In 1944, with the shadow of Japanese occupation over South China, Macau had become an island of refuge in a time of war. On 15 August of that year, a Shunde-born man who had left teaching for writing founded a newspaper in Macau — the Macao Citizen Daily — and with it became the first Chinese to serve as a publisher of record in Macau's press.
Ho Man Kong was a Macau newspaperman and novelist, the founder of the Macao Citizen Daily. A teacher first, then a newspaperman, and finally known for his fiction, his life spanned education, journalism, and literature — and is remembered through a paper born in wartime that still publishes today.
Profile
- Chinese Name: 何曼公
- English Name: Ho Man Kong
- Born: 1909 (ancestral home Shunde, Guangdong)
- Died: 2010 (aged over 100)
- Region: Macau / Shunde, Guangdong
- Domains: Culture · Press · Literature
- Subject type: Newspaperman · Novelist
Background
A native of Shunde in Guangdong, Ho was born in 1909. He did not begin in the press: he first established himself in education, teaching at Macau's Chongshi and Catholic schools and coming to know the city's social and educational fabric. In the 1940s he turned to journalism, handling editorial work and writing at the New Voice Post (新聲報) and the People's Livelihood Post (民生報), and so passed from teacher to newspaperman. This path from teaching to the press gave him both a man of letters' command of the pen and the organising capacity of someone who had run schools and affairs.
Career
I. From education into the press (1940s)
Before entering journalism, Ho taught for years at Macau's Chongshi and Catholic schools. In the 1940s he joined Macau's press, working as an editor and writer at the New Voice Post and the People's Livelihood Post, steadily building the experience and the contacts that would let him later found a paper of his own.
II. Founding the Macao Citizen Daily (1944)
On 15 August 1944, Ho, together with Choi Pui-chi, U Kei-ping, Chan Ha-chi, Lei Hang, and Pun Hou, founded the Macao Citizen Daily, serving as publisher and publisher of record (督印), with Chan Ha-chi as editor-in-chief. Ho thus became the first Chinese to hold the role of publisher of record in Macau's press — a position of real symbolic weight in an environment of both Portuguese administration and wartime upheaval. The paper began chiefly with serialised fiction, added international and local news within months, and later took on sports coverage, gradually growing into a general-interest daily.
Defining Moments
I. Publishing in wartime, standing against the pro-Japanese press
The Citizen Daily was founded during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War. Although Macau was a neutral Portuguese-administered territory, its political climate was harsh and pro-Japanese influence ran high. Against this backdrop the Citizen Daily held a firm stance and repeatedly stood against pro-Japanese press figures, becoming a Chinese-language voice for Macau's residents in a time of war. As publisher of record and head of the paper, Ho was the one who carried that stance.
II. Known for his fiction
Ho was not only a newspaperman but a well-known Macau novelist. His writing enriched the body of Macau fiction and earned him a place in the city's literary history. His double identity as newspaperman and novelist lent his journalism a strong literary cast — the Citizen Daily's early emphasis on fiction reflected the founder's own bent.
III. A lasting paper, a long-lived founder (to 2010)
The Macao Citizen Daily, born in the hands of Ho and his colleagues, has continued to the present day as one of Macau's long-running Chinese dailies. Ho himself lived to a great age, dying in 2010 at over 100, having witnessed Macau's press through its long arc from wartime to the post-Handover era.
Public Character
Ho's public image layers teacher, newspaperman, and novelist: he began in education, moved into the press to found the Citizen Daily in wartime and become Macau's first Chinese publisher of record, and made his name in local letters through fiction. His life traces a characteristic path of twentieth-century Macau's Chinese-language intellectuals — "running a paper through writing, and speaking through the paper". This archive presents his life and cultural standing neutrally and treats details not confirmed by authoritative sources with caution.
Key Achievements
- Founder of the Macao Citizen Daily (15 August 1944), serving as publisher and publisher of record
- The first Chinese to serve as publisher of record in Macau's press
- Held a firm Chinese-language editorial stance in wartime, repeatedly standing against pro-Japanese press figures
- A well-known Macau novelist whose work enriched the city's fiction
- Earlier an editor and writer at the New Voice Post and the People's Livelihood Post; taught at the Chongshi and Catholic schools
Information compiled from publicly available sources (Macau Memory, Wikipedia, and others). If anything is inaccurate or needs updating, please contact us — we aim to respond within 48 hours.
