The Republic of China replaced the Qing dynasty following the 1911 Revolution, marking the end of imperial rule in China. However, the country soon fell under the control of the Beiyang warlords, who established the Beiyang government. This government did not often impose pre-publication regulations on the media but employed post-publication measures such as fines and shutdowns. After the Nationalist government gained control during the Northern Expedition in 1928, it began censoring cultural products to counteract communist ideology.
Censorship and freedom of speech became critical issues during peace talks between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) amid the Chinese Civil War. These discussions culminated in the constitution of the Republic of China in 1946, which guaranteed freedom of speech. However, this freedom was soon curtailed by the mobilization act aimed at suppressing the CCP in 1948.
Background
In 1646, drawing from the Great Ming Code and incorporating elements of former Jin and Manchu legal traditions, the Qing dynasty promulgated the Great Qing Legal Code, which included the "Clause on Heretical Texts and Seditious Speech." This clause provided a broad and ambiguous framework that allowed the Qing court to suppress texts or speech deemed offensive or taboo. Under this vague provision, any writings or statements perceived as violating imperial sensitivities could be regulated and punished according to established traditional practices.
The Qing emperors banned the characters for expressing ethnic slurs against the Manchus and other non-Han ethnic groups.
In late imperial China, newspapers catered primarily to literate elites deeply influenced by Confucian culture, which emphasised tradition, rejected foreign ideas, and undervalued economics. These cultural elites dominated Chinese discourses about censorship, and they heavily disfavored entertainment culture such as theatrical performance and traditional storytelling. Academic Zhang Tianxing writes that these elites saw no contradiction between promoting culture they deemed more enlightened and censoring culture which they deemed unreformed.
Around 1890, public understanding of newspapers remained limited. By 1894, although Shen Bao had gained widespread readership, late Qing literati still did not show genuine respect for the press. It was only after Wang Kangnian and Liang Qichao co-founded Shiwu Bao (The Chinese Progress) in 1896, receiving praise from prominent figures like Zhang Zhidong, that newspapers began to attract the attention of intellectuals.
Between the founding of Shiwu Bao in 1896 and the Wuxu Coup in September 1898, over 70 newspapers were established across China, marking the first major boom in modern Chinese journalism. Initially, the Qing government responded by banning publications. On August 9, 1898, Kang Youwei petitioned the Guangxu Emperor to legislate newspaper regulations based on foreign legal systems. During the Hundred Days' Reform, the emperor issued more than 180 edicts, recognising the legitimacy of both private and official newspapers and permitting public petitions through the press. This briefly allowed some degree of press freedom, but these reforms were repealed after the reform movement failed.
Censorship of theatrical performances became increasingly systematic after 1900, as that form of censorship was enforced by newly-developing professionalized police forces in urban areas.
After the Qing government announced its plan for constitutional reform, between 1906 and 1911 it enacted five specific laws regulating newspaper publishing. The 1908 constitution formally institutionalised press control. On 14 March 1908, the government promulgated strict press regulations modelled on contemporary laws in Japan, Germany, and British Hong Kong in the Great Qing Press Law. The law imposed stringent controls, including prohibiting newspapers from reporting on ongoing legal cases before verdicts were announced or from covering trials closed to the public.
Provisional government (1912) On 12 February 1912, Emperor Puyi announced his abdication, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty. On 2 March, Sun Yat-sen's Provisional Government in Nanjing declared the abolition of the Great Qing Press Law. Two days later, the Ministry of the Interior issued the Provisional Press Law of the Republic of China, consisting of three articles. However, this sparked a public outcry, drawing criticism from major newspapers. On 6 March, a number of national dailies jointly telegraphed Sun Yat-sen, stating:
On 9 March, Sun Yat-sen responded by ordering the Ministry of the Interior to revoke the Provisional Press Law, reasoning that it had not been approved by the Provisional Senate and thus lacked legal validity. On 10 March, Yuan Shikai declared himself Provisional President in Beijing. The following day, 11 March, before stepping down as Provisional President, Sun Yat-sen promulgated the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. This constitution guaranteed citizens' freedoms, including personal liberty, residence, property, speech, publication, assembly, association, correspondence, and religion. However, Article 15 allowed for the restriction of these freedoms "if deemed necessary to promote public welfare, maintain public order, or address urgent circumstances in accordance with the law." This provision drew immediate criticism, notably from Zhang Shizhao, who argued that terms such as "promote public welfare," "maintain public order," and "urgent necessity" were overly vague and elastic, rendering them susceptible to abuse and undermining the principle of free speech. Zhang further pointed out that Article 15 conflicted with Article 6 of the constitution, which explicitly guaranteed citizens' rights, highlighting inconsistencies in the legal framework.
