一直以来,中国的新闻采访学、新闻写作学的教材中都认为倒金字塔结构的消息起源于美国南北战争和电报的运用。其实在中国的明朝就已经有了倒金字塔结构的运用。本文追溯了倒金字塔结构新闻的来源,分析了当时的社会状况及报纸的发展,并重点突出明代与美国南北战争时期社会状况的不同,分析当时倒金字塔结构的新闻能够在美国发展的原因。 All along, in the materials of news gathering and news writing in China, the news of the pyramid structure originated from the use of the U.S. Civil War and the telegraph. In fact, the Ming Dynasty in China already had the use of an inverted pyramid structure. This paper traces the source of pyramid structure news, analyzes the current social conditions and the development of newspapers, and focuses on the difference of social conditions between the Ming Dynasty and the American Civil War, and analyzes the reason why the inverted pyramid structure can be developed in the United States at that time.