How are writers paid for their contributions?

Lu Xun, another master of culture with the same contemporary reputation as Wang Tao, was the opposite of Wang Tao in terms of economic consciousness. In today's terms, Lu Xun was a master of deviation, breaking his rice bowl with his own hands and becoming a freelancer in the true sense of the word. Unlike Wang Tao, who was ashamed to talk about money and had to beg for money, Lu Xun used money and the proceeds from selling his writings to keep his personality free and independent, and to get rid of the dilemma of "helpers in the officialdom" and "helpers in the shopping malls", which he was most unwilling to see. And all this has to start from the modern manuscript fee and royalty system.

Before the emergence of the modern royalty system, the free publication of articles by the press became an intermediate link in the transition from the ancient system of self-paying book engraving and penning to the modern royalty system. When the April 30, 1872 "Declaration" was founded, it was announced that "if there is a poet who is willing to teach the long piece of short, such as the world's famous district bamboo words, and long songs and chronicles, and so on, do not take the value; such as there is a truthful statement, there is a matter of national economy and people's livelihood, the geographical location of the water source and so on, on the economy of the Imperial needs, the next know the suffering of the people in harvest, with the publication of the newspaper, and do not take the fee! I will not be paid." Statement is willing to provide a published literary works of the garden, do not charge the writer's money, in the eyes of the literati at the time, belong to a very generous, unprecedented things, soon provoked a reaction. A month later, the newspaper office published a notice soliciting news articles: "I hope that you will not abandon your remoteness, or descend to the jade toe to receive elegant conversation; or through the mailbox, to award the great teaching." However, most of the press releases solicited by this method did not meet the requirements for publication, and there is no evidence as to whether or not a fee was paid after publication. After the implementation, due to the shortage of suitable press releases, the declaration had to switch to the method of hiring local and foreign visitors to write news (equivalent to the present-day journalists), visitors write, is to take the newspaper's salary, not a fee. Soon the literati poems and songs and other literary works could be published without paying for them, and the number of contributions increased so much that the newspaper could not accommodate them, so it published special issues of Yinghuan Zoji, Sihuming Zoji and Huanyu Zoji, the earliest monthly magazines focusing on literature. The first issue of Yinghuan Zoji was published on November 11, 1872, with the following catalogs: Opening up the source of discussion, Earthquake, Sun, Star, Earth, Moon, General Discussion of Each Sphere, Fifteen Records of Overseas Observations and Miscellanies, Two Records of the History of Flowers, Records of Fish and Music, Meizi Yannan Qu Bai, and Peach Blossom Poetry Society's Singing and Evening Collections. In addition to astronomy and geography and foreign novels, most of the other manuscripts are the literati at that time to the "Declaration" to the manuscripts.

After a few years of free publication of literati works, the Declaration Hall was the first to implement the purchase of manuscripts with a certain amount of remuneration, which indicates that the modern Chinese manuscript remuneration system was first implemented by the late Qing dynasty Shanghai's newspaper office. Declaration Hall not only newspapers, but also print and publish all kinds of books. 1878 March 7, "Declaration" published "book search" notice, willing to fund the requisition and reprint of the scholar in the hands of rare books, bestsellers, especially noteworthy is the following content: "Kai, the Museum to print a variety of books for sale as a regular. Such as the near and far gentleman, has been unpublished writings, to be released, the Museum is willing to buy manuscripts at a price, on behalf of the typesetting and printing. Or once bound, send dozens of books or hundreds of books, in order to express gratitude, there is no reason not to, always depending on the book is easy to sell or not and discretion." Declaration of the museum is willing to pay money to buy the scholar in the hands of the writings have been written and have not yet been typewritten, published and sold in the market, according to the sale of remuneration, is a market behavior, willing to pay a price to buy manuscripts, of course, the price is the remuneration, only to take into account that many of the authors of the status of the author is not willing to sell their own writings, so to take the alternative approach, in accordance with the customary publication of the new book as a reward, these new book These new books should be regarded as manuscript fees in disguise. This announcement of the Declaration Hall should be regarded as the beginning of the modern manuscript remuneration system. However, it is difficult to count the number of new books of this nature published by the newspaper halls, but it is certain that there are indeed. Cai Erkang declared for the museum between 1872 and 1877 made the book "declared the preface to the museum bibliography," said: "recent Shenjiang to Juchen board printed books to the world, no less than four or five, and declared the museum is the only one for its creation. Since six years, the day there are searching for the collection, the month there is a gift, printed into more than 50 kinds, all never published and the original board has been destroyed and lost, so the people asking for the price of one after another also." How to get the manuscripts of unpublished works can be explained in the declaration of September 3, 1888, in the advertisement of the declaration of the owner of the library for the sale of the new printing of the outline of the Jianwangzhilu: "This book is the collection of Mr. Yiyang NiSiZao, the manuscripts of which were purchased by the library and printed in movable type, four copies of each part."

