Tung Wah Newspaper (Tung Wah News/Tung Wah Times)

Tung Wah Times

Image Courtesy of: Howard Wilson

The Tung Wah News or Dong Hua Xin Bao (East China News) was established in Sydney on 29 June 1898 in response to the Sino-Japanese war.  It was funded through shares held mostly by Chinese merchants.  It also was an official newspaper of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce of New South Wales.  One of the biggest shareholders was Thomas Yee Hing (or Liu Ru Xing) of On Cheong and Co., who controlled the management of the paper.  Initially, the paper did not have a political agenda but after the reform movement in China collapsed in 1898, it became committed to the monarchist cause of Kang Yu-wei and Liang Qichao.  It also defended conservatives and promoted the development of the New South Wales Chinese Empire Reform Association.

The Tung Wah News was involved in a court case in 1901 which led to its bankruptcy and closure in 1902.  It changed its name to the Tung Wah Times and began republishing shortly afterwards.  In the same year, Tang Caizhi, an editor from China recommended by Liang Qichao, became an editor of this newspaper.  The newspaper strongly supported the Chinese Empire Reform Association and Confucianism.  During 1909-1910, there was a debate between the Tung Wah Times and the Chinese Times due to their different political ideologies.  Generally, the Tung Wah Times supported the constitutional movement in China rather than the republican movement.  It therefore put the Tung Wah Times into conflict with the Chinese republican newspapers and nationalists.