View source for Ta Kung Pao

{{About|the Chinese state-run newspaper in Hong Kong|privately-owned editions of Ta Kung Pao that were published in China prior to 1949|Ta Kung Pao (1902-1949)}}{{Short description|Chinese state newspaper}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2016}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name               = Ta Kung Pao
| image              = HK 南區 Southern District 雞籠灣 Kellett Bay 田灣海傍道 Tin Wan Praya Road 田灣興偉中心 Hing Wai Centre March 2022 Px3 02.jpg
| caption            = Hing Wai Centre, which has the Hong Kong head office of ''Ta Kung Pao''
| logo               = Takungpao logo.svg
| type               = [[Daily newspaper]]; [[state media]]
| owners             = Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group (subsidiary of [[Hong Kong Liaison Office]])
| founder            = [[Ying Lianzhi]]
| editor             = Wong Wai-Keung
| format             = [[Broadsheet]]
| foundation         = 17 June 1902
| political          = [[Pro-Beijing camp (Hong Kong)|Pro-Beijing camp]]
| website            = {{Official URL}}
}}
'''''Ta Kung Pao''''' ({{zh|t=大公報|s=大公报|p=Dàgōng Bào|j=daai6 gung1 bou3}}; formerly '''''L'Impartial''''' in Latin-based languages) is a Chinese-language newspaper. Founded in [[Tianjin]] in 1902, the paper is state-owned, controlled by the [[Hong Kong Liaison Office|Liaison Office of the Central Government]] after the [[Chinese Civil War]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2013/04/130418_takung_apology.shtml | script-title=zh:大公報道歉：「習近平打出租」是假新聞 | date=18 April 2013 | access-date=17 February 2014 | language=zh | work=BBC News Chinese | archive-date=21 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421072744/http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2013/04/130418_takung_apology.shtml | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Hong Kong gov't orders pro-Beijing newspaper to remove giant sign on building following complaints |url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/25/hong-kong-govt-orders-pro-beijing-newspaper-remove-giant-sign-building-following-complaints/ |access-date=28 December 2019 |work=Hong Kong Free Press HKFP |date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=29 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029073733/https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/25/hong-kong-govt-orders-pro-beijing-newspaper-remove-giant-sign-building-following-complaints/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is widely regarded as a veteran [[Pro-Beijing camp (Hong Kong)|pro-Beijing]] newspaper.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140127/NEWS04/301270018/Experts-wary-over-news-China-s-2nd-carrier | title=Experts wary over news of China's 2nd carrier | access-date=17 February 2014 | archive-date=23 June 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623142904/https://www.armytimes.com/article/20140127/NEWS04/301270018/Experts-wary-over-news-China-s-2nd-carrier/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/09/02/commentary/world-commentary/blackest-hand-hong-kong-beijings/|title=The blackest hand in Hong Kong is Beijing's|last=Roy|first=Denny|date=2019-09-02|website=The Japan Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-18|archive-date=14 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914082901/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/09/02/commentary/world-commentary/blackest-hand-hong-kong-beijings/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016, it merged with Hong Kong newspaper [[Wen Wei Po]].<ref name="Nikkei">{{cite news |title=Pro-Beijing newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao to merge |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Pro-Beijing-newspapers-Wen-Wei-Po-and-Ta-Kung-Pao-to-merge |access-date=28 December 2019 |work=Nikkei Asian Review |date=2 February 2016 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228094851/https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Pro-Beijing-newspapers-Wen-Wei-Po-and-Ta-Kung-Pao-to-merge |url-status=live }}</ref>
==History==
