During The Sino-french War, "declared" Public Opinion

The Sino-French War was an anti-aggression one with several victories in later Qing Dynasty. Many researches exist that dominate in some battles' textual criticism, evaluation of their outcomes, attitudes of influential ministers on the War and its effect on the process of the War. This thesis outlines the public opinions of Shen Bao from 1872 to 1885 based on the all kinds of articles on the War and explores into the basic stance of this newspaper on the War.The ongoing of the War divided this thesis into four parts.Part One touches on the pre-war pubic opinions. "Protecting vassal and strengthening frontier" dominated Shen Bao in the Eve of the War with a threshold of the violation of the Li-Bao Pact. Before that, peaceful resolutions reigned over the newspaper and it claimed positive defeating after the violation with an awareness of French attempt of stepping forward into Yunnan by utilizing Viet Nan as a steppingstone.Part Two narrates the public opinions from post War of ShanXi to the Confliction of BeiLi. After the War of ShanXi, the voices of fighting against France on land, seizing Saigon and apprehension of naval defending rose. The loss of Bei Ning sparked the deviation to peaceful handling that eventually led to the sign of the Tian Jin Pact. Denouncement was paralleled with understanding during this period.Part There discusses the public opinions from Confliction of BeiLi to Zhen Nan Guan Victory. After the confliction, Shen Bao confirmed the objection of compensation and supporting fighting and quick defeating. The Manjiang War made the newspaper probe into the cause of the loss, summarize the lessons and defending espionage. At the same time, more attention was paid to Taiwan and swift aids were called.Part Four concerns on the public opinions after the Zhen Nan Guan Victory. This period witnessed surging reproaches to the peaceful arguments and recommendation of a discreet aftermath arrangement, which could be viewed as an introspection on the gain and loss of Yangwu Yuntung. It contended the claim of "Learn from the west and imitatetheir manners ".Four divisions of the public opinions unveiled the discrepancy between fighting and pacifying which predominated the debates on Shen Bao. During the War, the newspaper served as a banner, insisting a position on patriotism, advocating the justness of China's entry into the War and directing to validity. It also traced the ongoing war and gave a timely summery on the experiences and lessons that contributed a lot to the counsels. Moreover, Shen Bao confirmed the achievement of Yangwu Yuntung, pointed out its insufficiency and proposed a continuous imitation and reform. Even though, its views hadn't broken the ideology framed by Yangwu Yuntung.