Pro-China Paper Closes : Boycott Over Stand on Beijing Protests Drains Ad Income

One of the largest Chinese-language newspapers in the United States shut down this week because of advertising losses its publisher attributed to a passionate boycott in Los Angeles and elsewhere against its pro-Beijing editorials.

In a terse, front-page announcement in Monday’s issue, executives of the Centre Daily News told readers the paper had suffered severe financial losses due to an organized effort to undercut its advertising sales.

“We were losing $300,000 a month nationwide,” Stephen Fu, 37, the paper’s publisher and editor said from its Monterey Park office. “The main thing is that after the June 4 Tian An Men incident, because our paper supported Beijing’s conservative faction, that drew opposition from the Chinese community.”

The paper’s offices in Monterey Park, Boston, New York, San Francisco and Chicago all closed Saturday, Fu said.

Newspapers Trampled

In Los Angeles, the depth of the local Chinese community’s fury at the Centre Daily News was evident as early as June, when protesters outside the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles trampled copies of the newspaper.

“Da Dao Zhong Bao!” (Down with the Centre Daily News!) they shouted, venting their anger against a newspaper whose editorials supported hard-line Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. Others urged readers and advertisers to boycott the paper.

The paper, which had averaged 50 pages a day at its height, was forced to run as few as 32 pages in recent months, Fu said. The paper also had to run some ads free just to fill space, he said.

Fu declined to reveal the paper’s circulation, and an industry directory, Gale Directory of Publications, indicates that the Centre Daily News did not report its circulation.

However, a former editor at the paper, widely considered to be the second-largest of about six Chinese-language dailies nationwide, said the Centre Daily News’ circulation was at 50,000 at its best and had recently plummeted to less than 20,000.

Started in New York

Fu said he does not know when the Centre Daily News, which he acknowledged has had financial troubles for several years, may be revived. Fu heads the Monterey Park office while Ya-tang Fu, his older brother and president of the company, is based in New York. Their father, Chau-chu Fu, owns the paper, which started in New York in 1982 and opened its Monterey Park office in 1984.

Many in the Chinese newspaper industry said they were not surprised by the closure because of the paper’s past financial troubles and the Chinese-American community’s intense resentment of the paper’s political stance.

“It was going to happen sooner or later,” said Cao Changqing, editor of the Press Freedom Herald, a pro-democracy Chinese-language paper founded in Alhambra after the Beijing crackdown.

Cao described Centre Daily News editorials as “absurd” and said he hopes the paper has learned that “readers are the people they must serve, not a government or a party.”

Many in the Chinese community in Southern California viewed the closure as an important gain for pro-democracy supporters who have lost the political battle in their homeland.

“I was just happy they are closed,” said T. C. Chen, of Ontario. “It’s a great victory for the pro-democracy movement. The community showed its solidarity.”

A former Centre Daily News reporter in Monterey Park said Thursday that readers were calling the newsroom to say they were elated to hear the paper was shutting down.

But even some critics of the Beijing government said they were sorry the Chinese newspaper community has lost a competing voice.

“In my opinion, the closure is a pity because I like to read different points of view,” said San Gabriel resident Wang Hongkai.

Perils of Partisanship

The fate of the Centre Daily News highlights the perils of political partisanship in the highly competitive Chinese newspaper industry. It is a business in which headlines, often opinionated and emotional, reflect the political bent of the newspapers.

The demise of the Centre Daily News does not mark the first time a Chinese-language newspaper has fallen victim to political sentiment.

In 1984, the China Times closed its San Gabriel office, citing the paper’s failure to make a profit, said Alan Yi, president of the Chinese Press Assn. of Southern California. But others said the paper closed because it lost its Taiwan-based financial support after giving Chinese athletes favorable coverage at the Los Angeles Olympics.

In New York, the Hua Qiao Daily, which received its financial support from the Chinese government, was forced to close July 31 after its stories criticized the handling of the Tian An Men Square demonstrations.

Resignation Announced

The Centre Daily News had tried earlier this year to mitigate the damage brought on by the boycott. In the July 5 issue, owner Chau-chu Fu announced that he was resigning as chairman of the board and managing editor.

But even then, Chau-chu Fu insisted that he was right. “If Beijing and overseas protesters had followed my warnings and pleadings, I dare say that there would not have been the bloody incident in Beijing.”

Even the paper’s staff had rebelled. After a May editorial supporting the use of military force against Beijing protesters, half the Centre Daily News New York staff resigned in protest.

Some Chinese news sources were so incensed by the paper’s editorials that they rebuffed reporters, said Min Chen, former executive editor.

“We are the tail of the dog,” Chen said, adding that staff members had little control over the editorials.

At times, Chen said, the Centre Daily News’ local reports written out of Monterey Park would contradict front-page articles and editorials composed in New York.