The term ‘science’ was first introduced into China in 1897, yet in the name of ‘xixue’ (Western knowledge), or more specifically, ‘gezhi’ (the Chinese traditional term for scholarship), attempts of publicizing science and technology in China have been made since the beginning of the nineteenth century. My paper will focus on several major newspapers and mass-circulation periodicals of the last five decades of imperial China, to explore the possibility and value of a communication approach for understanding how scientific ideas and technical knowledge were incorporated within a heterogeneous culture, and how they functioned in the formation of that culture’s ‘modernity’. I discuss firstly the publications of protestant missionaries and foreign merchants, who acted as the vehicles of Western colonialism and global trade. What were their purposes and influences in introducing science and technology into China? Then, in what kind of changing political and social conditions, did Chinese intellectuals begin to build up their own paper-based platform, for their own domestic concerns? Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the simultaneous emergence of advanced printing technologies, evolutionary theory, and the concept of press freedom offered a perfect opportunity for reformers to advocate their ideas. Newspapers and periodicals discussed here include Shen bao (Shanghai Journal), Gezhi huibian (The Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine), Guowen bao (National News Daily), Guowen huibian (Collection of National News or The Light Seeker), Xinmin congbao (Journal of a New People), etc.