William Y. Chang

William Y. Chang
William Y. Chang
Born	1916 ; Hawaii
Died	September 4, 2019 (aged 102–103); San Francisco
Occupation	Journalist, publisher

William Yukon Chang (Chinese: 鄭玉安) was a Chinese-American newspaper publisher and community leader who advocated for the Chinese American communities in New York City. He was the founder of the Chinese-American Times newspaper, that operated from 1955 to 1972.

Early life and education

Chang was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on January 1, 1916. His grandparents immigrated from China to Hawaii, making a living raising coffee and running a grocery store.[1] His father, William Sang Chang, was a merchant seaman while his mother, Kui Kyau Lee, was a homemaker. He graduated from McKinley High School in Honolulu and went on to earn a B.A. in journalism from St. John’s University in Shanghai, China.[2][3]

Career

After the Second Sino–Japanese War broke out in Shanghai in 1937, he sailed back to Hawaii and enrolled briefly at the University of Hawai'i in the teacher education program. In 1941, he returned to Shanghai as he found it more stimulating, and the daily English-language newspaper The China Press hired him as a sportswriter.[4]

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Shanghai and shut the paper down. Chang had to wear an armband to identify himself as an enemy alien.[2]

In 1947, he left his job as the editor and columnist of The China Press, and moved to New York City.[1] He wrote briefly for The Saturday Evening Post under the byline Yukon Chang.

Chinese-American Times

While Chang was working as a translator in 1954, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. mentioned to him, "We don’t know what’s going on in your community." After pointing out that there were four newspapers, all of them in Chinese language, Wagner asked, "Shouldn’t you have at least one in English?"[2]

This inspired Chang to spend $150 of his own money to put together the first issue of Chinese-American Times (CAT) in 1955. Until 1972, he singlehandedly wrote, edited, and published the CAT as a monthly English-language newspaper,[5] documenting what was going on in New York’s Chinatown.[6] His goal was to provide a venue through which Chinese American communities could read and write about their own lives.[1] In 1964, the newspaper had about 3,000 subscribers.[2]

Following the publication of the first issue, Chang began to compile news sent by correspondents in San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia as well as many other cities in the United States. CAT focused on multiple subject matters, including the election of Chinese-American candidates for public office to celebrations of Chinese Lunar New Year.[1]

Political and community activities

Chang became active in New York City politics, working to address the lack of Chinese American representation in the city’s administration and to get out the Chinese-American vote.[1] According to The New York Times, he was a "sought-after translator, a confidant to old-school Chinese familial associations, a go-between in landlord-tenant disputes and a voice on the neighborhood’s community board."[2]

He helped bring about improvements in education, health, housing through local social and civic groups, including the Hamilton-Madison House and Manhattan Borough President’s Planning Board Number 1. In 1966, Chang worked as the Chinese coordinator of the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and helped to set up the federally-funded remedial programs for reading and adult education geared towads Chinese immigrants.[1]

Awards

In 2000, Chang received the Museum of Chinese in America's Legacy Award.[2]

Personal life

Chang married Tang Kou Mei (湯國梅), the first daughter of the Nationalist general Tang Enbo (湯恩伯) and an exchange student at St. Mary’s College, Winona in 1952. They raised three daughters, Dallas, Marina and Priscilla.[2]

Chang died on September 4, 2019, at the age of 103 in New York City.[2]

An archive of his work, The William Yukon Chang Papers, are held by the Columbia University Libraries.

References

Gao, Hong Deng (September 23, 2019). "Championing the Causes of Chinese Americans: The William Yukon Chang Papers – News from Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library". Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
Sandomir, Richard (September 12, 2019). "William Y. Chang, Whose Newspaper Spoke to Chinatown in English, Dies at 103". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
Zia, Helen (February 18, 2020). Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-345-52233-7.
Brooks, Charlotte (August 27, 2019). American Exodus: Second-Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901–1949. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-97255-1.
Brooks, Charlotte (January 7, 2015). Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-19373-1.
Wu, Ellen D. (December 29, 2015). The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16802-9.

External links

Museum of Chinese in America collection
Chinese-American Times collection, Museum of Chinese in America
Office of the Chinese-American Times
William Yukon Chang Collection at Columbia University Libraries

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[:0-1] Gao, Hong Deng (September 23, 2019). "Championing the Causes of Chinese Americans: The William Yukon Chang Papers – News from Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library". Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved May 11, 2023.

[:1-2] Sandomir, Richard (September 12, 2019). "William Y. Chang, Whose Newspaper Spoke to Chinatown in English, Dies at 103". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 11, 2023.

[3] Zia, Helen (February 18, 2020). Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-345-52233-7.

[4] Brooks, Charlotte (August 27, 2019). American Exodus: Second-Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901–1949. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-97255-1.

[5] Brooks, Charlotte (January 7, 2015). Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-19373-1.

[6] Wu, Ellen D. (December 29, 2015). The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16802-9.