Beiyang government (1912–1928)
Yuan Shikai (1912–1916) In the absence of strict regulation, the newspaper industry in China experienced explosive growth, with over 500 newspapers in circulation nationwide, setting a historical record. Freedom of the press was largely respected during this period, allowing newspapers to openly criticise officials, mock the president, and express dissenting opinions. Before the first parliamentary elections, four major political parties emerged: the KMT, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Unification Party. Recognising the influence of newspapers as key platforms for public opinion, each party launched its own official publications to propagate its views.
In 1912, the government banned the newspaper Ta Kung Pao after it criticised Yuan Shikai. Its editor Ying Lianzhi responded by distributing the paper free of charge.
However, after the assassination of Song Jiaoren in 1913, Yuan Shikai ordered the Ministry of the Interior to crack down on these newspapers under The Great Qing Press Law and Article 31 of Chapter 16 of the Criminal Code. Publications such as Guoguang News and Guofeng Daily criticised the government with terms like "government-sanctioned murder," "treason," and "despotic tyrant." These criticisms led to swift military and police actions, including the surrounding of newspaper offices, arrests of staff, and judicial summons.
In April 1914, Yuan Shikai's administration promulgated the Newspaper Ordinance, based on The Great Qing Press Law and Japan's Newspaper Law. This ordinance prohibited the publication of content in eight categories, including content deemed to "confuse political systems" or "endanger public order." In December of the same year, the Beiyang Government issued the Publishing Law, which extended these restrictions to all forms of printed material, including books and illustrations. It required all publications to be submitted to the police for review before distribution.
Following the failure of the Second Revolution, Yuan Shikai launched a sweeping suppression of KMT-affiliated and other anti-Yuan newspapers. Publications critical of Yuan were labelled "enemy newspapers" and shut down. Many editors and writers were wrongfully imprisoned or even killed. From the 1913 to Yuan's crackdown on the press during his attempt to restore the monarchy in 1916, the number of newspapers nationwide plummeted to around 130. This marked a four-year period of stagnation and decline for the Chinese press industry.
Warlord era (1915–1928) During the Warlord Era, warlords interacted with journalists in diverse ways, reflecting their attitudes toward the press and their methods of control.
Some warlords avoided contact with journalists altogether and imposed strict media regulations. This was typical of the first-generation warlords, who had transitioned from late Qing officials to Republic-era military leaders, retaining the conservative and hierarchical practices of the imperial bureaucracy. Other warlords, such as Yan Xishan, maintained limited engagement with journalists but exercised stringent oversight. Yan emphasised pre-publication censorship, to the extent that local reporters in Shanxi claimed they had never directly interviewed him. Zhang Zongchang of the Fengtian clique used even harsher methods, suppressing all dissenting voices in the Shandong press under his rule. Newspapers that failed to praise him were shut down or banned, and journalists whose reporting displeased him faced severe consequences, including threats to their lives. Some warlords were more structured in their interactions with journalists while maintaining strict narrative control. For example, Wu Peifu established a press office in Hankou in 1925 to disseminate his political views and military updates. This approach ensured a centralised and regulated flow of information to the media, offering access to reporters under carefully controlled conditions. In contrast, a few warlords cultivated more open relationships with the press. Zhang Xueliang exemplified this approach, treating journalists with respect and warmth. He even invited prominent reporters to the Northeast to showcase his governance and military achievements, using the media to bolster his reputation while exercising relatively light control over their activities.
Warlords also leveraged the media as a tool for propaganda and psychological warfare. Before launching military campaigns, they often flooded the press with statements condemning their rivals on moral and political grounds while issuing military threats. Once victorious, the winning faction typically suppressed the opposing warlord's media outlets. For example, after the Zhili-Anhui War, the Zhili clique shut down Ta Kung Pao, which had been subsidised by Anhui faction leader Wang Zhihong. Similarly, after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, the Fengtian clique seized Yi Shi Bao for its pro-Zhili stance and arrested its general manager, Liu Junqing.
Film censorship in China began in July 1923, with the establishment of the Film Censorship Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Education Association in Jiangsu. The committee set out specific requirements for film censorship, such as that films must be submitted for review, and that films that failed to pass must be deleted and corrected, or else they would not be allowed to be screened. The committee was a non-government organization mostly composed of educators, and filmmakers did not comply with the requirements, which made its attempt at censorship ineffective.
In 1926, the Hangzhou Film Censorship Board became the first in China to cooperate work with the police to implement censorship. The Beijing government also established the Film Censorship Committee in the same year. Censorship included issues of morality and crime, indecency, obstruction of diplomatic relations, and material deemed insulting to China. The relatively weak local control of the ROC government limited the practical effect of these efforts.
Nationalist government (1928–1947)