Some years after the implementation of the payment of books and manuscripts, the newspaper also began to pay for manuscripts, but according to Bao Tianxiao in the "Memoirs of Kushi Shadows-The Preparation of the Times," said that at that time, the literary works published in the newspaper, in addition to the novels, the other types of literary works are not paid for manuscripts. Zheng Yimei also believed that the system of payment for manuscripts in newspapers began with the Novel Monthly in Shanghai. Later, some scholars searched for an advertisement for manuscripts in the Lingdong Daily in Guangdong in 1903, with detailed grades of payment, which was 10 years earlier than that of the Novel Monthly. However, a few years after the implementation of books to pay for manuscripts, the Declaration Hall also developed to the newspaper also give a certain amount of remuneration for contributions, starting with the "point stone Zhai Painting Newspaper" in the paintings of the manuscripts, the time is much earlier than the "Lingdong Daily News", the number of manuscripts also have a specific description, so it can be seen that, not as some researchers say, the system of manuscripts is not around the novels of this literary genre and the establishment of the manuscript system, in fact, in the newspaper for the painting of manuscripts Payment of manuscripts in the press began, there has been the emergence of the manuscript fee system.

We from the declaration of the museum manuscripts and "point stone Zhai painting newspaper" to pay the reason, pay the way and standard, can easily be found in the Jiangnan culture businessmen and western culture businessmen customary practices of the brand, if the "point stone Zhai painting newspaper" to pay the specific reasons, there may be such a two-pointed: First, as a newspaper with the characteristics of the relevant. Because the books can be new and old coexist, new book creation is not yet, you can first print the old book, will not affect the publishing business, the newspaper needs to be updated every issue, there must be a definite source of manuscripts to ensure. Secondly, the society has a warm demand for this newspaper, the market is hot, prompted by their remuneration in exchange for more manuscripts. After the publication of "point stone Zhai painting newspaper", indeed very popular with the community. The first three issues came out, three or five days to sell out. 1884 June 19, "Declaration" published news that "point stone Zhai pictorial" after the publication of the first three issues, the demand exceeds supply, buyers enthusiastically, the newspaper and thousands of additional printing, but also quickly sold out, "point stone Zhai pictorial" prints are generally three or five thousand, up to ten thousand copies or so. This was a huge number at the time. When its hot period, the most difficult is the news source is small, slow transmission, as a last resort, it is necessary to give a certain benefit, stimulate people to write for it to contribute. So on June 4, 1884 point stone Zhai master for the "point stone Zhai painting newspaper" published in the call for contributions to the "famous hand specializing in various places to paint the news Kai". Kai said: "the fast printing and selling of the pictorial months where several times, has been prevalent. But all the strange things in foreign ports, in addition to the declaration has been published, can be drawn into the picture, but also refers to more than a few. Therefore, the lounge specially invited the great painters in the sea, such as this place can be surprised and happy things to clean white paper and fresh ink painted into a painting, another paper book of the original story, sent to the lounge. If the exquisite, enough to be included in the pictorial, each pay two dollars per painting. No matter whether the original manuscript is used or not, it will not be sent back. The painting must be one foot, three inches and four minutes in the straight line, and one foot, six inches in the horizontal line, except for the title, which should be empty a little, and must be painted to the fullest extent, and the family name of the artist must be shown. When the painting received a receipt, once printed in the newspaper, that is, with the original note to take the ocean. If not reported, the receipt as waste paper, so as to avoid two mistakes." Advertisements for paintings, public statements willing to pay for manuscripts, and how to calculate how to pay for manuscripts to give detailed instructions, this is the first time that the declaration of the museum said that the newspaper contributors to pay for manuscripts, but also the earliest newspaper to pay for the material, its emergence undoubtedly became a modern newspaper to establish the beginning of the system of remuneration for manuscripts sign.

