ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on communication mechanisms between the imperial power and the ordinary people in ancient China. It discusses how the ruling groups collected and disseminated information and how the ordinary people expressed and formed public opinion movements. Communication methods such as caifeng, poems, newspapers, tabloids, remonstrations, and the Qingyi movement are discussed. In the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods, the emperor sent officials to the countryside to collect folk songs and poems. The prototype of ancient Chinese newspapers is the Dunhuang Jinzouyuanzhuang, which was found in Shazhou, Tang Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, Di Bao had become an important media for local officials receiving information from the royal power. In Chinese, what is commonly known as a tabloid newspaper today is also called Xiaobao, which literally means small, temporary newspapers. The existence of tabloids has been recorded in numerous ancient literature sources. In ancient China, remonstrance was called Jian, Jianyan, or Jinjian.
