Ming Pao

Ming Pao overseas

Ming Pao in Canada

In 1993, the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao launched its first North American edition in Toronto and Vancouver. At that time, it was the third Chinese newspaper in the two countries after the release of Sing Tao and The Journal. Throughout its 37-year history, Ming Pao has catered to the wealthy, educated elite, so it quickly attracted the attention of educated, affluent Hong Kong immigrants. In the following years after its first publication, about 100,000 Chinese-language newspapers are sold daily. Sing Tao is the best seller, with approximately 40,000 copies. Ming Pao came in second, with about 35,000 readers while The Journal is third with 25,000.

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Most of the staff and editorial workers at Ming Pao are journalism graduates and were educated abroad. They have their own writing and reporting styles, which are very different from that of Hong Kong editors. For instance, staff are encouraged to report from the perspective of a Chinese-Canadian, as they want to educate their readers to live peacefully with people from different backgrounds in Canada. Moreover, when they write, it is important for these writers not to take sides. The idea is that readers are simply informed of the facts of an event, whereupon they can make up their own mind about their own opinions. Covering mainstream and Chinese society using only facts like this are considered to be very challenging.

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The paper has no editorials, but it has a commentary column called "People's Talk," which runs Monday to Saturday. In this space, senior editorial staff write about many issues. The reason why Ming Pao in Canada does not have editorials is because of the lack of staff to write them. "We don't want to write editorials in a loose way," Vivian Chong, the news editor of Ming Pao, said. According to Chong, in writing the editorials, the content needs to be analytical and comprehensive. But many of the staff are not very familiar with the local issues, so a lot of time has to go into research for editorials. So at the moment, Ming Pao is trying to help readers familiarize themselves with local issues in Canada first.

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Overall, Ming Pao has become famous for its three weekly, glitzy and colorful magazine supplements, even enticing some Sing Tao and The Journal readers. There are the Ming Pao Property Gold Pages, a real estate buyer's guide which includes analyses of the property market, stories on mortgages, Canadian real estate law and interior design, as well as a monthly Chinese-language edition of Toronto Life.

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Ming Pao in the USA

Ming Pao Daily News, a subsidiary of Ming Pao Enterprise Corporation Limited, is committed to serving the Chinese American population. The cities in USA where Ming Pao is published are New York, Long Island, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco. The readership is about 135,000 per day. Ming Pao Daily comprises a high readership profile of "high income/education professionals", which are also the target readers in Hong Kong.

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Ming Pao Daily News offers headline news in the US, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Asian countries. Other content includes financial section with the latest stock market quotes and investment figures, entertainment news, lifestyle, community activities and events, in either the Chinese or English sections.

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