The implementation or not, in other information can be found in the implementation of the "point stone Zhai painting newspaper" pay for the manuscript, in the 1880s, wang tao to the newspaper's works "song yin man li" was paid: "the end of July, "song yin man li" has been more than twelve volumes, the master of the intention of the will be terminated. Because of the decreasing number of readers of the pictorial, the number of copies was less than 15,000 per month, which was quite expensive to support. However, in the month of Towers, there were 40 less Buddha cakes."

The later news-oriented newspapers adopted the practice of the Declaration, with the main articles interviewed, written and compiled by paid newspaper employees, supplemented by foreign press releases and literary miscellany, for which payment was required. Most of the newspapers established in the Restoration Period and the last decade of the late Qing Dynasty were peer-reviewed, and most of the articles were written by peers who participated in the running of the newspaper, so the payment of manuscripts was very limited. The declaration of the first museum to implement the system of remuneration for manuscripts, to the 1890s has not been alone, Shanghai newspapers, bookstores to implement the implementation of a number of places. In Wang Kangnian's Calligraphy of Teachers and Friends, there is a lot of information about the payment of manuscripts in Shanghai at the end of the nineteenth century (around the time of the Hundred Days' Reform), which suggests that the payment of manuscripts was already a common phenomenon in the circle of culturists, and the receipt of remuneration for manuscripts was also a matter of course. Wang Kangnian's friend Chen Shoupeng was entrusted with the translation of the book Jianghai Tuzhi, and when discussing the publication, Chen Shoupeng made three agreements with him: first, the translator's name must be retained; second, the translation fee of 1,500 yuan must be recovered; and third, the book must be sent to the translator for fifty copies after it was printed. It was clear that the translator would not sell the manuscripts of the book if he did not do so, and there was no psychology of traditional literati who were ashamed of selling their writings, which showed that the sale of manuscripts for payment had become a recognized rule of the game at that time. Similarly, Wang Kangnian asked Chen Jintao to find someone to translate the book at the Beiyang University Hall, but also had to explain in advance that the manuscript was paid 10 yuan for 10,000 words.

In the early stage of the implementation of the remuneration system, how to grade, remuneration standards, remuneration methods, etc., is a variety of, each in their own way, there is no fixed and uniform practice, can be set by the publishing organization to set their own standards, but also by the publishing organization and the author of the agreed upon, to take the two sides are willing to accept the way and standard, the fee is calculated on the number of words, but also on the calculation of the or the calculation of the book, the newspaper and magazine articles of a short length, more than one piece! The length of newspaper articles is short, and most of them are calculated on the basis of a piece. Such as between Chen Shoupeng and Wang Kangnian is to take the approach of mutual agreement, according to Chen Shoupeng's initial intention is: "My brother's initial intention is to ask my brother to build up the stock for the moment, I do not have to translate the fee with me to set up a fair contract, each of them to take a piece of paper, and later sold, in the winnings of the profits of the average share of the two of us are always with the book of things all get, not to be sold for the ear of the manuscript. " Later, because someone is willing to publish the book, asked the translation fee, Wang Kangnian asked Chen Shoupeng to draw up the amount, Chen then put forward the number of 1,500 yuan calculated on the book (about 500,000 words to the book ***, about 3 yuan per thousand words), and declared that, if the other party is unwilling to take back the manuscript, to look for another way out.

Bao Tianxiao "Kushi studio memoirs", said: after 1906, he was in Shanghai "Times", writing 6 monthly, in addition to writing some novels, get 80 yuan. At the same time, Bao Tianxiao worked part-time in Novel Forest for 40 yuan a month. At that time, the amount of thesis was 5 yuan per article, and the amount of novels was 2 yuan per thousand words, or 1 yuan, or even 50 cents, and Pingjiang Buxiao Sheng's Liudong Wai Shi was 50 cents per thousand words. At the beginning of the Republic of China, the Commercial Press magazines paid a minimum of 2 yuan and a maximum of 5 yuan. Lu Xun published his first novel Nostalgia in the Novel Monthly and the fee was 5 yuan, while Lin Qinnan's translated novels were paid 5 yuan for 1,000 words by the Commercial Press and later increased to 6 yuan, which was on the higher side of the pay scale. Hu Shi was also paid 6 yuan for 1,000 words, and Liang Qichao was paid 20 yuan for 1,000 words. Famous Chinese medicine practitioner Chen Cunren was studying at this time, to declare the supplement "common sense" articles, each for 1 yuan. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Shanghai's book market has gradually formed a common standard for manuscripts, 2 yuan to 4 yuan per thousand words, 5 yuan, 6 yuan is rare, and small bookstores and even charge 50 cents to 1 yuan per thousand words of the manuscripts.

