Is this the end for India’s last Chinese-language newspaper? Editor’s death leaves questions over Seong Pow’s future
- The Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, or Seong Pow, has been published in Kolkata since 1969 and was once in much demand by the city’s Chinese population
- But with the pandemic forcing printing to stop in March, and the elderly editor’s death in July, it is unclear whether another edition will be seen
Before India went into coronavirus-enforced lockdown in March, each day would begin early for Kuo-tsai Chang, editor of the country’s last Chinese-language newspaper.
As he had done almost every working day for more than 30 years, the former tanner cycled to his Kolkata office, ensuring he reached his newsroom before 8am. His first task, like many an editor, was to scan through the important news stories of the day. Next, he would busy himself readying the next edition of the Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, or Seong Pow, a more straightforward task in 2020 than it had been in the 1980s.
Back then, the four-page journal was written completely by hand. A team of four or five – including assistants, an accountant and translator – published 2,000 copies daily, to cater to Kolkata’s Chinese population. A Chinese desktop publishing machine did away with the need for handwritten pages in 1989 and, in 1997, the newspaper acquired a printing press.
Until March, the paper was running smoothly, even though its subscriber base was dwindling. However, the pandemic hit and, for the first time, Seong Pow’s press stopped, the elderly editor deeming it unwise to travel into work while the coronavirus was on the loose.
Today, the door to the newspaper’s office – within which are two tables, two computers, two landline phones, two cupboards, a few chairs, a printer and a rack full of brittle old newspapers – is locked shut and the Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association building in which it can be found is deserted.
