Sunday, September 12, 2010 | By: rudi butt

Cartoon Paper And The Chinese Cartoonist


Updated (partial) on October 6, 2010
Part IV of Newsies in the Nineteenth Century

China Punch of May 28, 1867
1867-1876 China Punch - Hong Kong's First Cartoon Paper
In April 1867, China Punch, a fortnightly illustrated paper, was published by the China Mail, and conducted by editor W.N. Middleton and others (unfortunately, I do not know who the cartoonists were). China Punch ran on lines quite similar to its London prototype - the Punch, which was created by wood engraver Ebenezer Landells and writer Henry Mayhew in 1841. The dual got the idea for the paper from a satirical French paper, Charivari, and in fact the first issued (July 17, 1841) was subtitled 'The London Charivri'.

The China Punch featured local topics and men in a humorous and effective manner, coded, however with heavy colonial flavor making fun of local Chinese customs and assuming the superiority of British values. Such were met with almost instant popularity among the Western residents and visitors alike in Hong Kong. The paper ceased publication between May 28, 1868 and November 5, 1872, and was permanently closed on November 22, 1876 when Middleton left Hong Kong. The "Twentieth Century Impression of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China" said that since that time no paper of the kind has managed to rival its humorous and its witty caricatures and cartoons. A company named "W.N. Middleton and Co." existed in Hong Kong in the 1910s. I have no idea what the firm did for business and whether it was related to our Middleton.

This is a photo of the original print of the Shi Guk To,
a later version became full-colored.
Tse Tsan-tai - Hong Kong’s First Cartoonist
Republic revolutionist and South China Morning Post co-founder, Tse Tsan-tai 謝纘泰 was Hong Kong’s (as well as China’s) first cartoonist. The cartoon he created, "Shi Guk To" 時局圖 (The Situation in the Far East), was printed in Japan in 1899. In Tse’s cartoon, the map of China was infested by different animals and symbols that represented foreign powers that occupied territories in Qing China - Britain the dog, France the frog, Japan the sunray, German the sausage, and Russia the bear. United States the eagle was included as a potential threat. The Shi Guk To was reprinted and republished after the original publication both in China and overseas without citation of the original.

Tse Tsan-tai
Tse Tsan-tai, alias Tse Juan-tai, James See, was born on May 16, 1872 in Sydney. He was the son of Chinese immigrant small-business-owner Tse Yat-cheong 謝日昌, alias John See, who hailed from Kaiping 開平 in Guangdong. Tse, the father, went to Sydney in late 1850s or early 1860s where he opened a general store. Tse’s mother, Kwok Shi 郭氏 was said to be Australia’s first woman immigrant from China. The family later moved to Grafton and finally to a tin-mining town named Tingha, not far from Inverell. The family was generally known under the surname of Ah See. Tse was baptized James See in 1879 in Anglican Christ Church Cathedral in Grafton. In 1888, the whole family (Tse had two brothers and three sisters) moved to Hong Kong and there Tse attended and graduated from the Queen’s College 皇仁書院.


- TO BE COMPLETED -

Friday, September 10, 2010 | By: rudi butt

Newspaper Founded By Drug Barons


Updated (partial) on October 24, 2010

Part III of Newsies in the Nineteenth Century
1843-1863 Hong Kong Register 香港紀錄報

The Hong Kong Register was the successor of Canton Register, China’s first English newspaper and was headed by Philadelphian merchant W.W. Wood. But Wood was only the frontman; the newspaper was in fact founded and funded by James Matheson, partner of William Jardine in the opium firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co., with the help of his nephew Alexander Matheson. The princely opium house wanted a trade newspaper they can control but  want to be hush-hush about their involvement, to the extent that Matheson, the uncle, purposely moved to Macau during the time when the Canton Register was launched [1]. The first issue of Canton Register was printed in 1827 and was printed every two weeks. The newspaper moved to Macau along with the exodus of British merchants in May 1839 and from Macau to Hong Kong in June 1843. It was then renamed Hong Kong Register and continued to publish until its closure in 1863. As the trade paper for the foreign mercantile community in China, the Hong Kong Register contained information such as two pages of Price Current and carried stories / editorials that tend to serve the interest of foreign traders at the risk of being incitant.

[1] This is an extract of a letter sent from Alexander Matheson in Canton to James Matheson in Macau on November 16, 1827 in which the nephew explained measures being taken to conseal the connection between the paper and the Mathesons.