The copyright system that accompanied the manuscript fee system only emerged in the last decade of the late Qing Dynasty, becoming another source of income for authors and translators in addition to the manuscript fee. Because it was difficult to complete, the rights of authors could only be partially protected. 80-90s authors' copyright has not yet been duly respected, part of Wang Tao's book is quite popular, Jiangxi booksellers reprinted his "recluse cave calumny", renamed "gossip summer book", to make money, but this bestseller did not bring him much economic benefits. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of reprinted books appeared, forming another climax of book publishing, after years of business, cultural people's concept of market economy is growing, from the shame of profit to sell manuscripts for pay, and then developed to consciously protect their own rights and interests. Among them, some people with western cultural background, such as Yan Fu, raised the issue of copyright in translation and began to translate and introduce western treatises on copyright issues, which played a catalytic role in the introduction of the copyright system. 1900 around the time, Yan Fu, when discussing with Zhang Yuanji about the translation of the original Fu and other books, clearly raised the issue of the copyright of the translated works. At that time, the Nanyang Public School bought the manuscript of the book with 2,000 taels, and agreed to Yan Fu's request that two-tenths of the book's selling price be given to the translator. Yan Fu further hoped to give profit-sharing vouchers, and with reference to the Western copyright principles, put forward some specific terms, such as "First, can be limited to the number of years. Foreign books, patents and copyrights have a limit of years, or fifty years, or thirty years, this book translators share profits, to twenty years is enough; two, two components of profits, such as suspected of too much, ten years later can be reduced, such as the first ten years of 20%, the next ten years of 10%, it is not impossible." About 1903 or so, Yan Fu for the maintenance of copyright, wrote to the minister Zhang Baixi, detailed argumentation of the implementation of the interests of copyright law, that "copyright, so that the restoration of the former consumption of books also", the country has no copyright, so that the writing of the translation of the book will not move forward, then the book will be less, and ultimately harmful to the education of the community and the opening of the people's intellect. It was mentioned in the letter that because of the misunderstanding caused by the Peking University Hall's order to the provincial government bookstores to print textbooks on their own, the bookstores in Nanyang and Shanghai thought that the government was going to revoke copyrights, and then they negotiated with each other to reprint and sell private translations of books, which showed that the government had already begun to implement the copyright law at that time. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, several lawsuits and disputes arose between Chinese and foreign merchants over copyright issues. In November 1908, the Japanese Saito Hidemaburo sued the Zhicheng Bookstore for reprinting the Zhengzheng English Textbook; in February 1911, the American company Jing'en Inc. sued the Commercial Press for reprinting the company's General History of Europe in the light of a light house at the Shanghai Conference and Trial Bureau; and on May 12, 1911, the British merchant Evans House sued the Commercial Press for stealing and printing famous American books in the light of a light house in the Shanghai Conference and Trial Bureau. On May 12, 1911, the British publisher Evans Bookstore filed a lawsuit against the Commercial Press in Shanghai for misprinting a famous American history book, which prompted the publishing industry to pay attention to this issue and to analyze the differences between domestic copyright and Chinese and international copyrights. However, during this period, the private bookstores were concerned with their immediate interests, and the concept of copyright was still very weak. Only some large booksellers began to pay attention to this issue, in 1903, the Commercial Press in China for the first time using the copyright stamp, at the same time, also published Zhou Yijun translation of the book "Copyright Examination".

