The Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury was an English language newspaper in Shanghai , China , published by the Post-Mercury Co. The newspaper represented the point of view of Shanghai's American business community. The newspaper offices were located across from the Shanghai International Settlement . Life reported that the magazine was "old and respected". Nancy Bernkopf Tucker , author of Patterns in the Dust: Chinese-American Relations and the Recognition Controversy, 1949-1950 , said that the newspaper was "conservative". The paper had a Chinese edition, Ta Mei Wan Pao ( simplified Chinese : 大美晩报 ; traditional Chinese : 大美晩報 ; pinyin : Dàměi Wǎnbào ). The newspaper was American-owned, and had been founded by Carl Crow . Randall Chase Gould was the editor. Cornelius Vander Starr was the owner. Until his July 1940 death, Samuel H. Chang was the director of the Post and Ta Mei Wan Pao .
35-576: American expatriates established the English version of the newspaper in 1929. Carl Crow , a newspaper businessperson, was the founder. He edited the newspaper for a period, before selecting Randall Gould, a longtime acquaintance, as an editor; Gould began work for the paper in 1931 and remained with the paper until its end in 1949. Paul French, author of Carl Crow, a Tough Old China Hand: The Life, Times, and Adventures of an American in Shanghai , said that
70-494: A "heady and competitive atmosphere". French said that the paper "continued to be a major evening paper in Shanghai through to the 1940s." In 1937, after invading Shanghai, the Japanese authorities attempted to close down Ta Mei Wan Pao but were unable to do so because it was American-owned. The Japanese continued to allow the production of the English and Chinese versions. Ralph Shaw , a former British soldier and an employee of
105-579: A circulation of 40,000. In December 1942 Starr asked the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to use his newspaper as a form of conducting morale operations against the Japanese and as intelligence gathering. The OSS accepted Starr's offer on January 1, 1943, and, as a way of gathering intelligence, established a new New York City edition of the newspaper. Gould resumed publication from Chongqing on October 31, 1943, and resumed in Shanghai in August 1945 after
140-605: A flood of business into China. In 1935, the Shanghai Municipal Council published a map for visitors to the city which they commissioned Crow to produce. A reproduction of the map was printed in 2005 to help fund the copying of the archive of Crow's unpublished works, diaries and correspondence held at the University of Missouri. Among Crow's exploits were attending the negotiations in Peking which led to
175-504: A journalist, newspaper proprietor, and ad-man. He also did stints as a hostage negotiator, emergency police sergeant, gentleman farmer, go-between for the American government, and propagandist. As his career progressed, so did the fortunes of Shanghai. The city transformed itself from a colonial backwater when Crow arrived, to the cosmopolitan metropolis of the 1930s when Crow wrote his pioneering book 400 Million Customers , which encouraged
210-545: A jury found her not guilty. Dix wrote columns and other material that brought attention to women, and she also appeared at suffrage events. In a column called "The Ordinary Woman," she urged readers to regard domestic work highly. "Women who are toiling over cooking-stoves, slaving at sewing-machines, pinching and economizing to educate and cultivate their children.... the Ordinary Woman is the real heroine of life," she wrote. Dix also encouraged women to work outside of
245-677: A lot of the 24-century coating of official lacquer. In fact, as Author Crow portrays him, the huge, ugly wise man emerges with a look as human as Benjamin Franklin's." This was followed by the anecdotal The Chinese are Like That (1938), titled My Friends the Chinese in England . Crow's most popular book, 400 Million Customers (1937), won one of the early National Book Awards : the Most Original Book of 1937, voted by members of
280-631: A manner described by Tucker as "blunt". In June 1949 Gould criticized CCP policies and labor strikes. In response, the printers of the newspaper halted publication and engaged in lock-ins and other disputes. Gould closed the newspaper as a response. Gould said that this incident and other similar incidents "temporarily shattered the relative calm of America's commercial enclaves in China." The paper included columns from about six news syndicates, crossword puzzles, Dorothy Dix material, and Ripley's Believe It or Not . Carl Crow Carl Crow (1884–1945)
315-425: A plea "for the domestic woman — the woman who is the mainstay of the world, who is back of every great enterprise and who makes possible the achievements of men — the woman behind the broom, who is the hardest-worked and worst-paid laborer on the face of the earth ...." In New Orleans in 1903, she appeared on a platform with Susan B. Anthony to campaign for woman suffrage. Years later, Dix again spoke to attendees at
350-596: A senior intelligence officer of the OSS explained "Newspapermen everywhere are expected to stick their noses into everybody's business" and therefore their targets do not grow suspicious of their curiosity, so a newspaper business would be "automatically almost indestructible cover for the collection of information." In 1949, Gould voiced support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because he had grown tired of Kuomintang rule and believed that improvement to
385-603: The North China Daily News , a competing newspaper, said that it was "a large-circulation evening newspaper" which had an "outspokenly anti-Japanese" editor and publisher, Gould. In 1938 journalist Robin Hyde wrote to Woman To-day stating that the offices of the Post had been bombed on two occasions; she said that the Japanese had used bombings of newspaper offices as a method of "newspaper terrorism". In July 1940