“... I mean to disavow any connection with the paper, further than my having hitherto assisted Wood from motives of friendship. With regard to the Press, it will be proper to state to them (Rudi Butt notes: some people began to question if the paper was in any way connected to the Mathesons), that you made an arrangement with Wood, before the paper was established, that if he chose he might take the Press at prime cost, and that as the paper has been successful beyond our expectation, Wood has availed himself of this arrangement, so that the Press is no longer your property. This will screen you from all responsibility. I should also think it prudent to remove the press to some other place, to make it appear more evident that you are entirely unconnected with the business…”
The Hong Kong Register was published weekly and only became a journal in 1859; meanwhile, it published eight other newspapers / supplements at different time period. They were: General Price Current, Mercantle Register, and Shipping List (1843-1845); Hong Kong Register and Government Gazette (April - September 1844, 1853-1855); Overland Register and Price Current (1845-1859, July 1860 - 1861);  The Register’s Advertiser (1853-1854); Hong Kong Register Daily Supplement (1859); China Chronicle, Hong Kong Register and Eastern Advertiser (January - June 1860); Overland China Chronicle (January - June 1860); and Hongkong Register Daily Advertiser (June 1860 - 1861).

The first publisher and editor of the Register William Whitman Wood (b.ca.1804-d.unk.) arrived in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1825 from Philadelphia. Son of celebrated actors Burke and Juliana Westray Wood, he was said to be a person of great versatility, mentally and materially. After heading and editing the Canton Register for a number of years, he worked for the American opium firm of Russell and Co. in Guangzhou. He left Canton in 1833 and settled in Manila where he managed a coffee and sugar plantation in Jala-Jala and coincidentally became the first person to introduce photograph to the the Philippines. He later joined Russell, Sturgis and Co. in Manila and there he died. Wood is remembered by his book - Sketches of China.

John Slade succeeded Wood as the Newspaper’s publisher and editor in 1831. I don’t have much information on Slade except that he was said to be a gentleman of good classic attainments and a Chinese scholar, he is well-remembered by his book - Narrative of the late proceedings and events in China published in 1839 (check my Google Library). He was one of the first land buyers in Hong Kong in 1842. A year later he moved with the newspaper and settled here, but not for long, he died from fever in August 1843, about two months after moving from Macau. Slade, essentially Hong Kong Register's first editor and publisher, was succeeded by John Cairns.

In 1847, a Lieutenant Sergeant of the 95th Royal Irish Regiment objected to a comment appeared in the Register in which he was quoted as an “informer” and assaulted and battered the editor John Cairns. Cairns brought charges against the Lieutenant and was awarded $1,000 damages. Another entry in the history I could find on Cairns was that he, together with Robert Strachan, a small business owner who later became the editor and proprietor of the Register, and Edward Farncomb, Hong Kong’s first enrolled solicitor, who styled themselves as the Trustees of the Hong Kong Theatrical Company, bought a plot of land from crooked government auctioneer and Hong Kong’s first licensee of Opium monopoly George Duddell. The land lot was situated around Wyndham Street and Wellington Street behind the old Hong Kong Club whereupon the theatrical group had erected the Victoria Theatre. The first performance in the new theatre was on November 1, 1848 under the patronage of the third governor George Bonham. The Trustee conveyed the lot back to Duddell because of financial difficulties, and the theatre then used for a mixed of performances, balls and assemblies by short-term lease. The theatre faced its final curtain in 1859 where it was up for auction. I know not who bought it and what had the new owner done with it. I could find out, but that would be material for another story. An unusual observation on Cairns as made in some material I read described him as “too kind hearted for a journalist”, that to me is surely a compliment.

The ownership of the Register changed hands in 1849. The new proprietor was originally a Scottish merchant captain, Robert Strachan, of the merchantman Scotland, who arrived in China in 1838. He worked for the opium firm of W.T. Gemmell and Co. in Canton (Guangzhou) and was one of the few Briton who stayed behind in Canton after the second exodus of British merchant in 1843. After befriended by Andrew Jardine, nephew of William Jardine, whilst in Canton he became an agent of Jardine Matheson and Co. This was what he said of Hong Kong then, "The Island of Hongkong will be one of the most considerable marts for trade in British possession in the course of a few years," He bought the Register in 1949 and became its proprietor until 1860. There was a conflicting entry in the “Hong Kong Directory 1859” that said Richard A. Long Philips was proprietor of the Hong Kong Register in 1859. Strachan edited the Register for a brief while in 1860. There was a not so flattering entry of Strachan in history - On August 19, 1851, he was fined $15 by the Chief Magistrate for thrashing (I do not know if this was only an expression of the one who wrote this, or Strachan physically beat the man with a whip) a neighboring Chinese silversmith who had disturbed him in the middle of the night on a Sunday.

