A Historical Perspective of Singapore’s Changing Role in Early Printing in the Chinese Language, 1825–1902

By Lee Ching Seng

Introduction

From its founding in 1819, modern Singapore has been a multiracial and multilingual society. The earliest materials printed in Singapore were in languages such as English, Siamese, Malay, Arabic and Chinese. This study focuses on early printing in the Chinese language, Singapore’s role in this development and the impact it made on the Chinese language and Chinese communities.

This essay starts with a survey of what was published during the 19th century, followed by a review of what has been studied so far. Based on these, I examine the changing role of Singapore as a society that enabled early printing in the Chinese language to take shape, and how this early availability of printing in the Chinese language impacted the multiracial and multicultural society.

What Was Published: Output From Early Printing in the Chinese Language

Due to historical and environmental factors, Singapore’s early efforts in Chinese-language printing were not well preserved. Despite the introduction of The Book Registration Ordinance, 1886, the situation did not improve, as observed by Cecil Byrd in 1970 when he visited Singapore. He conducted a survey of early printing in the Straits Settlements, which was a preliminary exploration of the nascent print industries in the three settlements.¹ Since then, a lot of effort – by local and international academics, librarians and curators – has been put into compiling a set of documentation. They have worked to source for samples, including unrecorded extant titles, so that we now have a better picture of the total output of such prints.

This study will attempt to compile a list of known titles held by libraries and archives, listed in special bibliographies and catalogues, as well as cited by researchers in their dissertations, theses, papers and articles. The listing will also be supplemented by searching the Online Public Access Catalogues (OPA C) of the National Library Board (NL B), National University of Singapore Libraries (NUS Libraries), British Library (BL) and other libraries specialising in East and Southeast Asian studies. The resultant listings have been appended as: Appendix I: A chronology of printing in the Chinese language, 1825–1902; and Appendix II: A chronology of printing in romanised Malay and English produced by Straits Chinese, 1889–1902.

A total of 143 uniform titles were identified as samples of early printing in the Chinese language, as well as those in romanised Malay and English produced by the Straits Chinese during the period from 1825 to 1902. The inclusion of the latter category of printing is due to the fact that they were works translated from Chinese classics, or written by Chinese and printed or published by the Chinese press. Together, these constitute the documentary heritage of the Chinese community in Singapore.

What Has Been Studied: Literature Review

Studies of early printing efforts in Singapore in the Chinese language started with Chinese newspapers that emerged only in the second half of the 19th century. As early as 1927, China-based journalist Ge Gongzhen (戈公振) mentioned in his three-volume work History of Chinese Newspaper Press (《中国报学史》) that the significance of publications such as Malacca’s first Chinese periodical, Chinese Monthly Magazine (《察世俗每月统记传》), and Singapore’s first Chinese-language magazine, East-West Magazine (《东西洋考每 月统记传》), was their contributions to the development of the modern Chinese press in China.²

Ge also made a special trip to London to read the two magazines and subsequently wrote an article about them.³ His initial attempt to chronicle Chinese-language printing may have prompted the first academic study of early Chinese newspapers by Singaporean Chen Mong Hock. Her MA thesis, The Early Chinese Newspapers of Singapore, 1881–1912 (Singapore: University of Malayan Press, 1967), remains one of the most authoritative studies on this subject to this day. Following Chen, a few local and foreign academics, including He Shumin (何舒敏, 1977),⁴ David Chng (莊钦永, 1982),⁵ Wong Hong Ting (王慷鼎, 1982),⁶ Wu Qing Tang (吴庆棠, 1997),⁷ and Zhuo Nan Sheng (卓南生, 1998),⁸ also added new findings to these studies.

During the first half of the 19th century, the printing and publishing scene in Singapore was very active. Soon after Sir Stamford Raffles had founded Singapore and established it as a modern and free entrepôt centre linking Southeast Asia to the rest of the world, Protestant missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS ) and American Board of Commissioners Foreign Mission (ABCFM) made Singapore a printing centre for both religious tracts and secular material during the same period. A significant number of Chinese-language prints that made a great impact in the region, as well as in China, were produced during this period.

