Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh: The history of Chinese newspapers in Singapore

Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh are significant chapters in the history of Singapore’s Chinese press. The two newspapers merged in 1983 to form Lianhe Zaobao, the flagship Chinese-language newspaper in Singapore today.

Both Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh were established in the 1920s by prominent business figures. Apart from publicising their respective commercial activities, the founders of both newspapers adhered to traditional Chinese principles of running newspapers, that is, disseminating information, guiding public opinion, educating the public, and promoting Chinese culture.

Like many pre-war Chinese newspapers in Southeast Asia, the two newspapers were not only concerned with local politics and economic developments but paid close attention to political developments in China too. In their early days, both newspapers were in support of the nationalist government and the anti-Japanese movement in China.¹ Following the 1931 Mukden Incident till 1941, the anti-Japanese movement surged. Both Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh published numerous articles penned by Chinese journalists and writers in the region, spearheading fund-raising campaigns in Singapore and Malaya to support the resistance against the Japanese.

After World War II, both newspapers supported the anti-colonial movement and advocated for the political interests of the local Chinese community. As a sense of national identity gradually took shape, the newspapers also underwent a transformation in their political stance. The Chinese media in Singapore was no longer China-centric. Instead, they played a part in upholding racial harmony in a multi-racial society, defending the sovereignty of the country while focusing on local news and reflecting public sentiment. Both newspapers progressively evolved into national newspapers under these circumstances and also began using simplified Chinese characters in 1972.

Chinese newspapers such as Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh were somewhat different from English newspapers in that the former always strove to uphold their social mission. Besides carrying the voices of the times, Chinese newspapers actively participated in the promotion of Chinese culture, education, and the arts. They attached great importance to their role in representing public opinion and played a vital part in uniting the Chinese community.

The history of Nanyang Siang Pau

Nanyang Siang Pau was founded in Singapore on 6 September 1923 by prominent overseas Chinese leader Tan Kah Kee (1874–1961). As an entrepreneur, Tan’s goal was to promote commerce and education. The word “siang” (or “shang” in Chinese, meaning business) in its name clearly pointed to the newspaper’s focus on business news. Tan also published an article titled “The relationship between education and business” in the inaugural issue of the newspaper.

The first manager of Nanyang Siang Pau was Lim Cheng San (unknown–1976), and the editor was Francis S. Fang (unknown–1942). The inaugural issue consisted of 16 pages in four large sheets, and 3,000 copies were printed, selling at 10 cents each. This was later expanded to 24 pages in six large sheets, of which half were advertisements. About 2,200 copies were sold daily.

Unfortunately, the prosperity was short-lived. On 28 October 1923, just 50 days after its first release, Nanyang Siang Pau was suspended by the British colonial government on the grounds that its publication of articles “involving partisan politics” had violated the law. As a result, Lim and Fang left the newspaper. It was only on 1 February of the following year that Nanyang Siang Pau was allowed to resume publication. The new editor was Yang Zhixiang (1895–1931), who was later succeeded by Lim Tu Pu (c. 1903–1980s), and the manager was Yap Cheng Swah (birth and death years unknown), later succeeded by Hou Say Huan (1883–1944).

The post-May Fourth New Culture Movement at the beginning of the 20^th century had a direct influence on the editorial style of Nanyang Siang Pau. All articles in its supplement, Xin shenghuo (New Life), were written in vernacular Chinese, while the weekly supplement Wenyi zhoukan (Arts and Literature Weekly) was introduced with horizontally arranged headlines at the start of 1929, a novelty at that time. In 1930, the newspaper further broke conventions by launching a Sunday supplement, Xingqi kan (Weekly Edition), which was well-received by readers.

In 1928, five years after its founding, Nanyang Siang Pau purchased a rotary printing press, the most advanced of its kind at that time, with a capability of printing 5,000 copies per hour. This was a first for Chinese newspapers in the whole of Southeast Asia.

As the anti-Japanese movement in China grew, Chinese cultural figures came in droves to the region to rally the people against Japan. Many of them were renowned authors or journalists who were then hired by local newspapers as writers, such as Khoo Kok Chai (1907–1988), Li Tiemin (1898–1956), Chen Lien Tsing (1907–1943), Hu Yuzhi (1896–1986), Fu Wu Mun (1892–1965), and Yu Dafu (1896–1945). A significant number of them joined Nanyang Siang Pau, further strengthening the newspaper’s team.

In the late 1920s, the Great Depression affected Tan Kah Kee and made it difficult for him to sustain Nanyang Siang Pau on his own. The newspaper was taken over in August 1932 by brothers Lee Kong Chian (1893–1967) and Lee Geok Eng (1894–1965), and underwent restructuring. In 1937, Lee Kong Chian was made the chairman, while Lee Geok Eng became director and general manager, and veteran journalist Fu Wu Mun was hired as the editor. By the end of 1938, daily sales of the newspaper had exceeded 30,000 copies.

On 8 December 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour which started the Pacific War. Singapore fell to the Japanese and was renamed “Syonan-to”. All Chinese newspapers ceased publication, and the premises of Nanyang Siang Pau were seized by the Japanese to publish Syonan Jit Pau.

After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, Nanyang Siang Pau resumed publication on 8 September. Its circulation and regional influence grew significantly, with copies selling beyond the Malayan Peninsula to countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. The newspaper even purchased its own small aircraft to facilitate cross-border distribution. Between the 1960s and 1970s, Nanyang Siang Pau grew steadily and sold 60,000 copies daily.

