『銀行週報』와 上海 金融業의 公論 형성: 1917~1925년

Abstract

The Bankers Weekly was a banking business magazine that was published from 1917 to 1950 in Shanghai. In this study, the early magazine issues from 1917 to 1925 were analyzed. In various aspects ranging from the participating personnel to the media characteristics and the article contents, the magazine displayed a clearly distinguished trait, which was very rare among business magazines at that time. In this regard, the magazine stimulates researchers' interest. This study focused on the magazine's role from the terms of institution and public opinion. At that time, the financial business in Shanghai did not have a unified institution. In such a situation, financial organizations and entities separately formed their own business and transaction regulations that were applied in their divided scope. Needless to say, this reflected the disunified aspect of modern and contemporary China and Shanghai. However, such disunification also indicated that experiments were actively under progress. In this regard, how a unified institution was built through the experiments of institution becomes an intriguing question. Hereby, this study aims to illuminate what role the magazine played in forming the public opinion that led to the institution reform at that time. The Bankers Weekly, from the beginning, set its direction to reform the institution and promote public debates for it. As the magazine began as a medium sharing knowledge of finance which took infa medium and academic study as its two axes, sharing knowledge was closely related to critical views about the existing financial institution. Besides, they intended to set up bates for it. As thes an a ganization that formed the public opinion based on such critical knowledge. The personnel participating in The Bankers Weekly had quite a solid sharing of unified goal. This shared goal clearly distinguished themselves from the existing financial circles, and the perception that businesses in the industry needed cooperation to overcome their feeble foundation. Moreover, their experience of cooperation and collaborative struggle due to the Order of Suspension of Specie Payment made their joint effort even stronger. It is rare that a group that publicizes a magazine is clearly described, but The Bankers Weekly draws much attention in that its staff clearly had capability and direction to form public opinion. In analyzing the contents of the articles in The Bankers Weekly, a case was found where it had actively played the media's role as a space for public opinion. In this magazine, introductions to financial institutions in the West and China, and reports on them were posted. While they were critically discussed, the subjects of reforms about clearinghouses and replacing liang with yuan emerged. Various elements chaotically coexisted in the Shanghai financial business by forming contradictory regulations and institutions. To combat this chaos, The Bankers Weekly, accumulated relevant knowledge, identified concrete reform issues through analyses, and led to a public opinion to finally draw out a stream toward a unified institution. In terms of this, it can't be denied that this magazine played a significant role in forming public opinion in the financial circles in Shanghai.