「書」與「報」，表徵兩種不同的知識系統和生產方式。本文將報刊媒介視作一種新知識類型，進而在晚清知識轉型中理解中國現代報刊的興起。研究發現，甲午以後，中國傳統知識體系發生了劇烈變動，文人群體從沉溺於儒學典籍，急切地轉向尋求關於「致用」和「現在」的知識。1896年起，對識「時務」者的迫切要求，使得晚清文人普遍地將報刊視作知識的來源。知識的「發明」，會催生思想世界的搖晃不安。本文認為，維新報刊的興盛，挑戰了傳統中國以儒學典籍為主導的知識和秩序。儘管，「時務」混雜了「傳統」和「現代」而具過渡色彩，但「時務」中蘊涵的「論政」，構成中國現代報刊最重要的精神氣質。報刊所建構的新時間，也使晚清文人從古典學問中脫離，轉而關注國家之「現在」，這一轉折是個體走向現代性的重要環節。

Books and newspapers represent different knowledge systems. This article viewed the rise of modern Chinese newspapers from the perspective of knowledge transformation. The research found that the Chinese literati class had an apparent shift from Confucian to the knowledge about “practical and current”. After 1996, in its pursuit of talented people, newspapers become the main resource of knowledge. The subsequent invention of knowledge that resulted would inevitably have world shaking consequences. Modern newspapers deeply challenged the production of Chinese knowledge and the social order. As a temporary language, “Shiwu” mixed tradition and modernity, but political criticism constituted the important ethos of modern Chinese newspapers. The new time span created by newspapers also encouraged the Chinese literati to concentrate on the state, which, as is now evident, was a vital step to the conditions of modernity.