William Henry Mitchell succeeded Cairns as editor in 1849. Mitchell came to China as a colonial officer. He was a clerk in the British consular office in Amoy (Xiamen) and in 1844 became a Consular Assistant. He ran a small mercantile firm in Hong Kong, the Mitchell and Co. between 1846 and 1847. After leaving the Register in early 1850, he was appointed Assistant Police Magistrate, Sheriff, Provost Marshal, Coroner, and Marshal of the Vice-admiralty Court. He was already a Justice of the Peace (official) on March 28, 1850. He was accused by the first Attorney General Thomas Chisholm Anstey QC in June 1856 of extorting money from prisoners while in the office of Sheriff and Acting Chief Magistrate.

Thurston Dale (b.1819-d.1850) was appointed editor after Mitchell left in 1850, but died a few months later. He was succeeded by William F. Bevan (b.1819-d.1858) who kept the job until his death eight years later. Bevan was responsible for the printing in 1852 of a catalog of books kept in the Victoria Library & Reading Room, essentially Hong Kong's first library, which was established in c.1848 in the form of a club. Bevan was assisted by Andrew Dixson, who was the Secretary of the Library in 1852, and again for 1852-53. Richard A. Long Philips took over as editor in 1859 but for one year; he was also the publisher for the same period. A number of editors had come and gone in 1960. Canadian Malcolm Macleod succeeded Philips, who in turn was succeeded by Register owner Robert Strachan, and then during the second half of the year there was James C. Beecher, an American missionary hailed from Hanover, New Hampshire. Two James were appointed editors in 1861, James Jeffrey and James L. Brown. The last publisher of the newspaper, who succeeded Malcolm Macleod in 1861, was Henry M. Levy. I found no information about Levy.

James C. Beecher
James C. Beecher (b.1828-d.1886) was the youngest child of Rev. Dr. Lyman and Harriet Porter Beecher []. After graduation from the Dartmouth University, the young Beecher became a sailor and ventured to the Far East, arriving in China for the first time in 1849. He then served five years as a ship’s officer in the East India trade. Beecher returned from the sea and attended Andover Theological Seminary, and there he married Ann Morse, a widow with a young child. The couple left for Canton (Guangzhou) where they served as missionaries, and there Beecher was appointed Seaman’s Chaplain for Whampoa. He left China in 1861 to go home and fight in the American Civil War. I do not know when he came to Hong Kong and why he was appointed editor of the Register. His wife, Ann Morse, returned to the States two years earlier suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and died in 1863. During the Civil War, Beecher served in the First Long Island Regiment as chaplain, and then the 141st New York Volunteers as a lieutenant colonial. In 1863 he was appointed to recruit an African regiment, the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers. The regiment was reorganized in 1864 as the 35th United States Colored Troops and was under the command of Beecher, who was now a full colonel. After the Civil War, Beecher served as pastor at different churches in New York. In 1881, he suffered from a nervous breakdown and was admitted to Dr. Gleason's water cure sanitarium in Elmira, New York - the same institution Ann Morse spent her final years. Beecher took his own life while in Elmira. James C. was a half brother of famous abolitionist and novelist, Harriet Beecher Stowe (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896), and Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887), a prominent Congregationalist minister, social reformer, abolitionist, and public speaker.

I found no information on the Register for the period between 1861 and 1863. When I do I will write more on this topic, until then, this is all I can tell you about Hong Kong's first trade paper.


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Thursday, September 2, 2010 | By: rudi butt

Newsies In The Nineteenth Century


Updated (partial) on July 30, 2012

Hong Kong Gazette 香港公報 or 香港鈔報 (May 1, 1841 - )

The Friend of China 中國之友 (March 17, 1842 - )

Free Correspondent (1842- unknown)

A weekly newspaper established by some eminent Chinese scholars.