However, as LMS and ABCFM were not based in Singapore, their archives and library collections were not easily accessible for consultation, and the study of the missionary press and their printing and publishing activities during this period inevitably became difficult to achieve.

As such, it is unsurprising that the study of the missionary press and its printing activities was not feasible until 1960, when ABCFM donated their library materials to Harvard University, and their archives to the Houghton Rare Book Library in the U.S.⁹ Since then, John King Fairbank, Susan Barnett and the Harvard University group have embarked on a series of studies into the Protestant missionaries’ legacy concerning the spread of Christianity and their role in China’s modernisation.¹⁰ Cross-cultural communications by the western Protestants and their Chinese respondents subsequently became the main subject of study.

In 1985, the Harvard group published an inaugural selection of papers from a conference held at Harvard University in August 1978. The volume, entitled Christianity in China: Early Protestant Missionary Writings, explored what the Protestant pioneers of the 19th century wrote in Chinese for their target audiences.¹¹

Following the precedence of ABCFM, LMS donated their archives and collections to the School of Oriental & African Studies Library at the University of London in 1973.¹² Studies, such as the one on the Anglo- Chinese College of Malacca by Brian Harrison (1979),¹³ the London Missionary Society by Leona O’Sullivan (1984),¹⁴ and The Printing Presses of the London Missionary Society Among the Chinese by Ching Su (1996), as well as a series of books on LMS and early printing in Malacca, Singapore and in China were made possible by this donation.¹⁵

In China, studies on early printing in the Chinese language focused mostly on the missionary-driven Chinese press, the two early Chinese magazines (Malacca’s first Chinese periodical Chinese Monthly Magazine and Singapore’s first Chinese-language magazine East-West Magazine) and cross-cultural communication between East and West. These studies were conducted by two important groups: one at Zhejiang University, led by Huang Shijian (黄时鉴), and another at Fudan University, led by Zhou Zhen He (周振鹤) and Zou Zhen Huan (邹振环).¹⁶ They published a series of reprints of primary sources, research articles and monographs featuring the topics mentioned earlier.

In 2006, David Chng completed his PhD dissertation and presented a comprehensive study on Chinese printing and publishing by LMS and ABCFM in the first half of the 19th century in Malacca and Singapore. His work was inspired by the pioneer Protestants who had been stationed in Southeast Asia and China in the years before the First Opium War (1839–1842). The coverage of topics such as the political conflict between the Qing and British governments that led the two missionary societies to set up Chinese printing presses in the Malayan peninsula, as well as the workings of both presses (financial sources, printing processes, number of titles published, print runs, etc.) gave context to the origins of the publications.

Chng’s thesis also examined the distribution network of publications, with an in-depth analysis of the impact these publications had on the Chinese scholars who read them. His thesis also examined the linguistic contributions of the missionaries to the modern Chinese lexicon, and the significance of these publications in the history of thought in modern China. As such, Chng’s work covers almost all the important findings by earlier researchers in this field (as of 2006) and provides more concrete source evidence to prove his points.

Besides his dissertation, Chng also published a series of papers on missionary novels in the Chinese language,¹⁷ a relatively new discipline of study (started by Patrick Hanan (2000)¹⁸ of Harvard University) in relation to early Protestant missionary writing.

Chen Song-Chuan, formerly an assistant professor of history at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, recently produced a study exploring the efforts and impact of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China (SDK , 1834–1839), the publisher for the majority of secular material printed by the American Mission Press based in Singapore in the five years before the First Opium War.

In summary, there has been a lot of focus on early printing in the Chinese language in Singapore in the first half of the 19th century, but works published in the second half of the century, besides Chinese newspapers, have, for the most part, been neglected. Studies have been largely limited to Protestant missionary works before the First Opium War, and none paid sufficient attention to the role of Singapore in this publication legacy. Moreover, many of their studies do not include printing activities after the decline of missionary presses in Singapore.

While Ching and Chng’s dissertations both acknowledge the role of Singapore in the early printings by the Protestants before the First Opium War, the scopes of their studies do not go beyond that of the Protestants’ works – Chen focused his attention on the “information war” waged by the SDK based in Guangzhou, and did not take Singapore’s supporting role in the “war” into serious consideration. Hence, there is a need to go beyond existing research and examine the changing role of Singapore as a place of Chinese publications during the entire 19th century.