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#1732772856646420-529: The Australian term " Dorothy Dixer ", an expression widely used in Australia to refer to a question from a member of Parliament to a minister that enables the minister to make an announcement in the form of a reply. In Australian rhyming slang , a "Dorothy" or "Dorothy Dix" refers to a hit for six in cricket. In Andy Griffith 's 1955 version of the song "Make Yourself Comfortable", Griffith tells
455-798: The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) outlining the social, political and economic reasons why women should be granted the right to vote. One reason was that "every question of politics affects the home, and particularly affects the woman in the home." Originally published in 1908 in the San Francisco Examiner , the four-page piece addressed taxation, the differences between men and women, household budgets, morals, education, and other arguments in favor of women's suffrage. The circulars, along with novel items such as buttons, stationery, playing cards and other materials that promoted
490-719: The American Booksellers Association. The book argued that foreign businessmen had to listen to their Chinese customers to meet their surprising but ultimately comprehensible requests. Chinese were customers, not bosses. The book has been reprinted at least twice in the new millennium. The historian Jerry Israel, however, wrote that Crows China had no misery, wretchedness, poverty or . . . revolution. He looked for Four Hundred Million Customers, but perhaps found Four Hundred Million Number One Boys. Dorothy Dix Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (November 18, 1861 – December 16, 1951), widely known by
525-718: The Burma Road from Rangoon to Kunming . He wrote a diary of this time which has been edited by Shanghai-based English writer Paul French, and published as Carl Crow: The Long Road Back to China . He died in Manhattan in 1945. With A.R. Burt and J.B. Powell, Crow published the bilingual Biographies of Prominent Chinese (c. 1925). In the 1930s and 1940s, Crow wrote 13 books. Master Kung: The Story of Confucius (1937), Time magazine wrote that to "orthodox Confucians Author Crow's Confucius may sometimes seem confusing. But they will have to admit that he succeeds in peeling off
560-476: The Japanese authorities in Shanghai killed Samuel H. Chang and ordered Starr and Gould to leave China. Starr remained for four additional months before leaving China, with plans to return. Gould remained in China, defying the Japanese order. On December 8, 1941, the Japanese authorities moved into the foreign settlements and forced the English and Chinese papers to close. At that time the Ta Mei Wan Pao had
595-514: The Japanese surrender. The OSS had spent $ 350,000 ($ 6.1 million in today's currency) on the editions by July 1944, 18 months after the start of the New York edition. New York and Chongqing editions remained as intelligence projects until the end of World War II . By that month the paper had composed 1,500 papers on various intelligence reports and analysis and an edited information catalog of over 5,000 people of various backgrounds. Yu said that
630-627: The National American Suffrage Convention held April 14, 1910, in Washington, D.C. She delivered her address, "The Real Reason Why Women Cannot Vote," by imitating the dialect of the African-American character featured in her "Mirandy" novels. Along with her pro-suffrage convention speeches and event appearances, Dix penned columns and essays supporting women's right to vote. She wrote a circular for
665-665: The Soong sisters , and Mao Zedong 's second-in-command Zhou Enlai . During the Second World War he worked for American intelligence alongside Owen Lattimore , co-ordinating US policies to support China against Japan. He was very anti-Japanese, and fearing retribution he left Shanghai for good in 1937, just days after the Japanese attacked as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War 's Battle of Shanghai . He returned to Chongqing in 1939, entering China via
700-477: The aftermath of these events, Dix moved to Louisiana and took up writing. Her journalism career began after her neighbor Eliza Nicholson , the owner of the New Orleans newspaper Daily Picayune , saw her work and offered her a job as a reporter. At the beginning of her career, before writing advice columns, Dix wrote obituaries, recipes and theater reviews. As was customary for many female journalists at
735-893: The campaign for woman suffrage and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . Elizabeth Meriwether was born to William Meriwether and Maria (Winston) Meriwether on the Woodstock plantation located on the borders of Montgomery County, Tennessee and Todd County, Kentucky . She attended Clarksville Female Academy and later completed one semester at the Hollins Institute . In 1888, she married her stepmother's brother, George Gilmer. Shortly after her marriage to George, his mental health began to deteriorate, forcing Dix to provide financial support for both of them. He would later be institutionalized and eventually died in an asylum in 1931. In
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#1732772856646770-506: The column was renamed to Dorothy Dix Talks and under that name was to become the world's longest-running newspaper feature. The column's widespread popularity began in 1923 when Dix signed with the Philadelphia-based Public Ledger Syndicate . At various times the column was published in 273 papers. At its peak in 1940, Dix was receiving 100,000 letters a year and her estimated reading audience
