Science Communication Of Chinese Newspaper By Missionaries In The Late Qing Dynasty

Science communication is an important part of the communication industry and one of the most important topics in exploring modern communication,especially from the perspective of journalism history in China to trace it.It cannot be ignored with the epidemic of the COVID-19,but the academic community must put more emphasis on the issue.This paper takes the Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine as the center,and further discusses the content,characteristics,strategies,as well as the influence and limitations of science communication in the late Qing Dynasty,in an attempt to fill the gaps of related studies.Among all the Chinese periodicals founded by missionaries,the Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine was not the earliest or the longest,but it was indeed one of the most influential journals in modern Chinese scientific dissemination.John Fryer took into full consideration the needs of society,compared the contemporaneous periodicals and introduced Western natural sciences and craftsmanship through the magazine.Meanwhile,he implicitly expressed the idea about preaching through spreading advanced technology.In terms of communication strategy,John Fryer attached importance to readers sense and actively interacted with readers,while respecting the subjectivity of Chinese discourse in the process of scientific communication in order to better cater to the audience.The excellent content structure and active communication strategy opened up market for the magazine,making it the most popular scientific journal of its time.In fact,the connotation of "science and technology for education" was deeply integrated into it,both in terms of content and in terms of John Fryer’s scientific communication behavior.The Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine had a profound impact on the dissemination of science in the late Qing Dynasty,but the missionary press of the late Qing Dynasty actually abandoned the logic of science and scientific concepts,running counter to the modern science and technology civilization.Although it opened a small window for the people of the late Qing Dynasty to see Western science and technology,it was unable to take on the important task of developing modern science and technology.