Singapore as a Centre of Printing and Publishing of Chinese Materials Outside China (1825–1846)

Failing to establish a missionary enterprise among the Chinese in Guangdong, Robert Morrison (1782–1834) of the LMS turned his attention to Southeast Asia while waiting for an opportune time to return to a more open and welcoming China. Between 1815 and 1819, LMS established missions in Malacca, Penang, Batavia and Singapore.¹⁹ In 1815, William Milne founded the Malaccan mission and started printing Chinese Monthly Magazine, the first Chinese magazine published outside of China, which had a great impact on the emergence of modern Chinese magazines in mainland China.²⁰

Between 1819 and 1822, LMS shifted part of its printing resources to Singapore.²¹ On 23 January 1823 Claudius Henry Thomsen set up a printing press to print English and Malay documents, as well as bind books. Samuel Milton, also from LMS , made an unauthorised acquisition trip to Calcutta, India on 8 December 1822 and returned with three printing presses that enabled the Mission Press to print in five languages: English, Siamese, Malay, Arabic and Chinese.²²

The Press operated from the Singapore Institute for a few years with Milton in charge, followed by Thomsen. Publications produced between 1825 and 1826 were published under Institution Press or Mission Press. In 1825, the Press began to print religious tracts in the Chinese language. From then on, Singapore overtook Malacca as LMS ’ printing and publishing centre in Southeast Asia. Blocks for the reprint of Milne and Walter Henry Medhurst’s religious tracts in Chinese were engraved and printed in Singapore. The Press also published the first Chinese textbook, Xunnu Sanzijing (《训女三字经》), in 1832.²³

The ABCFM also undertook a special task to start the mass printing of a Chinese publication for the SDK , which was established by some foreign merchants and Protestant pioneers based in Guangzhou.²⁴

From 1815 to 1845, the Singapore mission presses (LMS and ABCFM) produced a total of 102 Chinese titles comprising religious pamphlets, as well as secular materials written in Chinese by Protestant missionaries and their assistants.²⁵ Most of the publications were first printed, or reprinted, in Singapore. About half a million volumes were estimated to have been printed in Singapore,²⁶ significantly more than those printed in Malacca, Batavia, Penang and Serampore.

As a printing and publishing centre, LMS and ABCFM also developed a distribution network in Singapore. While in Malacca, Milne had established a distribution network through ships’ captains, as well as masters of junks and boats, with books reportedly reaching America, St. Helena, Bombay, Madras, Bengal, Burma, Tibet, China, Irkutsk, Japan, Cochin China, Siam, Kedah, Penang, the islands in the Malacca Straits, Bencoolen, Padang, Bangka, Borneo, the Moluccas, the Celebes, Java and Manila.²⁷

Milne’s successor followed the same modus operandi, but increasingly turned to ship captains and crew in Singapore. In addition, thousands of copies of the New Testament and religious tracts were distributed by Karl Gützlaff, Medhurst and Jacob Tomlin on their travels,²⁸ and by all willing callers at the missions. American missionaries followed the same distribution pattern as the English, but with one innovation – they chartered a ship for wider literature dissemination rather than passively depending on ships visiting the harbour.²⁹

Singapore’s Supporting Role in the “Information War” on China (1834–1834)

One of the outcomes of early Singapore imprints in the Chinese language reaching the Chinese in mainland China and Southeast Asia was the introduction of modern science and technology to the Chinese-speaking world. As early as 1833, when Gützlaff established the East-West Magazine in Guangzhou, his intention was to fill the Chinese magazine with “useful knowledge and science”. A year later he advocated the establishment of SDK and placed the Chinese magazine under its auspices. The magazine was subsequently printed in Singapore, as were the other titles published by the Society.³⁰ Gützlaff defined scientific knowledge broadly to include history, geography and economics, subjects he frequently covered.³¹

