從朝報、奏議集、科舉程文集、筆記、宋代史書與類書等信息度較高的 多種文體的廣泛流傳中，可以看出十二、十三世紀宋朝有官位及無官位之精 英士人對當時時事的濃厚興趣。朝報是發表新任官職、免職除名與外使到 來、詔書奏表引文、召見日程等內容的朝廷出版物。原則上僅限於朝廷大官 與路州縣官閱讀。出版商常違反宋朝出版法，賄賂進奏院等中央政府官司的 官吏，買到未發行的底稿，私自盜印販賣。此類非正式出版物於臨安刻印， 然後從京師寄往他處。官方則稱此類版本為「小報」，並在官方話語中將之 與謠言及朋黨聯繫在一起。本文研究朝報與小報的讀者群與讀者之反應，強 調官方訊息網絡及隨之衍生的半官方訊息網絡，就上述兩種刊物的異同存在 明顯分歧。

The growing interest in current affairs among the twelfth- and thirteenthcentury Chinese elite, in and outside officialdom, was evident in the circulation of a wide variety of news genres ranging from court gazettes, collections of memorials, anthologies of examination essays, miscellanies, Song history textbooks, and encyclopedias. The gazette was a court publication listing new appointments, dismissals, foreign missions, excerpts of edicts and memorials, as well as a schedule of audiences. In principle its circulation was restricted to court officials and regional and local administrators. Commercial printers routinely defied publishing laws, bribed clerks and officials working in the drafting and transmission offices, hunted down copies as soon as they appeared, and printed pirated copies. These were printed in the capital and from there made their way to the provinces. Such unofficial editions were officially labeled“ short reports” and were associated in official discourse with unfounded rumor and factionalism. This article investigates the readership of and reader responses to“ court gazettes” and“ short reports.” It argues that the distinction between“ short report” and“ gazette” was drawn very differently in the official bureaucratic communication network and derivative semi-official networks.