In the discourse of journalism in 1870-1890, “ti li” (rules of newspaper) was a common expression, which referred to the principles or norms of newspaper operation. Chinese newspapers built a set of ideas on journalism ethics in practice around the prolonged argument for “rules of newspaper”. Centered on Shun Pao, this paper tries to clarify the connotation, causes and historical significance of journalism ethics in 19th century. The “rules of newspaper” reiterated by Shun Pao included all kinds of moral statement made by newspapers to the community, which constituted a loose but rich complex of ideas concerning the justifcation of practice. It set forth the value concerns, duty of action, operational norms, practitioners’ ethics, etc. of the newspaper industry, and its core pursuits were “openness”, “justice” and “facts”. They were frequently mentioned and repeatedly argued for such common interactions in everyday practice as readers’ questions, interested parties’ pleadings, offcials’ intervention, and peer competition facing newspapers. Modern discussions on journalism ethics began with ethics of the 19th century, which explained the moral requirement for newspaper activities as a public discourse preliminarily.