清光绪二十八年五月十二日 (1902年6月17日),天津《大公报》创刊。该报是中国创刊较早、报龄最长的报纸,距今已经107年了,仍在香港继续出刊。这在中国报界是极为鲜有的。
        《大公报》是在法国公使鲍渥赞助下,经北京总主教批准,由天主教会出资创办的。办报方针最初是听命于法国领事馆和天主教会。并由天主教会推荐英华为负责人。
        英华(1866～1926),字敛之。满洲正红旗人,天主教徒。幼年家贫,出身寒微,自学博文,稍通法文。曾任法国驻云南蒙自领事馆的雇员。辞职后,正值求职不得,适逢《大公报》创办。英敛之任总理、撰述、编辑诸职,总揽言论和经营大权。
        《大公报》馆址,初设在法租界狄总领事路法国工部局对过(今哈尔滨道); 光绪三十二年(1906),迁至日租界旭街(今和平路169号四面钟对过永真眼镜店); 后又迁至哈尔滨道西头靠近南京路的地方(后来为京剧二团)。《大公报》创刊当天,就发行了3800份,3个月后发行量高达5000份,一时间成为华北地区人们争相购阅的报纸。
        《大公报》有自己的印刷厂,除了印报纸以外,还承印中西书籍,自己也出版和经销图书。报纸创刊不久,就连续在报上刊登上海、北京等地刚出版的新书广告,并由报馆代售。这就招引了社会上大批书刊委托大公报馆销售。这样既收到了经济效益,也宣传了报馆,赢得了读者。从创刊到解放前夕,《大公报》共出版图书100余种。如《华英音韵》、《字典集成》、《英华字典》,等等。
        光绪三十二年(1906)6月27日,英敛之借鉴在日本访问学习的办报经验,联络了几个天津新闻界人士,在《大公报》上发表了《告天津各大报主笔书》,倡议召开天津各报发行人和主笔协作会议及成立“报界俱乐部” ,为天津新闻工作者提供交流、研究和欢娱的活动场所。7月1日,第一次协作会议在日租界旭街芙蓉馆正式召开,并在会议上成立了天津报界俱乐部。7月29日,又在天津李公祠举行了第二次集会。两次会议都由英敛之主持,在津出版的《大公报》、《中外实报》、《北洋日报》等10家报纸的20多位代表,出席了会议。会上决定,此后每月召开一次会议,由参加协作的报馆轮流召开。但是,由于各报馆隶属不同的政治力量,难以同谋,协作会议只能是不了了之。
        1916年9月,《大公报》售给王郅隆;1926年9月,吴鼎昌、胡政之、张季鸾3人合作,以 “新记公司” 名义接办《大公报》。

        

·《大公报》等报报头

        The Ta Kung Pao Newspaper was founded inTianjin on June 17,1902. It is the longest newspaper inChina with 105 years of history. Today it continues topublish in Hong Kong,which is rare in China.
        The newspaper was sponsored by the FrenchAmbassador,and invested and approved by the BeijingBishop. It followed the orders from the French Embassyand the Catholic Church. Ying Hua was the chief-editorrecommended by the Catholic Church.
        Ying Hua (1866～1926),Manchu ethnic,and aCatholic,had another name as Lianzhi. His family waspoor during his childhood. He learned by himself andknew a little French. When he resigned his job as anemployee of the French Consulate at Mengzi of Yunnan,Ta Kung Pao was founded. He was appointed as themanager,reporter and editor of the newspaper in chargeof the operation.
        The newspaper was located opposite to the FrenchIndustrial Bureau at Consulate-General Road (nowHarbin Road) in the French concession. In 1906,itmoved to Xujie in the Japanese concession,and thenmoved to Nanjing Road near the west of Harbin Road.On the first day of its operation,Ta Kung Pao published3800 copies and three months later,5000 copies. Itbecame the most popular newspaper in North China.
        The newspaper had its own publishing house.Besides newspapers,it printed,published and soldbooks. After its operation,it published advertisements ofnew books for Shanghai and Beijing. It also sold booksfor them,which attracted many books to be sold by TaKung Pao. This method gained commission,promotedthe newspaper,and won readers. From its launch to thetime of the liberation,the newspaper published about100 books such as Huaying Rhythm,General Dictionaryand Yinghua Dictionary.
        On June 27,1906,Ying Lianzhi learned from Japanto set up Newsman Association with the support fromseveral elites of newspaper in Tianjin after publishing"A Letter to Tianjin Chief Editors" in Ta Kung Pao. Theassociation was set for Tianjin journalists to exchangeideas and have fun. On July 1,the first collaborationmeeting was held at Furong restaurant in the Japaneseconcession. At the meeting,the association wasestablished. On July 29,the second meeting was held atLigongci in Tianjin. Both meetings were chaired by YingLianzhi. About 20 representatives from 10 newspapersincluding Ta Kung Pao,China and Overseas Newspaper,Northern Daily attended the meeting. It also decidedto hold monthly meetings hosted by each newspaper.However,the newspapers served different politicalpowers,so the monthly meeting was aborted.
        In September,1916,the Ta Kung Pao was soldto Wang Zhilong. In September,Wu Dingchang,HuZhengzhi and Zhang Jiluan cooperated to take over theTa Kung Pao in the name of Xinji Company.

        大公报社旧址