Chung Sai Yat Po Newspaper

Chung Sai Yat Po was a Chinese American newspaper that was first published in San Francisco in February 1900. It became the most important and popular newspaper that the Chinese community depended on to get updates on the current news surrounding them and held the record as the oldest newspaper; continued to be published until 1951. Every single issue of the Chung Sai Yat Po newspaper survived and was later digitized to preserve the messages that it intended to communicate with the people. Because the newspaper was published in Chinese-language (transliterated from Cantonese), it would reach the Chinese crowd more efficiently and allowed more people to gain access to the information. Within the years that it was published, Chung Sai Yat Po recorded the distinct contrasting variations of Chinese immigration to the United States; from the hardships and obstacles they faced, to the prosperity they achieved. From keeping up with the articles in Chung Sai Yat Po, Chinese Americans became more and more aware of how they were being treated and how to unite together to defend their traditions and culture. Not only did the newspaper inform Chinese Americans about what was going on in the United States, Chung Sai Yat Po also published the current affairs that citizens in China were experiencing. They often gave advice in their articles that urged and inspired Chinese Americans to take advantage of the fact that they were able to immigrate into America and find work to start a better life. It encouraged the Chinese living in America to try and find business opportunities that could contribute to the economic expansion back in China and to form a transpacific business association.



I respect the Chung Sai Yat Po newspaper for not only raising awareness to Chinese Americans about what other immigrants were dealing with in their nation, but also for keeping them connected to the issues that the rest of their people in China were facing. It reminds them that just because they left China, they can’t escape where they came from because their roots and culture stay with them. It’s like a dual identity because while the Chinese Americans are living in the United States and assimilating, they can also keep their roots by being attached to their homeland. Also, the Chung Sai Yat Po newspaper was all about advocating religious freedom and humantarian morals, so more power to them for that :)