sent to jail, being charged with "accusing the government with bad intention" because of his opposition to president Yuan Shikai (袁世凱). In the spring of 1914, he was rescued from the prison and fled to Japan. It was in Japan where he wrote large numbers of journal articles and critiques for two Chinese papers: Shenbao (申報) and Current Issues in Xinbao (). Career In 1916, Shao returned to China and was soon appointed as the first Beijing correspondent of Shenbao, the oldest Shanghai newspaper with the largest circulation at that time. During his time in Beijing, Shao was impressed by the emergence of the New Culture Movement (新文化運動). As the movement launched, Shao widely spread the idea of patriotism and democracy while promoting journalism in a revolutionary way. He established the News Editing Society (新聞編譯社), which was the first Editing Society established in China, and published the Beijing Special Notice(北京特別通訊), which contained more than 200 articles. His works facilitated the improvement of Chinese newspapers. In 1918, Shao established a very influential paper in northern China called Jing Bao. However, it was put under suspension in 1919 because the official government was offended by its critiques. It was relaunched in 1920 with the support of Shao's wife. Yet, due to Jing Bao's stance against the warlord government, Shao was charged with "promoting communism, colluding with Russia", according to the decision of warlord Zhang Zuolin (張作霖). Death Shao was detested by contemporary warlord government since he constantly offended the officials. On 26 April 1926, Shao was arrested by military officials and executed in Beijing at his age of 40. In memory of him, the Memorial Hall was built in Hengdian Town of Dongyang City, 5 kilometers from Zixi Village, the birthplace of Shao. Contribution to journalism Shao Piaoping was a pioneer of journalism during the early 20th century in China. His major contributions included: reforming the style and practice of newspaper, combating censorship, and laying out the guidelines for journalists. Newspaper reform Shao observed that there were numerous problems with the newspapers in his time. The first and most prominent problem was a biased viewpoint caused by limited sources and pressure from authorities. During the years 1910–1925 in particular, many Chinese newspapers fell under the influence of different parties. For instance, Beijing Shi Bao (北京時報) was controlled by Duan Qirui (段祺瑞), a powerful warlord; Huang Bao, on the other hand, was under