''The China Mail'' ( zh, t=德臣西報, also and ) was an English-language

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 p ...

published in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

from 1845 to 1974, making it the longest-lived of any Hong Kong newspaper. The head office was in Wellington Street.

History

The China Mail was created as a weekly by Andrew Shortrede in 1845. In 1858, Andrew Dixson became the owner of the publication, followed by James Kemp in 1863, Nicholas B. Denny in 1866, Charles A. Saint in 1867 (the year the newspapers became a daily), George Murray Bain in 1872, and by China Mail Co. in 1906.Frank H. H. King, Prescott Clarke
A research guide to China-Coast Newspapers
''Um.edu.mo'', 1965 From 1845 to 1853, and then from 1855 to 1858, the China Mail was the exclusive publisher of the government gazette. Early versions of the journal published mainly advertising and government notices, along with featured articles. The China Mail had a pro-government, pro-China, and pro-United States stand. During

John Pope Hennessy Sir John Pope Hennessy (; 8 August 1834 – 7 October 1891), was an Irish and British politician and colonial administrator who served as the eighth Governor of Hong Kong and the fifteenth Governor of Mauritius. Early life John Pope Henness ...

's governorship of Hongkong, the China Mail adopted a hostile editorial line against him. The publication of The China Mail was suspended from October 1941 to August 1945. In October 1969, the front page of the China Mail covered the prediction of a local astrologer claiming that

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

may die between November 11 and December 7. When the closure was announced, the

Hong Kong Journalists Association The Hong Kong Journalists Association ( Chinese: 香港記者協會) is a Hong Kong association that represents journalists in Hong Kong. Established in 1968, the association acts as a trade union for journalists by seeking to improve work ...

, headed by Jack Spackman, organised a sit-in at the ''China Mail'' offices to protest the number of journalists being sacked, some after many years' service, with no compensation. This was the first protest of its kind in Hong Kong to protect the rights of workers. Most of the European journalists and some of the local Chinese journalists were moved to the '' South China Morning Post'' (including Mail editor Alfred Cunningham), which owned 80% of the ''China Mail'', or managed to obtain employment on other publications.Maria Spackman
After the siege – the China Mail battle for hearts and minds
''Mariaspackman.com'', 2 November 2014 At the time of its closure the acting editor was David Smith, who had joined the paper in 1971 as the sports editor.

Description

The China mail Group oversaw the publication of 10 newspapers : The China Mail (1845-1911), Overland China Mail (1848-1909), Dixson's Hongkong Gazette (1850), Dixson's Hongkong Recorder (1850-1859), Hongkong Recorder (1859), Hongkong Shipping List (1855-1857), Hongkong Shipping List and Commercial Intelligencer (1857-1862), Evening Mail and Hongkong Shipping List (1862), Evening Mail (1863-1867), Chin-ship pien-lu (1864), Chung-wai hsin-wen ch'i-jih pao (1871-1872).

References

Defunct newspapers published in Hong Kong English-language newspapers published in Hong Kong {{HongKong-newspaper-stub

History

Description

See also

References