Takungpao’s London Office, World War Two

Takungpao (The Impartial) newspaper is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. Founded in Tianjin in 1902. Between the wars (its heyday), its slogan was “no party affiliation, no political endorsement, no self-promotion, no ignorance”. It was aprticualrly noted for its sharp political commentary and foreign coverage after the outbreaks of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Based alternatively in Shanghai, Hankow, Guilin, Chongqing and Hong Kong, it continued to publish staying one step ahead of the Japanese. It established a London office on (where else!) Fleet Street and it’s correspondent for London, and Europe, was Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Chen) who had studied journalism at Yenching in the 1930s under Edgar Snow….

Hsiao was to writre several books during the war, and appear on the BBC many times, as the only Chinese foreign correspondent in Europe. These included one on the Burma Road with illustration by Chiang Yee.