper Universal Gazette, this study examines the role of social networks based on kinship, native place connection and occupation in establishing and developing a newspaper office. The author has thoroughly read through the Universal Gazette (1898-1908) stocked in Shanghai Municipal Library, and, at the same time, delineated the operational activities of core members in Universal Gazette such as Wang Kangnian, Wang Yinian, Ye Han and Xia Zengyou etc. The author pays particular attention to the formulation and characteristics of Wang Kangnian’s private social network, and its role in the process of running Universal Gazette. Based on this private network, the author further expands to discussion on the interaction among Universal Gazette, other publishing houses and then-bureaucrates.The author reveals that, core members in Universal Gazette have placed much emphasis on establishing and maintaining the internal and external social networks, on one hand to cultivate mutual trust between actors to mitigate behavioral uncertainty, and on the other hand to seek, and benefit from, social capital. Within the newspaper office gathers a group of gentry who share kinship and native-place connection with the founder of Universal Gazette, Wang Kangnian, formulating strong identification and mutual trust between the founder, the member and the newspaper office, which further greatly reduces the coordination costs among different divisions; Outside the newspaper office, we witness a similar group sharing kin-ties, native-place connection and alumni relationship with the core members in the Universal Gazette, not only making the important readers, but also writers and content contributors as well. The openness of social network promotes further connections between the managers of schools and publishing houses and the core members of Universal Gazette, commissioning Universal Gazette to advertise and to promote sales, which gradually fosters a large nation-wide cultural market. The merge between Universal Gazette and Shangwu Publishing House, which at the first glance economically-oriented organizational behavior, is also promoted through the private friendship between Wang Kangnian and Zhang Yuanji, and manifests itself as the social embeddedness of economic behavior. Social network has further extended to the bureaucrats:the private relationship between the core members and officials has endowed the Universal Gazette trustful protection and thus benign outside environment. The external relationship provide the newspaper office substantial social capital, which reduces the uncertainty and transaction costs associated with behavioral exchange and brings material and non-material returns for the organization, such as reputation and social-economic status.In summary, the internal and external social networks enable the Universal Gazette to raise funding, organize operation and expand the market, thus playing a crucial role in the organizational development and evolution.