Active in the five years before the First Opium War, SDK represented a third form of British engagement with the Chinese, besides the diplomatic attempts of 1793 and 1816, and the First Opium War. The SDK waged an “information war” to penetrate the information barrier that the Qing government had established to contain European trade and missions.³²

In the early 1830s, foreign missionaries and merchants in Guangzhou believed that restrictions placed on Westerners were due to inadequate and insufficient knowledge of the West. Thus, they convened in November 1834 and decided to engage in “warfare” that involved the publication of books in Chinese.³³ Through the publication and distribution of these books, they hoped to give the Chinese access to information barred by the Qing government and believed this would enable them to understand the true character of the Europeans and be open to trade and proselytising.³⁴

Between 1834 and 1840, SDK reprinted or published one magazine and six Chinese books in Singapore, including East-West Magazine (1834–1839); A History of England (《大英国统志》 by Gützlaff, 1834); A General History of the World (《古今万国纲鉴》 by Gützlaff, 1838); A Short Account of the United Provinces of America (《美理哥合省国志略》 by E.J. Bridgman, 1838); Aesop’s Fables (《意拾秘传》 by Robert Thom, 1838–1839), Outline of Old Testament History (《古时如氐亚国历代列传》 by Robert Morrison, 1838) and A Treatise on Political Economy (《贸易通志》 by Gützflaff, 1840). The treatises on history and geography were prioritised and hence were among the earliest books published.³⁵

The impact of SDK ’s publications was felt during the First Opium War in mainland China. After the British defeated the Qing Empire, scholars such as Wei Yuan (魏源, 1794–1856), Xu Jiyu (徐继畬, 1795–1873) and Liang Tingnan (梁廷枬, 1796–1861) witnessed, or became concerned with, the power of the maritime nations of the West and stepped up efforts to understand these foreigners. When these scholar-officials sought to gather materials to write treatises on the new maritime nations, the Singapore imprints were able to meet this need.³⁶

Wei Yuan’s work, Illustrated Treatise on Maritime Countries (《海国图志》), was first published in 1842 in 50 juan (chapters); revised and expanded editions were published in 60 juan in 1847 and 100 juan in 1852, with more materials in Chinese. Researchers have pointed out that Illustrated Treatise on Maritime Countries resembles an organised scrapbook with materials from different books (with minor changes) cut-and-pasted into it, sorted by continents and sub-categorised by nations.

Information related to the Society and the geo-history of the maritime countries that was “borrowed” from the Singapore imprints include 12 from the East-West Magazine,³⁷ 14 from General Account of Trade (《贸易通志》)³⁸ and 42 from Bridgman’s A Short Account of the United Provinces of America.³⁹ The Illustrated Treatise on Maritime Countries, in turn, became one of the most important reference books on the subject of global geo-history in the second half of the 19th century. In China, the scholar-officials of the Qing Empire used this resource when they were forced to learn more about the new world power struggles between the maritime empires. In Japan, Illustrated Treatise on Maritime Countries was widely circulated and made an impact on the Japanese reform era.⁴⁰

Xu Jiyu’s A Brief Description of the Ocean Circuit (《瀛寰志略》), published in 1848, along with Illustrated Treatise on Maritime Countries, influenced both Qing China and Japan. To write the book, Xu studied materials collected in Chinese and interviewed foreigners on the subjects of global geography and world history.⁴¹

Liang Tingnan’s Accounts on the United States (《合省国说》, 1844) and Accounts of London (《兰伦偶说》, 1845) also relied heavily on A Short Account of the United Provinces of America and East-West Magazine respectively.⁴² Until at least the 1880s, these Chinese publications printed or published in Singapore were the main resources for understanding the maritime nations in the Qing Empire.⁴³

Singapore’s Linguistic Contribution to Modern Chinese Lexicology (1807–1843)

In order to express certain Western ideas in their translated works, pioneer missionaries had to coin new words that were later adopted by Chinese scholars. These new words were the tools that allowed intellectuals to tap into western knowledge and widen their perspective of the world.⁴⁴ As a substantial number of these new words were formed between 1807 and 1843, and were first used in publications published in Singapore, Singapore therefore had a role in contributing to modern Chinese lexicology.