805-487: The courtroom for the infamous 1926 Hall-Mills trial after the New York Evening Post offered a staggering $ 1,000 a week. In this case, a socially prominent clergyman, Edward Hall, was found deceased with the body of Eleanor Mills, a singer in the choir and wife of the church janitor. She was shot three times and her throat slit. Frances Noel Stevens Hall, the wife of Edward Hall, stood trial for murder, but
840-704: The fall of the Qing Dynasty , getting a scoop on the Japanese interference in China during the First World War , negotiating the release of a group of western hostages from mountain bandits, and being one of the first westerners to journey up the Burma Road during the Second World War . He met and interviewed most of the major figures of the time, including Sun Yat-sen , Chiang Kai-shek ,
875-524: The founder of the newspaper. Maochun Yu, the author of The Dragon's War: Allied Operations And the Fate of China, 1937-1947 , said that the English version "grew into a respectable and influential newspaper in China" and that the Chinese version was very successful. French said that the paper would "become one of the major sources of news on the fluctuations in the Chinese Republic " while it occupied
910-597: The home in her writings and speeches. Participating in the suffrage movement, Dix spoke at the 34th annual National American Suffrage Convention, which was marked by the inaugural International Woman Suffrage Conference, at the First Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12–18, 1902. Her address, titled "The Woman With the Broom," filled four columns in the Woman's Journal . In her speech, she made
945-404: The paper, from the beginning was "strongly pro-Chinese though it looked thoroughly American" and had U.S. content. The Chinese edition, Ta Mei Wan Pao , began publication in 1933. Crow worked for the newspaper for a period and left, with Cornelius V. Starr replacing him as the manager of the paper. Starr believed that Crow was not a good choice for a longer term manager but had been a good choice as
980-463: The pen name Dorothy Dix , was an American journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today's popular advice columnists , Dix was America's highest paid and most widely read female journalist at the time of her death. Her advice on marriage was syndicated in newspapers around the world. With an estimated audience of 60 million readers, she became a popular and recognized figure on her travels abroad. In addition to her journalistic work, she joined in
1015-712: The situation would result from any change from the KMT status quo. Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, author of Patterns in the Dust: Chinese-American Relations and the Recognition Controversy, 1949-1950 , said "If conscience prevented de jure recognition of the CCP, he argued that business affairs dictated dealing with the authorities of an ever larger part of China on a de facto basis." After the CCP took power, Gould criticized certain conditions in
1050-611: The story of a man writing a letter to Dix, wanting her advice on the aggressive woman he's on a date with. A Providence, Rhode Island , newspaper reporter said at a trial, "For years no great American murder-trial looked complete until Dorothy Dix took her place at the press table. Dorothy Dix has arrived. The trial can now proceed.". In the episode " Here Comes the Bride " of the sitcom The Honeymooners , when Alice Kramden (played by Audrey Meadows ), forces her husband, Ralph Kramden (played by Jackie Gleason ), to sleep on chairs in
1085-640: The suffrage movement, were included in a mail-order "Catalog of Suffrage Literature and Supplies" produced by the NAWSA Literature Committee. In addition to the circulars, Dix wrote three pamphlets on the subject of suffrage between 1912 and 1914. She also served as an editor for the July 1904 edition of Progress , a publication of the NAWSA. Her reputed practice of framing questions herself to allow her to publish prepared answers gave rise to
Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-590: The time, who believed that their work had the potential to cause embarrassment or poor social standing, she chose to write under a pseudonym. She first used the pen name Dorothy Dix in 1896 for her column, "Sunday Salad," in the Picayune ; Dorothy, because she liked the name, and Dix in honor of an old family slave named Mr. Dick who had saved the Meriwether family silver during the Civil War . Within months
1155-543: Was a Highland, Missouri -born newspaperman, businessman, and writer who managed several newspapers and then opened the first Western advertising agency in Shanghai , China . He ran the agency for 19 years, creating calendar advertisements. He was also the founding editor of the Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury . Carl Crow arrived in Shanghai in 1911 and for a quarter of a century worked there as
1190-475: Was about 60 million in countries including United States, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South America, China, and Canada. One of her most famous single columns was Dictates for a Happy Life , a ten-point plan for happiness, which had to be frequently reprinted due to popular demand. In addition to her newspaper columns, Dix was the author of books such as How to Win and Hold a Husband and Every-Day Help for Every-Day People . In addition to her advice columns, Dix
1225-443: Was known for her reporting of murder trials. She earned her national reputation under the term of sob sister during the 15 years she worked for William Randolph Hearst 's New York Evening Journal as its leading crime reporter, concentrating mostly on murders and trials. Dix covered every high-profile case in New York until 1917 when she returned full time to writing her advice column, "Dorothy Dix Talks." She returned only once to
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