[[File:民国一年的天津大公报.JPG|thumb|The Tianjin ''Ta Kung Pao'' (then known as ''L'Impartial'' in Latin-based languages) from 1912]]
In the final years of the [[Qing dynasty]], [[Ying Lianzhi]], a Catholic [[Manchu]] aristocrat, founded the newspaper in [[Tianjin]] on 17 June 1902, in order to, "help China become a modern and democratic nation".<ref>Donald Paragon (1961) Ying Lien-Chih (1866–1926) and the Rise of Fu Jen, the Catholic University of Peking, Monumenta Serica, 20:1, 165-225, DOI: 10.1080/02549948.1961.11731012</ref> The paper put forward the slogan ''"Four Noes"'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|四不主義}}) in its early years, pledging to say "No" to all political parties, governments, commercial companies, and persons.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
It stood up to the repression at the time, openly criticising the [[Empress Dowager Cixi]] and reactionary leaders, and promoted democratic reforms, pioneering the use of [[written vernacular Chinese]] (''baihua''). Readership fell after the [[Xinhai Revolution]] in 1911 and {{ill|Wang Zhilong|zh|王郅隆}} bought it in 1916. Still, the newspaper was out of business by 1925 due to the lack of readership. On 1 September 1926, however, {{ill|Wu Dingchang|zh|吳鼎昌}}, [[Hu Zhengzhi]], {{ill|Zhang Jiluan|zh|張季鸞}} re-established the newspaper in Tianjin.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McLaughlin|first=Timothy|date=2021-09-09|title=How China Weaponized the Press|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/09/hong-kong-china-media-newspaper/620005/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-11|website=[[The Atlantic]]|language=en|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911005152/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/09/hong-kong-china-media-newspaper/620005/}}</ref> With "no party affiliation, no political endorsement, no self-promotion, no ignorance" ({{lang|zh-Hant|不黨, 不賣, 不私, 不盲}}) as its motto, the newspaper's popularity quickly rose again because of its sharp political commentary, especially of the Japanese as the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] began.
As the war raged on, the newspaper's staff fled to other cities, such as Shanghai, [[Hankou District|Hankou]], Chongqing, [[Guilin]] and Hong Kong, to continue publishing, but local editions were abandoned as the Japanese captured more and more territory. After the war was won, {{ill|Wong Wan San|zh|王芸生}}, the chief editor, re-established the Shanghai edition on 1 November 1945, in the format and style of the old Shanghai edition. They had also planned to issue editions for other cities, including [[Guangzhou]], but the [[Chinese Civil War]] forced this proposal to be shelved. ''Ta Kung Pao'' supported the [[Kuomintang]] at the beginning of the Civil War, but switched its sympathies to the [[Chinese Communist Party]] after the repression of intellectuals, hyper-inflation, and other violent purges of political opponents by the Kuomintang.<ref name="Zheng">{{Cite book|title=The Cold War in Asia: The Battle for Hearts and Minds|first1=Yangwen|last1=Zheng|first2=Liu|last2=Hong|first3=Michael|last3=Szonyi|publisher=Brill|year=2012|pages=103, 108, 111}}</ref>
In March 1948, the Hong Kong edition was re-established. A major newspaper during the [[Republic of China|Republican]] years, it continued to be influential after re-publication by Fei Yi Ming, the subsequent publisher in Hong Kong after 1949, as one of few newspapers that survived foreign invasion and civil war. In April 1952, the colonial authorities in Hong Kong tried the newspaper's proprietor, publisher, and its editor for violation of the [[Sedition Ordinance]]. ''Ta Kung Pao'', along with the ''[[New Evening Post]]'' and ''[[Wen Wei Po]]'', were charged with inciting an uprising by negatively reporting on the colonial authorities' response to a fire in [[Tung Tau Tsuen (Kowloon)|Tung Tau Tsuen]]. As a result, ''Ta Kung Pao'''s leadership was fined, jailed, and ordered to cease reporting for six months.<ref name="Zheng"/>