Pioneer missionaries generally employed two approaches in coming up with new Chinese words or phrases. Firstly, they adopted an existing classical Chinese term and gave it a new meaning, extended its original meaning to add dimensions of meaning to it, or Christianised the original term. Secondly, if they could not transform an old word or phrase, they would then create new ones.⁴⁵

During the 36 years of proselytisation through writing and translation work, the pioneer missionaries created a great number of new Chinese terms, which covered a wide range of subjects (such as religion, science and technology, social science, culture, political science, history and geography) that became rich cultural resources. Some terms were later replaced by newer ones while many are still widely used today. The following terms are some examples from the Singapore imprints and showcase their contribution in the development of modern Chinese lexicology:⁴⁶

Singapore as Conducive for Multilingual Presses and Cultural Communications (1877–1902)

After the end of the First Opium War in 1842, China opened up five more ports in addition to Guangzhou for foreign trade and proselytisation. The Protestant missionary presses moved their bases away from Singapore, leaving behind an infant printing industry that continued to grow with the settlement. The American and British missionaries moved to China in 1843 and 1846 respectively.

The presence of missionary presses encouraged the growth of the multilingual printing and publishing industry in the colony, aided by growing prosperity and a burgeoning population. Right from the beginning, Singapore was a multi-ethnic society comprising Malays, Chinese, Indians, Europeans and others. After 1825, the missionary presses were able to print religious tracts in five languages – English, Siamese, Malay, Arabic and Chinese – with printing equipment from Europe and domestic and Chinese manpower.

Benjamin Peach Keasberry (1811–1875), LMS ’ last agent in Singapore, ran the presses that were left behind as the Mission Press at Commercial Square. He printed letterheads for merchants, bills of lading and other commercial paper, in addition to printing religious publications, books, journals and half a dozen Singapore newspapers that appeared briefly before 1859.⁴⁷ Among them were the earliest Chinese newspapers in Singapore, such as Local News (地方日报, 1845) and Rising Sun (日升报, 1858), which may have encouraged the birth of Lat Pau (叻报), the longest-running Chinese daily, in the later part of the century.

Around 1861, Lim Kong Chuan (林光铨，字衡南), a Chinese immigrant from Jinmen, soon saw an opportunity in the printing business and learnt the technique of western printing from a European press,⁴⁸ possibly the Mission Press. While Lim may have established the first Chinese commercial printing company Koh Yew Hean Press (古友轩) in early 1870s,⁴⁹ the first two Chinese-language publications were not published until 1877. These were A Genealogy of the Lim Clan (《西河林氏族谱》) and a Malay-language learning text A Book to Learn the Barbaric Language (《通夷新语》). A Genealogy of the Lim Clan was funded by donations and distributed free-of-charge to donors and clan members,⁵⁰ while the latter was a commercial title that sold well. Lim reprinted the Malay-language learning book in 1883 and subsequently changed its title to A Chinese-Malay Dictionary (《华夷通语》). This publication was a best-seller and was reprinted in 1888 and 1900.

By this time, new Chinese immigrants to the colony, as well as residents, had increased significantly and there was a demand for learning the Malay language. Lim Tsai Tak (林采达), a Chinese physician who arrived from Batavia, published A Bridge to Understanding the Malay Language (《通语 津梁》) in 1889, which was also widely distributed. This new edition of the author’s earlier dictionary Kitap Tong Gi Tjin Liong was first published in Batavia. The Singapore edition was published by Jiwenzhai Press (集文斋印务 馆) that was founded in 1889. Lim was a co-partner of the newly established press.

Beside printing and publishing Chinese materials, Chinese commercial presses in the second half of the 19th century also printed books and articles in English and Malay. The Koh Yew Hean Press, for example, was commissioned by the Straits Branch of The Royal Asiatic Society in 1880 to print Hikayat Abdullah, the well-known autobiography of Malay literati Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi (1797–1840) in Jawi script. It was also one of the printers of the Straits Chinese Magazine, a Peranakan magazine founded by Straits Chinese Lim Boon Keng and Song Ong Siang in 1897.

