About1700,000 years ago, there were ancient human activities in China. These primitive humans lived in a harsh environment, and their personal strength was not enough to resist the attack of wild animals. In order to survive, they need to exchange ideas and spread news to coordinate their actions. For example, if you find a beast, ask your partner to hunt or avoid it in time. As a result, language and news communication gradually appeared in the practice of working and living together. Therefore, it can be said that the origin of news is the fact that human beings are in the natural struggle and social struggle, and there is news dissemination when there are human beings.
There are no words in primitive society, and news in society can only be spread through oral communication:
First, it is horizontal, spread to ten, spread to hundreds, and spread to all directions; Second, vertically, word of mouth is passed down from generation to generation. For example, you Chao invented "building wood as a nest"; Suiren drilled wood for fire and learned to cook food; Fu teaches people to weave nets to catch animals and domesticate livestock; Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and invented medicine;
And the Yellow Emperor's victory over Chiyou, Dayu's flood control, Yao, Shun and Yu's "abdication system" and so on. These stories are all passed down from mouth to mouth and then recorded in ancient books. Although their authenticity remains to be verified, these oral exchanges undoubtedly conveyed to us the extremely precious early information of the ancestors of the Chinese nation.
Later, Chinese characters were basically mature, and news communication was further developed.
Qin Lizhai, an early editor of Shenbao, thought in the History of China Newspapers 1922 that as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, China had already sprouted journalism. He said that at that time, "the government had set up special officials to patrol other countries in the spring and autumn, and when in Rome, do as the Romans do and return to the official history." Generally speaking, the ancient poems, mandarin and national policies handed down today are all the results of news dissemination at that time. Many other scholars who study the history of Chinese journalism also agree with this view, and think that "collecting poems" and "collecting customs" are ancient interview activities.