A mass demonstration began in 1953 after protesters became dissatisfied with the Hong Kong government following a fire in the Tung Tau squatter area. The government in Guangzhou began fundraising to support the protesters and decided to dispatch a relief delegation to Hong Kong on 1 March 1952. The trip was cancelled after opposition from the Hong Kong government, and protests began on the same day targeting the [[Hong Kong Police Force|Hong Kong police]]. ''Wen Wei Po'' and other publications supporting the Chinese government produced frequent reports emphasising the Hong Kong government's neglect of the poor.<ref name="Yan2010">{{cite book |last1=Yan |first1=Lu |editor1-last=Zheng |editor1-first=Yangwen |editor2-last=Liu |editor2-first=Hong |editor3-last=Szonyi |editor3-first=Michael |title=The Cold War in Asia: The Battle for Hearts and Minds |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004175372 |pages=95–118 |chapter=Limits to Propaganda: Hong Kong’s Leftist Media in the Cold War and Beyond}}</ref>  {{rp|104-106}} On March 5, ''New Evening Post'', ''Wen Wei Po'' and ''Ta Kung Pao'' reprinted an editorial from ''[[People's Daily]]'', the newspaper of the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP Central Committee]] but removed references to "massacre of our countrymen" to avoid violating Hong Kong's Sedition Ordinance. However, the Hong Kong government accused the newspapers of sedition. ''Ta Kung Pao'', its owner Fei Yiming and publisher Li Zongying received to nine and six months of prison sentence and fined a few thousand Hong Kong dollars.<ref name="Yan2010"/>{{rp|108}} The newspaper was also ordered to stop publishing for six months.<ref name="Yan2010"/>{{rp|108}}
Chinese Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] then issued a statement demanding Hong Kong to stop the prosecution. The British government told Hong Kong authorities days later to rescind the court sentence against ''Ta Kung Pao'', its owner and its publisher, and the newspaper was allowed to publish again after 12 days of suspension.<ref name="Yan2010"/>{{rp|109}}
In January 2019, ''Ta Kung Pao'' published an article stating that a "secret envoy" of president [[Tsai Ing-wen]] had met with three Hong Kong [[localist camp]] activists from the pro-independence group [[Studentlocalism]]. However, the "secret envoy" was actually Su Yong-yao, a senior political reporter for ''[[Liberty Times]]'', a Taiwanese newspaper. The article was in turn criticized by the [[Office of the President (Taiwan)|Taiwanese presidential office]] as "ridiculous" and  "a piece of fake news".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-17 |title=Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao slammed by Taiwanese presidential office for 'fake news' |url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/01/17/hong-kong-newspaper-ta-kung-pao-slammed-taiwanese-presidential-office-fake-news/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009053630/https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/01/17/hong-kong-newspaper-ta-kung-pao-slammed-taiwanese-presidential-office-fake-news/ |archive-date=9 October 2019 |access-date=2019-09-18 |website=[[Hong Kong Free Press]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>
During the [[2019–2020 Hong Kong protests]], ''Ta Kung Pao'' published [[Antisemitism in China|antisemitic]] [[George Soros conspiracy theories]], displaying Soros as a reptile in collusion with [[Jimmy Lai]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Haime |first1=Jordyn |last2=Gering |first2=Tuvia |date=April 25, 2023 |title=How George Soros became China's perfect nemesis |work=The China Project |url=https://thechinaproject.com/2023/04/25/how-george-soros-became-chinas-perfect-nemesis/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502090626/https://thechinaproject.com/2023/04/25/how-george-soros-became-chinas-perfect-nemesis/ |archive-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref> In 2020, ''Ta Kung Pao'' frequently attacked judges perceived as siding with pro-democracy protesters, causing Chief Justice [[Geoffrey Ma]] to make an 18-page plea against attacking judges and the judiciary system.