Newspapers (Chinese language)

From the late 19th through to the mid-20th century a number of Chinese language newspapers were published in Sydney and Melbourne and distributed around Australia.

"Newspapers were not merely ‘reflections’ of Chinese community spirit, as some have suggested, but were active agents in the shaping of urban elites and community leadership for the Chinese community from the late 19th century."

"The Chinese Advertiser (later English and Chinese Advertiser , 英唐招帖 Ying­ tangzhaotie ), established on the Victorian goldfields in the 1850s, was the earliest bilingual Chinese– English language newspaper in Australia. It was short-lived. 2 On 20 September 1883, one Hong Kong newspaper, the Daily Press ( 孖刺西報 Zilaxibao ), remarked that Chinese merchants in Australia had attempted to publish a bilingual newspaper in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. The first Chinese-language newspaper with a national Australian circulation, the Chinese Australian Herald ( 廣益華報 Guangyi huabao , 1894– 1923, hereafter CAH ) was launched in Sydney in 1894. The second, the Tung Wah News ( 東華新報 Donghua xinbao , 1898– 1902, hereafter TWN ) commenced publication in 1898, also in Sydney and continued as the Tung Wah Times ( 東華報 Donghuabao , 1902– 1936, hereafter TWT ). The third was Chinese Republic News ( 民國報 Minguo bao , 1913– 1937). In Melbourne, the first comparable newspaper to appear, the Chinese Times ( 愛國報 Aiguobao , 1902– 1905, 警東新報 Jingdongxinbao , 1905– 1914, 平報 Pingbao , 1917, 民報 Minbao , 1919– 1922, hereafter CT ), later moved to Sydney where it continued to be published until 1949."

Kuo, Mei-Fen. Making Chinese Australia : Urban Elites, Newspapers and the Formation of Chinese-Australian Identity, 1892–1912, Monash University Publishing, 2013 , pp.5-6.