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First Chinese newspaper

The first Chinese daily in Singapore and the Nanyang was the Lat Pau (Le Bao), started on 10 December 1881 by See Ewe Lay. The Lat Pau continued for 52 years before folding in March 1932, making it the longest running pre-war Chinese daily.

History
The Lat Pau gained its name from the Hokkien and Cantonese reference of Singapore, Se-lat-po. The Malays in Malacca would often point to Singapore as the "straits" or selat. Thus, these immigrant Chinese came to know Singapore as Se-lat-po. Literally translated, Lat Pau thus meant "Straits Newspaper".

See Ewe Lay, a wealthy Straits Chinese, was probably motivated by patriotism rather than profitability when setting up the papers. It was his recruitment of Yeh Chi-Yun, a journalist in Hong Kong, that helped establish the Lat Pau. Whilst See managed the business side of the papers, Yeh developed its literary strength, heading the paper's editorial for four decades. Even so, under Yeh's leadership, the paper continued and even began to show a profit after See's death in 1906. Yeh added the Lat Pau Supplement in 1906 and expanded the size and length of the paper in 1910. However, after Yeh's death in 1921, the daily failed to compete with other newly-established Chinese newspapers such as the Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh, particularly as there was no competent writer-cum-editor after Yeh. The poorly-staffed Lat Pau, therefore, succumbed to rivalry and folded in March 1932.

Description
The Lat Pau carried general news items, both local and foreign. The single sheet paper modelled itself after Chinese newspapers rather than the Western press save for its leading article, a feature inspired more by the Western press than the Chinese. Its source of news ranged from reproductions of feature articles from the newspapers in Hong Kong, Shanghai and other major cities of China, and translations from the local English press to its own reports. It was distributed as a morning paper until 1898 when it became an afternoon paper. The Lat Pau was not available on Sundays, public holidays, almost every significant Chinese festival day and for 15 days at the end of the year. Copies of the initial issues are not available. The earliest versions available are microfilm copies dated 19 August 1887 and are found at the Chinese Library of the National University of Singapore.

Cost
The initial price of the daily was five cents or S$1 a month. Subscriptions included the option of having the paper posted to the subscriber. However, circulation rates did not seem to go beyond 600, due partly to the low literacy amongst the immigrant Chinese. Despite this, the paper was able to survive through other sources of revenue including advertisements, and serving as both bookseller and printing press.



Author
Bonny Muliani Tan



References 
Chen, M. H. (1967). The early Chinese newspapers of Singapore, 1881-1912 (pp. 24-53). Singapore: University of Malaya Press.
(Call no.: RSING 079.5702 CHE)

Tan, Y. S. (1994). The development of Singapore's modern media industry (pp. 1, 8-9). Singapore: Times Academic Press.
(Call no.: RSING 338.4730223 TAN)

Lee, C. S. (2000, January). Lat Pau is online. LINUS. Retrieved June 24, 2003, from  www.lib.nus.edu.sg/linus/00jan/latpau.html


Further Readings
Lim, J. K. (Ed.). (1993). Our 70 years 1923-1993: History of leading Chinese newspaper in Singapore. Singapore: Chinese Newspaper Division, Singapore Press Holdings.
(Call no.: RSING 079.5957 OUR)

National University of Singapore Library. (2000, September 7). Lat Pau. Retrieved June 24, 2003, from www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lebao/index.html 

The information in this article is valid as at 1997 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Arts>>Literature>>Chinese Literature
Chinese newspapers--Singapore
Business, finance and industry>>Industry>>Communication and media



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