Ng Poon Chew (, March 14, 1866 – March 13, 1931) was an author, publisher, and advocate for

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

. He published the first Chinese-language daily newspaper to be printed outside of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

.Franklin Ng,
Ng Poon Chew
" in pp. 56-59 Born in the

Toisan Taishan (), alternately romanized in Cantonese as Toishan or Toisan, in local dialect as Hoisan, and formerly known as Xinning or Sunning (), is a county-level city in the southwest of Guangdong province, China. It is administered as part ...

district of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

province in Southern China, Ng moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1881, where he first worked as a domestic servant on a ranch. He became a student of U.S. culture, studying English, adopting Western dress, and converting to Christianity. He joined the seminarySFgenealogy
SFgenealogy.org and in 1892 became the first Chinese

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Minister on the American West Coast.Ng Poon Chew Biographical Notes
inn-california.com He was assigned to a ministry in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, but after a fire destroyed his mission, he decided to focus his efforts on establishing a Chinese-language newspaper instead. After a year of publishing his L.A.-based weekly, ''Hua Mei Sun Bo'', Ng moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he wrote the first Chinese-language daily outside of China: ''Chung Sai Yat Pao''.Guide to the Chung Sai Yat Po Newspaper Collection
Online Archive of California (oac.cdlib.org) His newspaper generally promoted an

assimilationist Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially. The different types of cultural assi ...

viewpoint, encouraging Chinese American readers to adapt to North American values.''Being Chinese'' book review
historycooperative.org Ng traveled the country speaking out against anti-Chinese legislation,A Historian's Reflections on Chinese American Life in San Francisco
calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu such as the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...

. He also published books''A Statement for Non-Exclusion''
books.google.com and pamphlets''The Treatment of the Exempt Classes of Chinese in the United States''
calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu opposing discrimination against Chinese Americans. Ng was adviser to the Chinese consulate general in San Francisco from 1906 to 1913 and vice-consul for China from 1913 until 1931.Vice-consul
/ref> He was called "an Oriental Mark Twain".Promotional Flyer
sdrcdata.lib.uiowa.edu/libsdrc

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Poon Chew 1866 births 1931 deaths Chinese Christians Converts to Christianity Chinese emigrants to the United States American Presbyterian ministers American male journalists American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers People from Taishan, Guangdong Journalists from California Religious leaders from California 20th-century Presbyterian ministers 20th-century American clergy

See also

Notes