HONG KONG, Jan. 11 -- One of Hong Kong's oldest and most influential Chinese-language newspapers announced late Wednesday it would cease publication with Thursday's newspaper. The Wah Kiu Yat Po, or Overseas Chinese Daily News, was closed for financial reasons after unsuccessful bids at trying to find a new buyer, officials with the publishing company, the Overseas Chinese Daily News Ltd., said. The newspaper began publishing more than a century ago under a different name, but renamed itself in honor of the 'wah kiu,' or Chinese diaspora, 70 years ago, said Heung Shu Fai, managing director of the company. It had been the oldest existing Chinese language newspaper in Hong Kong and reported a daily readership of about 54,000 at the time of its closing. London-appointed Gov. Chris Patten responded to the news of the paper's closure by saying he felt 'very sad.' 'The paper was renowned for its integrity and concern for community values and it will be missed by the many thousands of people who turn to it each day for their news and views of life in Hong Kong,' Patten said. Regarded as a politically-independent newspaper, the Wah Kiu Yat Po re-packaged itself a bit to appeal more to the colony's huge business sector when it came under new management last year, Heung said. Wah Kiu Yat Po also was popular with educators and was used as a tool in many of Hong Kong's schools, he said. The newspaper employed about 306 people, about 200 of whom were journalists, Heung said, noting that compensation packages were being provided.
The new owners also had invested in new technology for the offices, and were able to boost circulation by as much as 60 percent this year, local media reported. However, that apparently wasn't enough to keep the paper going. 'I feel sorry about it and I also feel sad because I read this newspaper when I was a high school kid,' Heung said. 'But as a former banker, and as an investor, I know what the economic realities were.' Until 1991, the newspaper was published by the Shum family, which took control of it in 1925 when it was called the Chinese General Merchants Daily. In late 1991, the newspaper was bought by the South China Morning Post, one of the colony's three English-language newspapers. The Post, which once employed the founder of the Wah Kiu Yat Po, sold it again in January 1994.