The Lat Pau Press, established in 1881, also engaged in multilingual publishing and printing activities in the 19th century. Titles printed or published included A General Index to the Proceedings of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements from April 1867 to December 1882 by Benj. B.J. and Rozells (1884), Picturesque and Busy Singapore by T.J. Keaughram (1887), Yuenan Youji (《越南游记》) by Tan Keong Sum (陈恭三, 1888), The Straits Eurasian Advocate by Henry Arnold Chopard (1888),* Cherita dahulu kala dari pasal Hong Keow sama Lee Tan*, Turon-kan dari buku “Hwan Tong”, Di jaman Tong Teow sama Chew Teow, Vol 3–8 by Chan Kim Boon (Batu Gantong, 1891–2), and the Heiat-al-heia-wan by Wan Abdullah bin Umar (1896).⁵¹

The Chinese presses also printed or published a great number of Baba literature, written by Straits-born Chinese or translated by them from Chinese classical works. (See Appendix II for a list of works.)

The existence of multilingual presses in the later part of the 19th century could be due to the volume print services they had to undertake to ensure their survival, but in a way it fostered inter-ethnic communications between races in a multiracial society.

Singapore as a Platform to Champion Confucianism and Chinese Nationalism (1881–1901)

The emergence of Chinese daily newspapers in the last two decades of the 19th century contributed to the formation of a community identity. In 19th-century Singapore, the newspapers of the different communities carried news and social commentaries that would have been of interest to their readers. Hence, they were very parochial, featuring news about the community and events in their homelands for the most part.⁵² For this reason, despite its Straits Chinese origin,⁵³ Lat Pau was very China-centric, perhaps because its editor, Ye Ji Yun (叶季允), was a native of Anhui who had been invited to Singapore to serve as the editor for the paper, or possibly because its founder’s, See Ewee Lay, father had belatedly discovered his Chinese roots.⁵⁴

Ye edited the paper for 40 years and Lat Pau was a powerful force in promoting Confucian values in the Chinese community. Chen Mong Hock described Lat Pau as a “public institution” of the Chinese community, “nonpartisan” in stand and “patriotic” in nature.⁵⁵ Besides championing local Chinese opinions and views in Singapore, Lat Pau also assumed the role of public educator. This was more pronounced in the newspaper’s earlier days.⁵⁶

The Xing Pao (《星报》, 1890–9), owned by Lin Hengnan and published by his Koh Yew Hean Press since January 1890, was just as conservative as Lat Pau. Its editors were more outspoken with regard to Confucian values. For example, in an editorial on 13 March 1894, the editor observed that many of the local-born Chinese no longer understood and observed the traditional five relationships⁵⁷ laid down by Confucius, and considered it the duty of the press to bring the local-born Chinese back to the ancient ways of China.

Besides Lat Pau and Xing Pao, two other Chinese dailies emerged after the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). They were Thien Nan Shin Pao (《天南新报》, 1899–1901) founded by Khoo Seok Wan and Jit Shin Pau (《日新报》, 1898– 1905) founded by Lim Boon Keng.

These four Chinese dailies emerged during the last 20 years of the 19th century when Confucianism and Chinese nationalism were the norms among the Chinese in Southeast Asia. The three most prominent journalists of the time, Ye Ji Yun, Lim Boon Keng and Khoo Seok Wan, were themselves Confucian scholars and enthusiastic nationalists, and were actively engaged in a Confucian revival movement.⁵⁸ Therefore, it was unsurprising that the dailies had these themes in common. Singapore, under the British colonial government during that same period, flourished under a relatively permissive environment towards printing in the Chinese language. As such, Singapore had, in a way, provided a free platform for Confucianism and Chinese nationalism to emerge and grow in this multi-ethnic society.

Singapore as a Nursery for Nanyang Literature

During the 19th century, the term “Nanyang” referred to the “South Sea” region and was most commonly used by the Chinese to refer to today’s Southeast Asia.⁵⁹ The term “Nanyang Literature” therefore refers to Chinese Literature from the Nanyang region. This term was used by Yeap Chong Leng in his book Huang Tsun-Hsien and Nanyang Literature (《黄宗宪与南洋 文学》, Singapore: Singapore Society of Asian Studies, 2002). Yeap did not define the term, but explained that Huang Tsun-hsien, the first Chinese Consul General in Singapore from November 1891 to November 1894, conducted monthly region-wide competitions in couplet and essay writing on topics pertaining to Nanyang such as current affairs, culture, traditions and customs.

