THE North China Daily News (1850-1951), known as the Tzu Lin Hsi Pao in Chinese, was the first English language newspaper to appear in Shanghai.

Founded by British auctioneer Henry Shearman on August 3, 1850, the newspaper reported the news from the foreigners' perspective, witnessing the growth of the city during the most difficult century in China's modern history.

The paper's 101-year life-span and large circulation - which peaked at 7,817 copies - ranked the newspaper as the most influential foreign newspaper of the time in Shanghai, and even in all of China.

Business motive

The forced opening of Shanghai to foreign trade was considered an insult by Chinese, although to foreign residents the act was more mercantile than political.

The address to the public in the first issue of the North China Herald (1850-64), (a weekly newspaper and forerunner to the North China Daily News), clearly showed such business intent.

The paper set out its editorial policy in the following terms: "It is the destiny of Shanghai to become the permanent emporium of trade between it and all the nations of the world. To aid by his humble efforts in effecting this grand object will be the one great aim of the editor's most strenuous exertions."

Most of the space on the quarto sheet of four pages of the North China Herald were devoted to shipping news along with advertisements for insurance companies and shipping necessities.

Obviously the most important information the foreign residents in Shanghai needed at that time concerned commerce and trade. And that didn't change much in following years, when the weekly Herald became the North China Daily News - finance news always took up a lot of space in the newspaper.

Getting close

Despite many clashes with the locals, foreigners were eager to involve themselves more in local life.

In December 1850, the newspaper started publishing a regular column of "Phrases in the Shanghai Dialect", which enjoyed great popularity among readers.

However, the phrases topping the lists in the first few issues were mostly in the imperative - "ordering" words, which reminded readers they were foreign masters issuing orders to their Chinese servants.

Apart from questions such as "What's this?" or "What is this called?" the rest consisted of "Bring some fire"; "Light a lamp and bring it"; "Make a cup of tea and bring it"; and, "Come back quickly, don't stay long."

A foreigner described his life in Shanghai in the early 1850s in the following terms: "Compared with the life in the factories of Guangdong where the merchants are confined in a small circumscribed area, the residents of Shanghai enjoy considerable freedom, but they are not allowed to penetrate into the country around the Settlements so far that they could not return to Shanghai the same day. As the shooting is excellent and the villagers friendly, these expeditions into the country are most enjoyable."

However, there were also many incidents with locals that kept upsetting the foreigners. Apart from the frequent attacks on missionaries, there were also derogatory rumours about foreigners.

Some said the foreigners were "ghosts" and "barbarians". Ridiculous as some of these rumours were, many Chinese believed them.

Fashion centre

Shanghai has long been the fashion centre of China.

Early in 1863, the city had ladies' French boots and shoes for sale, according to advertisements in the newspaper.

As local women still considered small feet essential to beauty, the Western perception of beauty in the footwear department was no doubt a great challenge.

In the early 20th century, the newspaper started publishing beauty salon information and invited ladies to have their hair set in a "permanent wave".

A special Women's Page appeared in the 1930s where the latest fashion trends in Paris could be found.

Apart from the fashion news, foreigners also brought up-market sporting activities to Shanghai - from horse racing and shooting in the 1850s to football which was quite popular in the early 1900s.

A lot of clubs were founded in Shanghai. According to the North China Daily News, by the 1920s, the city had many clubs covering football, fencing, hockey, tennis, snooker, and other pastimes, although their members were mainly foreign residents.

Wars and rebellions

The century of the newspaper's existence was probably the most disordered in China's historical memory. Rebellions occurred one after the other, from the Dagger Society (1851-55) to the Taiping Tianguo rebellion (1851-64), and from the Civil War (1924-49) to the War of Resistance against Japan (1937-45).

The North China Daily News used to be a mouthpiece for the British Consulate-General and it said that the foreign settlements in Shanghai wanted to adopt a policy of neutrality in these conflicts. This neutrality, however, as far as business was concerned, was not strictly observed.

A great dissatisfaction towards the weak Manchu government was shown in reports published during the time, as well as sympathy for the plight of the locals.

During the early years of the War of Resistance against Japan, the newspaper covered the fighting by the Chinese army and how the war was affecting the lives of ordinary Chinese people. The newspaper in its editorials also criticised the Japanese invaders.

The North China Daily News had to close in 1951 due to a lack of news caused by the country's restrictions on the activities of foreign media.

The number of foreigners in the city dwindled until they began to return in the 1990s, when the opening-up policy made the city once again a magnet for foreign businessmen.

Then, after an interval of 40 years without a local foreign language newspaper, the Shanghai Star was founded in 1992.