North China Daily News Online
"Brill’s North-China Daily News database is extremely impressive. It presents very clear scanned images of newspapers on a user-friendly operating system.” -- Xiang Fen Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Journalism and Communication Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
"An invaluable primary source for historical research on the modern period, especially China … This new Online Primary Source will enable far-reaching historical research and encourage the spirit of scholarly enquiry among historians of modern East Asia.” -- Liu Wennan Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
"This expanded collection is an essential source for scholars of the history of international relations in pre- and immediate post-war East Asia … This database set provides not only the daily edition, but also substantial holdings of the weekend magazines, supplements, the Municipal Gazette and books and pamphlets from the newspaper’s imprint.” -- Professor Dr. Sven Saaler, Sophia University, Japan
"An excellent additional resource. Its great value lies in the more ephemeral material not included in the Herald: in particular advertisements (of all kinds), and announcements … What you get is much more depth and texture, and also a much firmer sense of key events unfolding.” -- Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol
Brill’s relaunched and expanded North-China Daily News is great news for scholars of China and East Asia from the 1860s to the mid-20th century. Except for a wartime break, 1941-45, this was the most influential and informative English-language daily in East Asia. Even though it serves as a catalogue of the sins of the West in the ‘century of national humiliation’, ca.1839-1949, it is the unwitting journal of record for China’s recovery of full nationhood as it struggled against foreign incursions, warlordism, chaos, invasion and civil war to the unification of October 1949.
Extra content
North-China Daily News has a greatly expanded run of the Daily edition from 1869-1949 and some terrific extras, including unique colour holdings of the Sunday Magazine and Special Supplements, a significant run of the Municipal Gazette, organ of the Shanghai Municipal Council from 1908-1940, and a terrific selection of rare books and pamphlets from the imprint of the North-China Daily News and its parent publisher, the North-China Herald.
Uniquely broad and outspoken news coverage
The North-China Daily News is far more than an expanded form of the North-China Herald. This busy daily published around 70 percent more news than the Herald, 70 per cent more pictorial and advertising content, and around 40 percent more textual content overall. But the North-China Daily News was far more than an expanded version of the North-China Herald, because a great deal of the North-China Daily News material was unique and not republished in the Herald.
The social economy
The “Old Lady of the Bund”, as it was known to Shanghai residents, tracked all key news developments and commercial news both in China and throughout East Asia. It recorded the social life of the foreign settlements in photographs and editorial comment. It records the frenetic economy of Shanghai and the ‘Outports’ with hard-working classified ads and Personal and Wanted Notices. It advised its readers on their book choices, ushering in the moves and modern music in the Cinema and entertainment pages. There were Woman’s Pages on Mondays and Thursdays. The full-colour illustrated North China Sunday News Magazines are a unique record of settler China at ease. The Correspondence pages ran excitable and heated reader’s exchanges, most written anonymously.
Published here in full colour 300 ppi scans from original issues and grayscale, this collection also offers the only complete run of the works of “Sapajou”, arguably the greatest of all Shanghai’s topical artists, during his tenure at the North-China Daily News, 1923-1941.
Sources: Waseda University, British Library, and private collection
"An invaluable primary source for historical research on the modern period, especially China … This new Online Primary Source will enable far-reaching historical research and encourage the spirit of scholarly enquiry among historians of modern East Asia.” -- Liu Wennan Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
"This expanded collection is an essential source for scholars of the history of international relations in pre- and immediate post-war East Asia … This database set provides not only the daily edition, but also substantial holdings of the weekend magazines, supplements, the Municipal Gazette and books and pamphlets from the newspaper’s imprint.” -- Professor Dr. Sven Saaler, Sophia University, Japan
"An excellent additional resource. Its great value lies in the more ephemeral material not included in the Herald: in particular advertisements (of all kinds), and announcements … What you get is much more depth and texture, and also a much firmer sense of key events unfolding.” -- Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol
Brill’s relaunched and expanded North-China Daily News is great news for scholars of China and East Asia from the 1860s to the mid-20th century. Except for a wartime break, 1941-45, this was the most influential and informative English-language daily in East Asia. Even though it serves as a catalogue of the sins of the West in the ‘century of national humiliation’, ca.1839-1949, it is the unwitting journal of record for China’s recovery of full nationhood as it struggled against foreign incursions, warlordism, chaos, invasion and civil war to the unification of October 1949.
