Annotation

Based on the issues of Mo hua found in current collections, this periodical appears to have lasted at least 21 months. The editorial foreword in the first issue suggests it was intended as a bi-weekly. Its second issue, however, only appeared after a two-month interruption, followed by another ‘First Issue’, with subsequent editions appearing every ten days. Once fully up and running, it attracted many contributions from celebrity journalists such as Jing Cao (Huang Tianjian), Huang Yanqing, Yi Chaisheng (Luo Liming), Wu Baling and He Xiaosheng.

Articles were written in a roughly equal mix of either classical or vernacular Chinese, marking the era of its publications as the period of transition from the Old School to the New School in Chinese literature. Oriented towards both the visual arts and literature, Mo hua paid equal attention to writing and illustrations, each accounting for around half of each issue.