The ''Chinese Commercial News'' (, lit. "Philippine Commercial News"), colloquially called the ''Commercial News'' or ''Siong Po'' (, ''Commercial News'' in

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...

), is a daily

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

written in the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

. Although it is not the Philippines' first Chinese-language newspaper, it is the Philippines' oldest existing Chinese-language newspaper, and the country's third-oldest existing newspaper overall.

History

The ''Chinese Commercial News'' was founded in October 1919 as the ''Huachiao Commercial News'' (), a monthly newsletter for the Manila Chinese Chamber of Commerce, then headed by Dee Cheng Chuan, with Yu Yi Tung (于以同) as the newspaper's first editor. The newspaper was founded because in the aftermath of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the Philippines, then a colony of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, experienced rapid economic growth, which precipitated the need for a newspaper which would monitor the country's latest business developments for the large

Chinese Filipino Chinese Filipinos; tl, Tsinoy, / Tsinong Pilipino, ; Hokkien in the Philippines, Philippine Hokkien , Mandarin Chinese in the Philippines, Mandarin (also known as Filipino Chinese in the Philippines) are Filipinos of Chinese descent, mo ...

merchant class. Its first issue was published on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

, December 25, 1919. In February 1922, the last monthly newsletter was published, and the ''Commercial News'' became a daily newspaper two months later, when ownership of the newspaper was transferred to the newly established Chinese Commercial News Publishing Company (華僑商報出版公司), established by Go Ki Hoc (吳紀霍). Its initial print run consisted of two pages and a circulation of one thousand copies, with foreign and local news translated from local

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

newspapers. In 1927, the ''Commercial News'' became the first Chinese newspaper to print a pictorial, and it began printing a weekly magazine in 1933. Production of the newspaper was interrupted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

: refusing to publish the ''Commercial News'' as a propaganda organ for the Japanese, Yu Yi Tung was executed and the newspaper shut down. The newspaper, however, restarted publication on April 15, 1945, despite the lack of resources, by Yu Yi Tung's children: Quintin Yu Tiong Seng (于長城), Rizal Yu Tiong Keng (于長庚), Helen Yu Un Hui (于茵慧) and Yu Tiong Nay (于長籟), and continued publishing until the issuance of

Proclamation № 1081 Proclamation No. 1081 was the document which contained formal proclamation of martial law in the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos, as announced to the public on September 23, 1972. The proclamation marked the beginning of a 14-year p ...

on September 21, 1972, which placed the Philippines under

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Martia ...

and all media outlets, including the ''Commercial News'', were shut down by the regime of

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

. The Yuyitung family restarted publication of the newspaper after the

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...

on June 12, 1986: the only pre-martial law Chinese-language newspaper to do so. The ''Commercial News'' launched its website in 1995, becoming one of the first Chinese newspapers to be available on the Internet.

Editorial policy

The editorial policy of the ''Chinese Commercial News'' revolves around a ten-point mission of the newspaper as elaborated upon by Yu Yi Tung in 1922: *Coordinate Chinese organizations *Expand overseas business *Develop business investments in China *Disseminate business knowledge *Report business news *Improve relationship with the local community *Eliminate the class difference between capital and labor *Provide leadership for the Chinese community *Encourage the improvement of education for the local Chinese *Support political reforms in China In the 1960s, the ''Commercial News'' advocated for the assimilation of Chinese Filipinos into the wider Filipino community and Philippine recognition of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. This angered Chinese Filipinos sympathetic to Taiwan, who viewed residence in the Philippines and the acquisition of Filipino citizenship as a convenience while awaiting return to mainland China. This advocacy led to the clandestine arrest of both Quintin and Rizal Yuyitung and their deportation to Taiwan in 1970 by the anti-communist Marcos government. Ironically, Marcos followed through on the advocacy of the ''Commercial News'', even extending diplomatic recognition to the PRC in 1975.

References

External links

''Chinese Commercial News'' website
{{Metro Manila Newspapers National newspapers published in the Philippines Newspapers published in Metro Manila Chinese-language newspapers (Traditional Chinese) Companies based in Manila Daily newspapers published in the Philippines