Extra content
North-China Daily News has a greatly expanded run of the Daily edition from 1869-1949 and some terrific extras, including unique colour holdings of the Sunday Magazine and Special Supplements, a significant run of the Municipal Gazette, organ of the Shanghai Municipal Council from 1908-1940, and a terrific selection of rare books and pamphlets from the imprint of the North-China Daily News and its parent publisher, the North-China Herald.
Uniquely broad and outspoken news coverage
The North-China Daily News is far more than an expanded form of the North-China Herald. This busy daily published around 70 percent more news than the Herald, 70 per cent more pictorial and advertising content, and around 40 percent more textual content overall. But the North-China Daily News was far more than an expanded version of the North-China Herald, because a great deal of the North-China Daily News material was unique and not republished in the Herald.
The social economy
The “Old Lady of the Bund”, as it was known to Shanghai residents, tracked all key news developments and commercial news both in China and throughout East Asia. It recorded the social life of the foreign settlements in photographs and editorial comment. It records the frenetic economy of Shanghai and the ‘Outports’ with hard-working classified ads and Personal and Wanted Notices. It advised its readers on their book choices, ushering in the moves and modern music in the Cinema and entertainment pages. There were Woman’s Pages on Mondays and Thursdays. The full-colour illustrated North China Sunday News Magazines are a unique record of settler China at ease. The Correspondence pages ran excitable and heated reader’s exchanges, most written anonymously.
Published here in full colour 300 ppi scans from original issues and grayscale, this collection also offers the only complete run of the works of “Sapajou”, arguably the greatest of all Shanghai’s topical artists, during his tenure at the North-China Daily News, 1923-1941.
Sources: Waseda University, British Library, and private collection
Please contact our sales team for more information on prices and licensing.
Advisor: Professor Peter O’Connor, Musashino University, Japan
"Brill’s North-China Daily News database is extremely impressive. It presents very clear scanned images of newspapers on a user-friendly operating system. All issues of the Daily News, the Sunday Magazines, and the Municipal Gazettes are ordered chronologically, and state-of-the-art OCR technology is utilised to transform images into texts. These characteristics help scholars acquire the materials they need much faster, making scholarly access to Brill’s vast database of this essential primary source both easy and enjoyable." - Xiang Fen, Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Journalism and Communication Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
"The North-China Daily News was the most important English newspaper published in modern China. Based in Shanghai, this newspaper reported international and domestic news from a uniquely cosmopolitan perspective. Today the North-China Daily News Online constitutes an invaluable primary source for historical research on the modern period, especially China. The materials in the database of the North-China Daily News from Brill Primary Sources are especially recommended for the ease of their full-text search and OCR technology, which transform scanned originals into rich, informative texts and images immediately. This new Online Primary Source will enable far-reaching historical research and encourage the spirit of scholarly enquiry among historians of modern East Asia." - Liu Wennan, Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
"Its an excellent additional resource. Its great value lies in the more ephemeral material not included in the Herald: in particular advertisements (of all kinds), and announcements. As a result a great deal more of the cultural and commercial life of the world of Shanghai is to be found there … What you get is much more depth and texture, and also a much firmer sense of key events unfolding." - Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol
"This expanded North China Daily News collection is an essential source for scholars of the history of international relations in pre- and immediate post-war East Asia. Databases like this empower the historian to systematically trace the influence of ideas and individuals through time … This database set provides not only the daily edition, but also substantial holdings of the weekend magazines, supplements, the Municipal Gazette and books and pamphlets from the newspaper’s imprint. Now scholars can follow ideas from the minutiae of readers’ letters to snapshots of the zeitgeist in cartoons, classified and corporate advertising as well as news reports. The task is to balance the dynamics of an issue here with what we think we know now. But however we proceed, this is material that cannot be ignored." - Professor Dr. Sven Saaler, Sophia University, Japan