References:
- Friend of China, November 10, 1842

Eastern Globe (1842- )

Weekly Criminal Calendar (1842- )

Hong Kong Chronicle (1842- )

Hong Kong Register 香港紀錄報 (1843-1863)

The Hong Kong Register was the successor of Canton Register, China’s first English newspaper headed by Philadelphian merchant William Whiteman Wood (b. c.1804), but was in fact founded and funded by James Matheson, partner of William Jardine in the opium firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co., with the help of his nephew Alexander. The first issue of Canton Register was printed in 1827 and was printed every two weeks. The newspaper moved to Macau along with the exodus of British merchants in May 1839 and from Macau to Hong Kong in June 1843. It was then renamed Hong Kong Register and continued to publish until its closure in 1863. As the trade paper for the foreign mercantile community in China, the Hong Kong Register contained information such as two pages of Price Current and carried stories / editorials that tend to serve the interest of foreign traders at the risk of being incitant.

The first publisher and editor of the Register W.W. Wood arrived in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1825 from Philadelphia. Son of celebrated actors Burke and Juliana Westray Wood, he was said to be a person of great versatility, mentally and materially. After heading and editing the Canton Register for a number of years, he worked for the American opium firm of Russell and Co. in Guangzhou. He left Canton in 1833 and settled in Manila where he managed a coffee and sugar plantation in Jala-Jala and coincidentally became the first person to introduce photograph to the the Philippines. He later joined Russell, Sturgis and Co. in Manila and there he died. Wood is remembered by his book - Sketches of China.

John Slade succeeded Wood as the Newspaper’s publisher and editor. I don’t have much information on Slade except that he was said to be a gentleman of good classic attainments and a Chinese scholar, he is well-remembered by his book - Narrative of the late proceedings and events in China published in 1839 (check my Google Library). He was one of the first land buyers in Hong Kong in 1842. A year later he moved with the newspaper and settled here, but not for long, he died from fever in August 1843, about two months after moving from Macau. Slade was succeeded by John Cairns.

The China Mail 德臣西報 (1845-1974)

First issue printed on February 20, 1845. The China Mail was founded by Scotsman Andrew Shortrede 蕭德銳, a prominent printer in Edinburgh, who learnt the printing craft as an apprentice in 1920s. He was the proprietor of the publishing house East Thistle Lane between 1830 and 1840. Judging from the large number of titles printed by Thistle Lance, Shortrede ought to be a very successful publisher. From 1841 to 1843 he owned and managed another publishing house in Edinburgh, George IV Bridge. It was said in the Scottish Book Trade Index (SBTI) that he fell into bad health in around 1843-44 and went to China although I do not know at what time he arrived in Hong Kong and whether the China Mail was the first venture he embarked on here. Being a learned but humble person, Shortrede soon became a well respected member of the community. In 1846, he drafted the by-laws of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch [1], which was then founded in February the following year. He had a keen interest in education and was one of the financiers who support the schooling of three young Hong Kong men in the United States and Britain [2]. He was a keen promoter for the establishment of the St. Andrew School, a public school opened in 1855, which was the first school in Hong Kong not run by missionaries. It was also the first school to be funded by public subscription.

Shortrede established the publishing house A. Shortrede and Co. in Hong Kong in the 1850s, which continued to publish books well after his death and into the twentieth century. A. Shortrede was famous for publishing the Hong Kong Directory, which also came with a list of foreign residents in China. The earliest edition I have read was for 1859.

[1] The first office-bearers of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch included Shortrede, second Colonial Governor John Francis Davis (as President), Lieutenant Governor Major-General George Charles D’Aguilar, Colonial Surgeon Peter Young, Colonial Treasurer William Thomas Mercer, John Charles Bowring, partner of Jardine, Matheson and Co. (1858-1864); and Thomas Francis Wade, British Envoy to China and later inventor of the Wade System of Romanization of Chinese 韋氏拼音.

[2] All three were alumni of the Morrison Education Society School in Hong Kong and native of Xiangshan (Chungshan), Guangdong (Kwangtung) and were sent to the Monson Academy in Massachusetts. Kuan Huang 黃寬 went on to study medicine and surgery at University of Edinburgh and became the first Chinese to practice Western medicine in China. Yung Wing 容閎 went on to Yale and became its first Chinese graduate. He later became a diplomat and an educator. Wong Shing 黃勝 only spent a year in Monson and returned to Hong Kong due to poor health. After a stint working for the China Mail, he went on to established two Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. He was appointed the first Chinese juror and the second Chinese member of the Legislative Council.
These were the key people working at the China Mail in 1859: Andrew Scott Dixson, Proprietor; Andrew Wilson, Editor; and James Jeffrey, Robert Low, N.B. Bonney, Francisco C. Barradas, J.J. da Silva e Souza, A.J. da Silva e Souza.

