# The China Mail

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English-language newspaper in Hong Kong (1845–1974)

Not to be confused with [Chinese Mail](/source/Chinese_Mail).

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***The China Mail*** ([Chinese](/source/Traditional_Chinese_characters): 德臣西報, also 中國郵報 and 德臣報) was an [English-language](/source/English_language) [newspaper](/source/Newspaper) published in [Hong Kong](/source/Hong_Kong) from 1845 to 1974, making it the longest-lived of any Hong Kong newspaper. The head office was in [Wellington Street](/source/Wellington_Street%2C_Hong_Kong).[1]

## History

The China Mail was created as a weekly by Andrew Shortrede in 1845. In 1858, Andrew Dixson became the owner of the publication, followed by James Kemp in 1863, Nicholas B. Denny in 1866, Charles A. Saint in 1867 (the year the newspapers became a daily), George Murray Bain in 1872, and by China Mail Co. in 1906.[2]

From 1845 to 1853, and then from 1855 to 1858, the China Mail was the exclusive publisher of the government gazette. Early versions of the journal published mainly advertising and government notices, along with featured articles. The China Mail had a pro-government, pro-China, and pro-United States stand. During [John Pope Hennessy](/source/John_Pope_Hennessy)'s governorship of Hongkong, the China Mail adopted a hostile editorial line against him.[2]

The publication of The China Mail was suspended from October 1941 to August 1945.[3]

In October 1969, the front page of the China Mail covered the prediction of a local astrologer claiming that [Mao Zedong](/source/Mao_Zedong) may die between November 11 and December 7.[4]

When the closure was announced, the [Hong Kong Journalists Association](/source/Hong_Kong_Journalists_Association), headed by Jack Spackman, organised a sit-in at the *China Mail*'s offices to protest the number of journalists being [sacked](/source/Dismissal_(employment)), some after many years' service, with no [compensation](/source/Unemployment_benefits). This was the first protest of its kind in Hong Kong to protect the [rights of workers](/source/Rights_of_workers). Most of the European journalists and some of the local Chinese journalists were moved to the *[South China Morning Post](/source/South_China_Morning_Post)* (including Mail editor Alfred Cunningham), which owned 80% of the *China Mail*, or managed to obtain employment on other publications.[5]

At the time of its closure the acting editor was David Smith, who had joined the paper in 1971 as the sports editor.

## Description

The China mail Group oversaw the publication of 10 newspapers : The China Mail (1845-1911), Overland China Mail (1848-1909), Dixson's Hongkong Gazette (1850), Dixson's Hongkong Recorder (1850-1859), Hongkong Recorder (1859), Hongkong Shipping List (1855-1857), Hongkong Shipping List and Commercial Intelligencer (1857-1862), Evening Mail and Hongkong Shipping List (1862), Evening Mail (1863-1867), Chin-ship pien-lu (1864), Chung-wai hsin-wen ch'i-jih pao (1871-1872).[2]

## See also

- [List of newspapers in Hong Kong](/source/List_of_newspapers_in_Hong_Kong)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [1928 View down Wellington Street](http://gwulo.com/node/16393), Gwulo

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-umedumo_guide_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-umedumo_guide_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-umedumo_guide_2-2) Frank H. H. King, Prescott Clarke, [A research guide to China-Coast Newspapers](https://library.um.edu.mo/ebooks/b17839762.pdf), *Um.edu.mo*, 1965

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [The China mail](https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=sn%2094048038&searchType=1&permalink=y), *Loc.gov*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Other Scenes, Volume 3, issue 15, 10/15/1969](https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=BHIDECFC19691015.1.21&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1), *Revealdigital.org*, 10 October 1969

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Maria Spackman, [After the siege – the China Mail battle for hearts and minds](https://mariaspackman.com/2014/11/02/after-the-siege-the-china-mail-battle-for-hearts-and-minds/), *Mariaspackman.com*, 2 November 2014

## External links

- [*The China Mail*](https://archive.org/details/china-mail?sort=-date) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

v t e Newspapers and news websites in Hong Kong English Printed newspapers Career Times China Daily Hong Kong Edition Daily Press Eastern Express Hongkong Telegraph International Herald Tribune South China Morning Post Inkstone News The Sunday Morning Post The China Mail The Standard The Sunday Standard The Wall Street Journal Asia The SUN Sunday Examiner News websites Asia Times Hong Kong Free Press Chinese Printed newspapers AM730 Apple Daily Sharp Daily Hong Kong Commercial Daily Chinese Serial Hong Kong Economic Journal Hong Kong Economic Times Sky Post Metro Daily Ming Pao Oriental Daily News The Sun Sing Pao Daily News Sing Tao Daily Headline Daily Ta Kung Pao New Evening Post The Epoch Times The Kung Sheung Daily News Tin Tin Daily News Wah Kiu Yat Po Wen Wei Po Kung Kao Po Christian Weekly News websites Citizen News HK01 Hong Kong Inmedia Orange News Passion Times ReNews Stand News Vjmedia Misc Dot Dot News FactWire Union of Catholic Asian News Hong Kong Post Filipino Globe Suara Note: This list is not complete.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The China Mail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Mail) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Mail?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.