Tabloids are newspapers that are typically smaller and more compact than daily broadsheets. They usually have a simpler layout and are sold at cheaper prices, and feature a wide range of content, including news, entertainment, commentaries, poetry, essays, novels, and reader submissions. While broadsheets strive for a formal, authoritative tone, tabloids have more editorial freedom, using more colloquial language and focusing on light, entertaining topics that interest the man on the street.

Chinese tabloids in Singapore and Malaysia generally inherited the format and style of tabloids in China, such as brevity and a colloquial tone. They were usually printed in quarter or eighth-sheet formats,1 and featured mainly light, entertaining content. Distribution models varied — some tabloids were published every three days, some every five days, and some weekly.

Readers and writers

Given Singapore’s multiethnic, colonial backdrop, its Chinese tabloids developed quite differently from those in China. Singapore’s Chinese tabloids were mainly commercially driven and aimed to attract readers by appealing to the needs of ordinary people and reporting on topics that resonated with the masses. Hence, most of their readers were workers, farmers, and women employed in the entertainment industry — including singers and dance hostesses who read the tabloids for leisure and used the entertainment columns in these publications to boost their popularity.2

The “Xinying chugu” [Rising Songstresses] column in Yeh Teng Pao focused on songstresses. Yeh Teng Pao 378, 8 January 1953. From NUS Libraries.
Many Chinese literati who travelled south, brimming with artistic ideals, also wrote for and helped to manage these tabloids. They contributed poems and essays that commented on current affairs and social concerns, turning tabloids into an important platform for interaction between intellectuals and popular culture.3 Although entertainment and leisure were their usual areas of focus, the tabloids occasionally touched on more serious topics concerning politics and community identity to pique readers’ interests and imaginations.

Birth of Singapore’s Chinese tabloids (1925–1934)

Influenced by China’s New Culture Movement, Chinese newspapers and supplementary periodicals in Singapore and Malaysia shifted their focus towards intellectual and cultural topics in the 1920s. Lighter forms of content were shunted into the sidelines, although they continued to see demand from ordinary readers. Seeking new ways to engage with popular culture, readers turned to the tabloids, which became an important medium for alternative voices.

Singapore’s Chinese tabloids flourished during this period. The first tabloid was launched in 1925,4 and many more swiftly followed. From 1925 to 1929, an estimated 73 to 89 tabloids were published in Singapore.5 This was the first peak period for tabloids in Singapore and Malaysia, with notable publications including Yi Xiao Bao, Comical Weekly, Chi Tien and Marlborough Weekly.

Front page of the inaugural issue of Comical Weekly, 5 November 1927. From NUS Libraries.

Second golden age (1940s–1950s)

After World War II, Chinese tabloids entered a second golden age, and at least 40 were published during this period. These included Kang Pao, Feng Pao, Shieh Pau, Ti Press, Tah Chong Pau, and Life News.6 Tabloids such as Sin Lit Pau and Yeh Teng Pao were, at one point, able to sell tens of thousands of copies annually.7

However, this golden age did not last for long. As the newspaper industry underwent structural changes, tabloids faced many challenges. Financial pressure increased as printing costs rose, and a shortage of paper and other materials persisted. Many newspapers did not survive.

As tabloids tended to cover gossip and more salacious news to draw readers’ attention, they attracted criticism and disapproval from the colonial government and intellectuals, who frequently suppressed the production of these publications. Furthermore, tabloids were usually run by lean teams with high staff turnover, a problem compounded by insufficient professional training and a resulting inconsistency in quality. These internal structural weaknesses proved fatal in an increasingly competitive industry and ultimately led to the decline of the tabloid era. By the late 1950s, all tabloids in Singapore had ceased publication. It was not until Min Pao came along in the 1960s that this changed.

Legacy of tabloids

As periodicals for the people, tabloids provided spaces for diversity of expression. Their coverage encompassed voices from different segments of society, reflecting the concerns of the grassroots. These publications also nurtured writers of news, commentaries, and literary works, some of whom went on to become influential figures in the news and publishing industries. Tabloids bore witness to the evolution of popular culture and the complex realities of post-war Singaporean and Malaysian society. Although their popularity lasted just a few decades, tabloids captured the social momentum and cultural memories of their time, making them an important resource for understanding Chinese culture and social practices in pre-independence Singapore.