The May 1, 1855 issue of Chinese Serial carried a story
about Joan of Arc written in Chinese.
遐邇貫珍 Chinese Serial (1853- )

The Hong Kong Daily Press, or simply known as the Daily Press 香港孖剌西報 (October 1, 1857 - )

The Hong Kong Mercury and Shipping Gazette (1866- )

The Daily Advertiser (1871- )

The Hong Kong Times: Daily Advertiser, and Shipping Gazette (1873)

循環日報 Tsun-wan Yat-po or Universal Circulating Herald (1874-1947)

The Hongkong Telegraph 士蔑報 (1881-1951)

First issue appeared on June 15, 1881. The Telegraph was founded by Robert Fraser-Smith (d. February 9, 1895 Hong Kong) to whom the newspaper owed its Chinese name, 士蔑 simply Smith. I was unable to trace Fraser-Smith’s background before he became the proprietor, publisher and editor of the Telegraph. Fraser-Smith was often referred to as atrabilious and scandalous and had been jailed several times for libel. When Fraser-Smith died in 1895, his interest in the Hong Kong Telegraph was acquired by John Joseph Francis Q.C. [3] (b. 1839, Dublin - d. September 22, 1901, Hong Kong) his more than once prosecutor in the court-of-law. Francis was said to be a sparring partner of Fraser-Smith, in-and-outside of the court-of-law. Francis retained the controlling interest of the newspaper until 1900, whereupon the newspaper company was formed into a limited liability company by Francis, the company was registered on February 22, 1900. Robert Ho-tung and several of his Chinese associates became the principal shareholders of the newspaper company, which they felt would serve as an organ in which to give expression of their views. The shares were held under the name of the Chinese Syndicate 香港華商公局, predecessor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

In 1916 or 1917, American dentist Joseph W. Noble acquired a majority interest in the newspaper company and took on the role as publisher. Noble was the second dentist to practice in Hong Kong and one of the keen supporters for the establishment of the Hong Kong’s medical school. He was also the Chairman of the South China Morning Post (1907-1911). For a period of time, SCMP and the Telegraph jointly published an evening paper, named Evening Edition South China Morning Post and The Hongkong Telegraph. The Hong Kong Telegraph merged with the South China Morning Post in the beginning of 1941. The two were split after the Pacific War and five years later in 1951 the Hong Kong Telegraph closed.

[3] J.J. Francis was a leading legal professional at his time and was the third barrister in Hong Kong to become a Queen’s Council.
Chesney Duncan 鄧肯 was the second editor of the Telegraph, who succeeded Fraser-Smith in 1895 and continued until 1899. Duncan was an active republican revolution sympathizer, who had met Sun Yat-sen on several occasions and was listed as a supporting member of the Hsing Chung Hui 興中會. In fact, the English version of the declaration and mission statement of Hsing Chung Hui was drafted by Duncan and Thomas Reid of China Mail. The Telegraph and the China Mail were the first newspapers to openly champion the republic movement in China. On one occasion, Duncan was called before the Colonial Secretary James Lockhart, who reprimanded him for what the paper published, claiming it amounted to incitement of the Chinese to revolt against a government with which Britain was on friendly terms. Despite the warning, the newspaper's pro-revolutionists attitude has not swerved.

E.F. Skertchly replaced Duncan as editor in 1899 and left in 1901. He moved to Penang and later became the editor of the Penang Gazette and then chief editor of the Straits Echo, and there he died, the year unknown to me. His wife remarried a Samuel Bonnett Darby of Rugby and Brighton.

E.A. Snewin became the editor in 1901 at a time when Robert Ho-tung and his colleagues at the Chinese Syndicate became principal shareholders of the Telegraph. Snewin sat in the inaugural committee of the first Journalistic Association in Hong Kong. He left the newspaper in 1906.

