Ng Poon Chew - Oakland

Ng Poon Chew ²Ng Poon Chew (March 14, 1866 - March 13, 1931) was a Chinese Presbyterian minister and was one of the founders of the first Chinese language daily newspaper in the US, Chung Sai Yat Po. As managing editor, he used the newspaper and other forums to speak out for Chinese Americans.

"A frequent national speaker in eloquent English, he was called the 'Chinese Mark Twain,' for his quick-witted humor." ¹ He travelled the country speaking out against anti-Chinese legislation like the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Ng was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of editor John P. Irish.

Early Life

Ng was born in Guangdong province, China in 1866. He moved to California in 1881, where he first worked as a domestic servant on a ranch. He became a student of US culture, studying English, adopting Western-style dress, and converting to Christianity. He went to seminary and in 1892 became the first Chinese Presbyterian Minister on the West Coast.

He was assigned to a ministry in Los Angeles, but after a fire destroyed his mission, he decided to focus his efforts on establishing a Chinese language newspaper instead. He published the weekly Hua Mei Sun Bo in Los Angeles for a year before moving to San Francisco in 1900. He changed the name to Chung Sai Yat Po and changed it to a daily paper.

Ng temporarily moved the newspaper to Oakland following the 1906 earthquake, and moved the paper back to San Francisco in 1907.