Following the separation of Singapore and Malaysia in 1965, Nanyang Siang Pau was split into two and operated independently in each country. The one in Singapore began its post-independence transformation, focusing more on local news and contributing to the building of a harmonious multi-racial society as well as a national identity.

The newspaper’s editorials also shifted towards domestic affairs, but some of its discourse unfortunately violated the Internal Security Act. On 2 May 1971, general manager Lee Mau Seng, editor-in-chief Shamsuddin Tung Tao Chang (1923–1995), senior editorial writer Ly Sing Ko (1913–1996), and public relations officer Kerk Loong Sing were arrested under the Act in what became known as the “May Storm”. The managing director, Lee Eu Seng, was also arrested on 28 January 1973.

On 28 August 1974, the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act was passed after its third reading and the law came into effect the following year. Nanyang Siang Pau ceased to operate as a family-owned enterprise, and Nanyang Press Singapore Ltd was established and registered as a public company on 15 February 1975. By 1978, daily sales of the newspaper had exceeded 90,000 copies. On 1 September 1980, Nanyang Siang Pau began publishing an evening newspaper named Kuai Bao (Express News).

The history of Sin Chew Jit Poh 

Sin Chew Jit Poh was founded by “Tiger Balm King” Aw Boon Haw (1882–1954) on 15 January 1929. Aw’s motivations for establishing the newspaper were similar to those of Tan Kah Kee for Nanyang Siang Pau. Besides promoting his Tiger Balm products, Aw started the newspaper mainly to enhance the patriotism of the overseas Chinese community. He once said it was “better to run one’s own newspaper than spend on advertisements”. It was under this principle that he founded Sin Chew Jit Poh. He also invited Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) to pen the four characters of the newspaper’s Chinese masthead.

Other than a preface for its launch, the inaugural issue of Sin Chew Jit Poh also included the newspaper’s manifesto. It was stated in the preface that it would focus on areas including “the status of overseas Chinese in Nanyang, the responsibility of public opinion, and the mission of the newspaper”, and that it will “fulfil its duty of speaking out against any evil”. On the current state of society, the foundation of unity, the importance of development, and the mission of the newspaper, the manifesto declared that Sin Chew Jit Poh sought to “pursue national, political, and economic equality, encourage overseas Chinese to invest in China to build up its strong foundation, and provide education to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western cultures, so as to improve the status of overseas Chinese”.

At its inception, Sin Chew Jit Poh had only 11 employees in its editorial department. Teng Lee Seng (birth and death years unknown) had served as the manager while Tchou Paoyun (birth and death years unknown) was the chief managing editor. Veteran journalist Fu Wu Mun became the editorial director in September 1929. On top of his editorial duties, he also penned the newspaper’s commentaries.

The newspaper placed great importance on talent, and its editorial team flourished under the leadership of the second editorial director, Kwan Chu Poh (unknown–1942). Cultural figures such as Yu Dafu, Chang Lee Chien (1900–1955), Hsu Yun Tsiao (1905–1981), Yao Nan (Yao Tsu Liang, 1912–1996), and Lee Chan Foo (1899–1966) had all worked at Sin Chew Jit Poh. To commemorate the newspaper’s 10^th anniversary, Kwan orchestrated and edited a 1,300-page volume titled Xingzhou shinian (Ten Years of Sin Chew). This publication remains a notable piece of work in the study of the local newspaper industry to this day. At that time, the Marco Polo Bridge incident of 1937 had just taken place, and Chinese readers at home and abroad were very concerned about current affairs. The commentaries written by Kwan were very well received as they were broad in perspective and took a firm stand.

After the fall of Wuhan to Japan in 1938, Yu Dafu came to serve as the editor of Sin Chew Jit Poh’s literary supplement. He was responsible for several of the newspaper’s significant supplements, such as Chenxing (Morning Star), Fanxing (Star Clusters), and Wenyi (Arts and Literature). While actively promoting the development of arts and literature, Yu also wrote political commentaries and promoted the war against Japan.

In 1941, the Pacific War broke out. The newspaper industry came to a halt as Singapore and Malaya fell under Japan’s rule. After the Japanese surrendered on 5 September 1945, newspapers sought to resume circulation. Nanyang Siang Pau resumed publication on 8 September, as did Sin Chew Jit Poh in combination with The Union Times. On 10 December that year, Aw Boon Haw returned to Singapore to expand the newspaper and began recruiting talent to enrich its content. Hu Weifu (birth and death years unknown), Hu Langman (1908–1991), and Jiang Jingfan (birth and death years unknown) took turns to serve as editors-in-chief in 1945 before Wang Sze (1911–1982) took over in 1950.

On 4 September 1954, Aw died of a heart attack in Honolulu, Hawaii. The parent company of Sin Chew Jit Poh, Sin Poh (Star News) Amalgamated Ltd, underwent restructuring, and Aw’s nephew, Aw Cheng Chye (1924–1972), became the chairman of both the company and the newspaper, while Aw’s son, Aw Kow (1914–1984), was made the managing director. Wang continued to serve as editor-in-chief.

On 1 July 1975, in accordance with the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act which came into effect that year, Sin Chew Jit Poh was converted into a public company named Sin Chew Jit Poh (Singapore) Ltd.

The merger

On 20 April 1982, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement announcing a major restructuring in the nation’s newspaper industry: Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh were to merge into a single holding company. In May 1982, the two companies announced that the new company would be named Singapore News and Publications Ltd. Both Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh published their final issues on 15 March 1983.