A.W. Brebner was appointed editor in January in 1906 and continued until 1910. Brebner hailed from Aberdeen, Scotland and received education at the Robert Gordon’s College. After graduation he joined the Aberdeen Free Press at a editorial staff. In 1895, he went to Jamaica and became the sub-editor of the Daily Time, and from there he proceeded to Hong Kong in 1906.

Three more names appeared as editors of the Telegraph but no information on the time period in which they held the position can be found. They are: E.B. Helme, F.L. Pratt and A. Hick. I found nothing about Helem and Hicks.

Frederick Lionel Pratt (b.1872-d.1940s) was an Australian who was famous as co-owner-publisher of the Who’s Who in the Far East.  The other owner was another Australian William Henry Donald (b.1875-d.1946), the managing director of the China Mail. The book (1906, 1907 editions are known to me) was printed by the China Mail.

J.P. Braga
Jose Pedro Braga 布力架 (b. 1871 Hong Kong - D. 1944 Macau) was the manager of the Hong Kong Telegraph between 1902 and 1910 who also succeeded Francis as the publisher. Braga came from a Portuguese family with long standing in Macau. His maternal grandfather Delfino Noronha ran a printing press in Hong Kong since 1844, Noronha and Co., a quasi-government printer, which eventually became the Hong Kong Government Printer. Braga studied at the Italian Convent School (predecessor of the Sacred Heart Canossian College) and St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong and went to India afterward, and there he graduated from the University of Calcutta. On his returned to Hong Kong in 1899, Brada worked for his grandfather until Noronha’s death in July 1902. Thereafter Braga joined the Telegraph at the invitation of Robert Ho-tung. After having spent eight years (1902-1910) with the Telegraph, Braga went on to become the Hong Kong correspondent for Reuters. He was succeeded as publisher by the new proprietor Joseph Noble. In c.1920, he gave up journalism and ventured into the business domain. He was appointed Chairman of China Light and Power Company in 1934 (and again in 1938) after the founding chairman Robert Gordon Shewan was oust by the principal shareholders the Kadoorie family. Braga also sat on the board of several prominent companies which were managed by Shewan, Tomes and Co., a firm controlled by Shewan.

Braga was a member of the Sanitary Board between 1927 and 1930. He was appointed the first Portuguese member of the Legislative Council in 1929, he continued to serve in the council until 1937. He was created an OBE in 1935 and was honored with the naming of Braga Circuit 布力架街. Braga married Olive Pauline Pollard (b. January 16, 1870 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia - d. February 13, 1952) 1884 in Calcutta. She was the pianist and violinist with the Pollards Lilliputian Opera Copmany, her father James Joseph Pollard was the founder. Jose and Pauline Brada had five children. One of their sons, Jose Maria (Jack) Braga (b.1897-d.1988) was a famous writer.

香港華字日報 The Chinese Mail (1895- )

The Hong Kong Weekly Press (1895- )

Tse Tsan-tai
Epilog

At the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

None of these newspapers and periodicals remains today. The oldest surviving newspaper is the South China Morning Post, which was founded on February 6, 1903 by republican revolutionist and collaborator-turned-rival of Sun Yat-sen, Tse Tsan-tai 謝纘泰, and Briton Alfred Cunningham. A republican revolution sympathizer who had become an active participant, Cunningham was an editor for China Mail and Hong Kong Daily Express as well as a correspondence for New York Sun prior to joining SCMP. The newspaper, which was named South Qing Morning Post 南清早報 rather than SCMP before the establishment of the China Republic, had its first issued printed on November 6, 1903. Cunningham assumed the post of Editor-in-Chief.

Hong Kong's First Press Association

The first journalistic association in Hong Kong, and in the East, was formed on December 16, 1903 and inaugurated on January 6, 1904. These were the first office-bearers: President, Thomas H. Reid of China Mail; Chairman of Committee, P.W. Sergeant of Daily Press; Committee, Douglas Story of South China Morning Post, W.H. Donald of China Mail, and E.A. Snewin of the Telegraph. The object, as shown in the constitution of the association was "the elevation and improvement of the status of journalists in the Far East." It was said that the association did not last long but I have no information when the association was dissolved.

The modern day journalist association, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club was formed in Shanghai during the 1940s. The FCC moved to Hong Kong in 1949 and has resided at its current quarters of the historic ice house since 1982. The club, as its name suggests, functions more as a social club than a press association. The Hong Kong Journalist Association, which comprises mainly local journalists, was established in 1968.


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