These activities were mostly conducted through two literary clubs in Singapore, namely the Tu-Nan she (图南社) and Hui-Yin she (会贤社). The essay competitions attracted hundreds of participants every month from all over the region, with the most number of participants from Singapore, Malacca and Penang. The winning couplets and essays were first published in Lat Pau and Xing Po, and reproduced in books by leading Chinese writers in Guangdong and Shanghai. Huang served as both patron and chief judge of Xianlai ge (闲来阁) and Yingbi xuan (映碧轩), literary clubs in Yangon, Myanmar.⁶⁰ In the late 19th century, Singapore was a centre and nursery for this form of literature.

During the same period in Nanyang, there was also a commercial and cultural network that was centred on Singapore and largely orchestrated by the Straits Chinese..⁶¹ These Straits Chinese translated works from classical Chinese and expressed Nanyang sentiments in their writings, which (in my opinion) also forms part of Nanyang Literature. Compared to Chinese-language printing, the survival rate of printed Nanyang Literature in romanised Malay during the same period was much higher.

According to a survey conducted in 2002, it was revealed that 18 Chinese literary works translated into the Baba Malay language between 1889 and 1899 had survived in the major libraries in Singapore and Malaysia.⁶² (See Appendix II for a list of these titles.) The key persons responsible for these translated works were Chan Kim Boon and Tan Beng Teck (translators), Chek Swee Liong and Peng Swee (translator and publisher respectively), Lim Hock Kee (editor), Pang Teck Joon (translator), Lye Kim Lim (publisher) and Goh Len Joo (translator).

Conclusion

Singapore played multiple roles in the early printing of Chinese language materials over time as well as in response to historical events. In the first half of the 19th century, two events occurring almost simultaneously incidentally made Singapore into a centre of Chinese-language printing outside China. It later played a supporting role in the information war waged in Guangdong.

Through LMS ’s, ABCFM’s and SDK ’s Singapore Chinese language publications, Singapore became a conduit of Western culture and ideology to China and contributed new Chinese terms to the Chinese language.

After the Protestant missionaries left Singapore, local commercial presses and newspaper presses run by local Chinese emerged to meet domestic and regional demand.

They contributed to making Singapore conducive for learning the lingua franca of society, a platform to champion Confucianism and Chinese nationalism, as well as a nursery for regional literature in the Chinese language and romanised Malay to emerge and grow over time.

APPENDIX I: A Chronology of Early Printing in the Chinese Language, 1825–1902

A Chronology of Early Printing in the Chinese Language, 1825–1902

A Chronology of Early Printing in the Chinese Language, 1825–1902

A Chronology of Early Printing in the Chinese Language, 1825–1902

A Chronology of Early Printing in the Chinese Language, 1825–1902

Abbreviations

ANU – Australian National University Library

Harvard – Harvard-Yenching Library

Leiden – Leiden University Library

NL B – National Library Board

NUS – National University of Singapore Libraries

Oxford – Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

Appendix II: List of Works in Romanised Malay by Straits Chinese Published in Singapore (1889–1902)

List of Works in Romanised Malay by Straits Chinese Published in Singapore (1889–1902)

List of Works in Romanised Malay by Straits Chinese Published in Singapore (1889–1902)

List of Works in Romanised Malay by Straits Chinese Published in Singapore (1889–1902)

Abbreviations

DBP – Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

UM – University of Malaya

USM – University Science of Malaysia

NL B – National Library Board

NUS – National University of Singapore Libraries

About the Author
Lee Ching Seng joined National University of Singapore Libraries as a librarian in 1991 and retired as the Head of Chinese Library in 2015. He has more than 40 years of experience in collection development and has developed an in-depth subject knowledge on the Chinese in Southeast Asia. He is recognised as a subject expert in this area by his peers, and has extensive networks with librarians and researchers both locally and abroad on the subject of overseas Chinese and early printing and publishing.