"Brill Asian Studies Primary Source Database promises to bring Japan’s modern history closer to scholars and students, affording a deeper understanding of contemporary biases and hitherto unknown rivalries. This collection is certainly an essential source of information for the study of Japan and Asia in the first half of the twentieth century." - Tsuchiya Reiko, in: Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 2022-02
"The North-China Daily News was the most important English newspaper published in modern China. Based in Shanghai, this newspaper reported international and domestic news from a uniquely cosmopolitan perspective. Today the North-China Daily News Online constitutes an invaluable primary source for historical research on the modern period, especially China. The materials in the database of the North-China Daily News from Brill Primary Sources are especially recommended for the ease of their full-text search and OCR technology, which transform scanned originals into rich, informative texts and images immediately. This new Online Primary Source will enable far-reaching historical research and encourage the spirit of scholarly enquiry among historians of modern East Asia." - Liu Wennan, Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
"Its an excellent additional resource. Its great value lies in the more ephemeral material not included in the Herald: in particular advertisements (of all kinds), and announcements. As a result a great deal more of the cultural and commercial life of the world of Shanghai is to be found there … What you get is much more depth and texture, and also a much firmer sense of key events unfolding." - Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol
"This expanded North China Daily News collection is an essential source for scholars of the history of international relations in pre- and immediate post-war East Asia. Databases like this empower the historian to systematically trace the influence of ideas and individuals through time … This database set provides not only the daily edition, but also substantial holdings of the weekend magazines, supplements, the Municipal Gazette and books and pamphlets from the newspaper’s imprint. Now scholars can follow ideas from the minutiae of readers’ letters to snapshots of the zeitgeist in cartoons, classified and corporate advertising as well as news reports. The task is to balance the dynamics of an issue here with what we think we know now. But however we proceed, this is material that cannot be ignored." - Professor Dr. Sven Saaler, Sophia University, Japan
"Brill Asian Studies Primary Source Database promises to bring Japan’s modern history closer to scholars and students, affording a deeper understanding of contemporary biases and hitherto unknown rivalries. This collection is certainly an essential source of information for the study of Japan and Asia in the first half of the twentieth century." - Tsuchiya Reiko, in: Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 2022-02
North China Daily News Online
Expanded range & content:
British Library greyscale from m/film
1869.1.1-12.27; 1871.1.3-12.30;
1872.7.1-1874.12.31; 1875.7.1-1877.6.30;
1878.1.1-1879.6.30;
1884.5.1; 1887.6.21;
1889.1.3-1893.6.30;
Waseda full colour 300 ppi
1915.1-1916.12, 1917.12,
1918.1-1918.6,
Private collection. colour, 300 ppi
1923.9-1937.11, 1938.1-7,
Waseda colour, 300 ppi
1939.8-1939.9.
Private Collection. Colour 300 ppi
1939.10-1941.7
BL greyscale from m/film
1946.2.6-1949.5.18
Private Collection. Colour 300 ppi
North-China Daily News
Centenary Number
1850-1950
Also included:
1. Municipal Gazette - not all, but a great deal
2. Saturday and Sunday Magazines
3. Books from the imprint of the NCDO and NCH
Expanded range & content:
British Library greyscale from m/film
1869.1.1-12.27; 1871.1.3-12.30;
1872.7.1-1874.12.31; 1875.7.1-1877.6.30;
1878.1.1-1879.6.30;
1884.5.1; 1887.6.21;
1889.1.3-1893.6.30;
Waseda full colour 300 ppi
1915.1-1916.12, 1917.12,
1918.1-1918.6,
Private collection. colour, 300 ppi
1923.9-1937.11, 1938.1-7,
Waseda colour, 300 ppi
1939.8-1939.9.
Private Collection. Colour 300 ppi
1939.10-1941.7
BL greyscale from m/film
1946.2.6-1949.5.18
Private Collection. Colour 300 ppi
North-China Daily News
Centenary Number
1850-1950
Also included:
1. Municipal Gazette - not all, but a great deal
2. Saturday and Sunday Magazines
3. Books from the imprint of the NCDO and NCH