A Misconception: The Relationship between the Chinese-English Daily Newspaper and The Chinese Times

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.vi209.193751

Abstract

This article challenges the popular misconception of the relationship between the two early Chinese newspapers printed in Vancouver, Wa-Ying Yat-Po ((The Chinese-English Daily Newspaper, 1906-1909) and Tai Hon Kong Bo (The Chinese Times, 1910-1992), which claims that Wa-Ying Yat-Po was the predecessor of Tai Hon Kong Bo, the latter functioning as the amplification of the former. Prevailing in scholarly books and articles, this misleading view has become the standard assessment of the affiliation between the two newspapers. In the same vein, some scholars favour the opinion that the inception year of Tai Hon Kong Bo should be pushed back to 1906, the year when Wa-Ying Yat-Po commenced publication.

Contrary to the conventional discourse, this article concludes that the two newspapers are two independent media entities by a close examination of their particular agendas and objectives. Wa-Ying Yat-Po, we argue, deserves the recognition of an autonomous position in the history of Chinese diaspora media, and should not be treated as a part of Tai Hon Kong Bo. The claim that Tai Hon Kong Bo started in 1906 by a number of scholars effaces the distinct three-year existence of Wa-Ying Yat-Po, and helps erase a key historical intertwining of the early Chinese community with Christian missions.

Author Biographies

Xueqing Xu, York University

Xueqing Xu, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at York University. Her research centres on Chinese Canadian diasporic literature and media, women’s studies, and modern Chinese literature. She has co-edited five books, and published, in both Chinese and English, more than forty articles and chapters on Chinese Canadian diasporic literature and media, modern Chinese literature, and women writers. 

Hua Laura Wu, Huron University College

Hua Laura Wu studied comparative literature and Chinese literature at the Centre for Comparative Literature and the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, where she got her PhD degree. She is now professor emerita at Huron University College in London, Ontario. Her current research interest is the Chinese diaspora in Canada and Chinese Canadian literature. 


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Published

2021-05-05

Issue

No. 209: Spring 2021

Section

Articles