Newspaper “Gathering of Literati”: Initiating Modern Transformations for Traditional Literati in the Late Qing Dynasty——Taking Early Shenbao as Example

Yaji("雅集"), or the "gathering of literati", refers to the frequent exchanges of poems published by Shenbao right after its establishment.Focusing on Yaji, this study examines how it reconfigured relationships among literati, brought forth new means of interaction that formed the public culture of newspapers at the time, and led literati to accept newspapers and the printing industry, thus beginning to deviate from previous life trajectories.These inquiries unfold from three aspects, namely, the coupling between newspaper's profit-making and literati' s friend-seeking endeavors; entanglement of literati's "body" and "mind" as manifested by the interweaving of ancient poems and bamboo branch lyrics in newspapers; and the cultivation of literati's habits to read and submit to newspapers, which promoted the fashion to "take pride in publishing on newspapers ".In accordance, this investigation argues that newspaper Yaji transformed cultural habits of traditional literati and of the traditional society in general.It also mid- wived new culture and cultural production mechanisms, which constituted a new form of society leveraging on the operation of newspapers as medium.Newspaper Yaji initiated the modern transformations of traditional literati in late Qing Dynasty, marking the start of modernization of the Chinese society.