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Ta Kung Pao dragged in war over judicial independence｜Chris Yeung |url=https://hk.appledaily.com/opinion/20201125/RTG32Q6A7FCQPG3OI5DVONMREM/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623142834/https://en.appledaily.com/article/RTG32Q6A7FCQPG3OI5DVONMREM/ |archive-date=23 June 2021 |access-date=2020-11-26 |website=[[Apple Daily]] |language=zh-hk}}</ref> In November 2020, the [[Hong Kong Bar Association]] (HKBA) published a letter to Secretary of Justice [[Teresa Cheng (politician)|Teresa Cheng]], accusing ''Ta Kung Pao'' of publishing false material that claimed judge Anderson Chow was being supportive of criminal activities.<ref name=":0" /> The HKBA asked Teresa Cheng to protect the city's judges against false accusations.<ref name=":0" />
In May 2023, the newspaper attacked housing and urban planning NGO [[Liber Research Community]], saying the NGO was "taking things out of context with groundless evidence."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chan |first=Irene |date=2023-05-16 |title=State-backed media take aim at Hong Kong housing and urban planning NGOs |url=https://hongkongfp.com/2023/05/16/state-backed-media-take-aim-at-hong-kong-housing-and-urban-planning-ngos/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=[[Hong Kong Free Press]] |language=en-GB |archive-date=19 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819192604/https://hongkongfp.com/2023/05/16/state-backed-media-take-aim-at-hong-kong-housing-and-urban-planning-ngos/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Organization==
[[File:HK Wan Chai Hennessy Road 大公報 Ta Kung Pao Jan-2013.JPG|thumb|Office of ''Ta Kung Pao'' located on [[Hennessy Road]], [[Wan Chai]]]]
The paper is state-owned, controlled by the [[Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|Liaison Office of the Central Government in Hong Kong]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ejinsight.com/20150409-basic-law-violation-seen-as-locpg-tightens-grip-on-hk-publishers/|title=Basic Law violation seen as LOCPG tightens grip on HK publishers|first=Betsy|last=Tse|date=9 April 2015|work=EJ Insight|access-date=9 April 2015|archive-date=23 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223103125/http://www.ejinsight.com/20150409-basic-law-violation-seen-as-locpg-tightens-grip-on-hk-publishers/|url-status=live}}</ref> The head office of ''Ta Kung Pao'' is located on [[Hennessy Road]], [[Wan Chai]], [[Hong Kong Island]], with offices in mainland China, such as in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, [[Inner-Mongolia]] and Guangzhou.
The paper's Asia-Pacific head office is in Hing Wai Centre ({{lang|zh-Hant|興偉中心}}), [[Tin Wan]]<!--田灣-->, [[Aberdeen, Hong Kong|Aberdeen]],<!--香港仔--> [[Hong Kong]]. Its China head office is in [[Chaoyang District, Beijing|Chaoyang District]], [[Beijing]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.takungpao.com/corp/connect.html|title=联络我们|publisher=Ta Kung Pao|access-date=2024-03-31|quote=亚太总部 香港 香港仔田灣海旁道7號興偉中心3樓[...]中国总部 北京市朝阳区亮马河南路14旁1门}}</ref> Previously the head office was in Kodak House Phase 2 ({{lang|zh-Hant|柯達大廈二期}})<!--English name from https://web.archive.org/web/20120607235335im_/http://www.takung.cn/copyright/content/images/attachement/jpg/site2/20120503/d4bed9b92d22110c307645.jpg-->, [[North Point, Hong Kong|North Point]]<!--北角-->, Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.takung.cn/copyright/lxfs.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607235335mp_/http://www.takung.cn/copyright/lxfs.htm|title=联系方式|publisher=Ta Kung Pao|archive-date=2012-06-07|access-date=2024-03-31|quote=总社 香港北角健康东街三十九号柯达大厦二期}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Hong Kong|China|Journalism}}
* [[Newspapers of Hong Kong]]
* ''[[Wen Wei Po]]''
* ''[[New Evening Post|The New Evening Post]]''
* [[Yang Gang (journalist)|Yang Gang]], a prominent female journalist for the paper
{{-}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Official website}} {{in lang|zh}}
{{Newspapers in Hong Kong}}
[[Category:Chinese-language newspapers published in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1902]]
[[Category:Chinese propaganda organisations]]
[[Category:Propaganda newspapers and magazines]]
[[Category:1902 establishments in China]]