Lei Pang Chu: editor-in-chief of Macao Daily and a seeder of Macau literature

A Macau newspaperman and writer, editor-in-chief of the Macao Daily News. A native of Meixian, Guangdong, born in Macau, he was a man of both prose and poetry whose learning ranged across Lingnan history, Macau lore, painting and calligraphy connoisseurship, and literary criticism. The Cultural Affairs Bureau called him "a seeder and promoter of Macau literature". He served on the Cultural Committee, the Cultural Advisory Committee and the Macao Orchestra Advisory Committee, was a member of the China Writers Association and a deputy to the 10th National People's Congress, and died in Hong Kong on 30 October 2014.

A man born in Macau who gave his life to newspapers and to words — and, in the pages of the Macao Daily, wrote down a city's literary memory.

Lei Pang Chu (pen name Mui Ngok-wa) was a Macau newspaperman and writer, editor-in-chief of the Macao Daily News. Both a journalist and a man of letters, he was called by the Cultural Affairs Bureau "a seeder and promoter of Macau literature".

Profile

• Chinese Name: 李鵬翥 (pen name 梅萼華)
• English Name: Lei Pang Chu
• Born: 1934 (Macau; ancestral home Meixian, Guangdong)
• Died: 30 October 2014 (Hong Kong)
• Region: Macau / Meixian, Guangdong
• Domains: Culture · Press · Literature
• Subject type: Cultural figure · Newspaperman · Writer

Background

Lei traced his ancestral home to Meixian in Guangdong and was born in Macau in 1934. Steeped from youth in Lingnan history and Macau's local lore, and widely read, he grew into a man of letters equally fluent in prose, poetry and calligraphy. In the second half of the twentieth century, Chinese-language journalism in Macau was not only a carrier of news but a vital ground for local culture and literature — and Lei was a representative figure who grew up in, and cultivated, that soil.

Career

I. Years at the Macao Daily News

Lei spent much of his career at the Macao Daily News, rising to editor-in-chief, and later served as vice-chairman of the Macao Cultural Media Group. The Macao Daily is among the most influential Chinese-language dailies in Macau; through his editorial work and his own writing he helped make the paper not only a reporter of news but a nursery for local literature and cultural criticism.

II. Cultural office and public service

Lei's cultural influence extended into public life. He served on the Macau Cultural Committee, the Cultural Advisory Committee and the Macao Orchestra Advisory Committee, taking part in local cultural policy and the building of arts institutions; he was also a member of the China Writers Association and a deputy to the 10th National People's Congress.