Import, Control And Rationing Of Paper (1945-1949)

Paper is the newspaper publishers’main expenditures, whose price is directly related to the newspaper’s profit and loss. Since the outbreak of the Pacific War, importing papers decreased rapidly, and then many countries had restrictions on newsprint consumption. The massive importation of foreign paper was got into Shanghai, that impacted local papers and led to many mills closed down after the year of 1946.In 1947,in order to control the press the National Government carried out the method of saving books and magazines, the management policy of limiting paper and the foreign exchange control of the raw material of papermaking pulp.This article attempts to explore the process of the National Government’s control on the paper which is a material resource in a very period in the environment of the liberation war and show the efforts that different newspapers and magazines made. Meanwhile, this text also objectively describes the Communists’measures on the improvement of paper to secure the printing.After the victory of Anti-Janpanese War, the domestic paper industry had a period of peaceful development, and reversely the importing paper is almost cut off. After 1947,the policies of control on the rationing newsprint that the National Government carried out not only hindered the development of Shanghai local paper industry, but also made many newspapers and magazines closed. Furthermore, this policy killed the culture.