In the early stage of the emergence of the manuscript remuneration system, society's view of it was still dominated by the traditional concepts, and writing for the press was still regarded as a lowly thing that had to be done at the end of the literati. Some literati were still ashamed to write for the market and for the payment of manuscripts, not because of hunger and cold. Lin Qinnan and other translations of the "Lady of the Camellias", engraved, "Changyan Newspaper" is ready to publish, "confession" that the book is purchased at a high price, causing Lin Qinnan and other dissatisfaction, wrote to Gao Fengqian, to Wang Kangnian, correct the matter, stating that they do not want to receive payment. Gao Fengqian wrote a letter to the following: "I beg you to publish a notice to remove the phrase 'purchased at a heavy price', but the translator is not paid, only the price of the board. This book published by Wei Jun, Lin, Wang Jun two are not willing to pay for the capital, the amount of your place, since it should be returned to Wei Jun." To this end, Gao Fengqian on behalf of Wang Kangnian to prepare a confession as follows:

"The Legacy of the Camellias in Paris" confession

This book was translated by a gentleman in Fujian, the Museum is pleased with its novelty, and intends to purchase it at a high price. We are grateful to the translator for not accepting any payment, but only the price of the original engraved plates, and for sending the original plates to us. I hereby declare that I am grateful. Chang-yen reported white. ("Wang Kangnian teacher and friend letters" II, p. 1656)

By the 1890s, the concept of shame in selling literature had begun to change significantly, and the system of payment for manuscripts had been accepted by the people. The former scholarly students and even the graduates and officials who had flowed into Shanghai and the south of the Yangtze River due to the congestion of the career path and the difficulty of earning a living now found that they were able to write in their spare time and earn a fee to subsidize their own lives, and they were often overjoyed, and their motivation to write for the press and the bookstores was particularly high. Looking through the collection of letters and writings of the people of the time, this kind of information abounds, and some of the literary splendor, the writing speed of the famous scholar, such as Lin Qinnan, or the deep learning, prestigious scholars, such as Yan Fu, and can even get a considerable income from it. Lin Qinnan initially translated novels do not want to pay, and then not only pay, and the pay is very substantial, his old friend Chen Yan once joked with him, said his study is a mint, a move to money. As a result, a wide range of Shanghai books and newspapers involved in the writing of the crowd, and make it increasingly professional.

The late Qing and early Republican writers rely solely on writing is still difficult to make a living, in addition to writing, have to do other work. Li Boyuan, Wu Corns eat novel rice. The family did not have any money, living in poverty. Lu Xun's novel "Nostalgia" published in "Novel Monthly" at the beginning of the civil war, the manuscript fee was 5 yuan. At that time, the monthly salary of a silk shopkeeper was 8-10 silver dollars, and an ordinary clerk 4-6 dollars (around 1914). The monthly income of an inferior patrolman was 8 yangyuan, a slightly better factory worker's monthly income was also 8 yuan, and Wu's name was 8 yuan per month as a scribe in Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. In other words, a writer must write two articles like "Nostalgia" every month to reach the income level of a lower class patrolman. Therefore, it was not yet possible to produce the kind of freelance writers who made their living entirely from writing during the Republican period.

However, by the time of the Republic of China this situation had been greatly improved, especially in Shanghai, where the number of intellectuals who made a living by selling their writings and taking writing as their profession was quite large. The reason for this is, on the one hand, the national government moved the capital to Nanjing, Beijing was renamed as Beiping, no longer the style of the political center, its cultural power quickly to the south; on the other hand, Shanghai has become the highest degree of commercialization of the country's cities, the modernization of the newspaper industry and the degree of commercialization are ahead of the rest of the country, so that it is possible to devote themselves to the newspaper industry to make a profit. In terms of psychological factors, on the one hand, before the beginning of the Republic of China, the mentality of the culturists who were ashamed of engaging in the newspaper industry and who regarded selling literature as their living as a disgrace gradually changed, and this change also made them no longer ashamed of talking about money and actively contributed articles for remuneration; on the other hand, the New Culture Movement showed that the intellectual class at that time generally needed a medium of speech, physical and mental freedom, and the existence of the public *** rented area made it possible to avoid arrests of culturists for radical speeches. On the other hand, the New Culture Movement demonstrated that the intellectual class generally needed a medium of expression and freedom of mind and body, and the existence of the public ****tenement prevented cultural figures from being arrested for excessive speech, and the loose context of speech and public opinion in Shanghai had a great temptation, which made all kinds of talents follow it.

Lu Xun was one of the most representative of this group of intellectuals who gathered in Shanghai, and his income from manuscripts, royalties, editorial fees, and part-time jobs was the main source of his financial resources.

Lu Xun was one of the most representative of the intellectuals who gathered in Shanghai.