"No one has done more to advance our knowledge and understanding of late Qing media and the 'public sphere' than Rudolf G. Wagner and his fellow scholars clustered around the University of Heidelberg ? This collection considerably enhances the current literature on the development of China's modern, urban press and print culture." — Journal of Asian Studies

"?quite simply the single best work in English to turn to now if one wants a sophisticated introduction to Shanghai periodicals during a crucial period in both that city's development and the history of the Chinese press." — China Quarterly

"This book is extraordinarily interesting to read and the most fascinating work on Chinese history I have read in quite some time. Contributors keep coming back to the much-discussed issue of a Chinese 'public sphere,' but avoid the mechanical consideration of this question that dominates the recent literature. Instead, we get a very wide range of insights into matters of cultural, political, and social change, as signified in the pages of the journals under study." — William T. Rowe, author of Crimson Rain: Seven Centuries of Violence in a Chinese County