Jin Yong, also known as Louis Cha Leung-yung, passed away on Oct. 30.

Influence in journalism and politics

Cha led a colourful life with an illustrious career, and was particularly well-known for his Chinese martial arts (wu xia) novels.

Besides being a highly-regarded novelist, he was also an important figure in the realms of journalism and politics.

In 1947, Cha started out as a journalist for the oldest active Chinese newspaper in China, Ta Kung Pao (大公报), based in Shanghai.

He then later transferred to the Hong Kong office in the following year.

Cha co-founded Hongkong daily newspaper Ming Pao Daily News（明报）in 1959, serving as the president and editor-in-chief, after the success of his first novel The Book and the Sword, gave him the financial wherewithal to do other things besides fiction-writing.

Ming Pao was established to tackle pirated copies of Cha's novels, but later became a vessel for Cha to express his anti-Communist stance, which eventually attracted the fury of pro-Communist left-wing elements.

Setting up Shin Min Daily News in Singapore

While most Singaporeans know Cha for his novels, Cha also founded one of Singapore's Chinese newspapers, Shin Min Daily News.

In 1966, Cha came to Singapore from Hong Kong.

He observed then that there were only two Chinese publications, Nan Yang Business Daily (南洋商报) and Sin Chew Jit Poh (星洲日报) to meet the demands of the Chinese majority here.

That made him decide to start Shin Min Daily News (新明日报) with the founder of Axe Brand oil, Leung Yun Chee, who had experience in starting publishing firms like Xin Sheng Ri Bao (新生日报).

Cha and Leung contributed equally and started Shin Min with S$1 million -- a princely sum.

The duo aimed to make profits in five years' time.

How Shin Min Daily News name came about

According to Leong Heng Keng, the eldest son of Leung, they considered a few names such as Ming Pao, Jing Pao or Guang Ming Daily News, but could not settle on any of those.

During a trip to look for Lee Khoon Choy, the then Minister of State for Culture, to get his approval for the licensing, Leung also sought Lee's opinion on the newspaper's name.

While Lee was thinking, one of the officers, Lu Fu Ru (陆富如), suggested to use Shin Min Daily News.

"Shin" represented Leung's Xin Sheng Ri Bao, while "Min" represented Cha's Ming Pao.

Lee agreed to the suggestion and approved the publishing license for Shin Min.

Shin Min Daily News was birthed on March 18, 1967 with its office located at a rented ground level of a factory along 7 Davidson Road.

Contribution to Shin Min's success

About two months after the launch of Shin Min, leftist riots broke out in Hong Kong.

As a result of his anti-Communist stance, Cha became the thorn in the flesh of the leftists in Hong Kong who wanted to assassinate him.

Cha took refuge in Singapore and became a permanent resident.

He reported to work at Shin Min every day and devoted his time and effort to develop the newspaper.

Leong, who was the then Director of Finance, shared that Shin Min's subscription would not have grown so fast without Cha's conceptualisation and creative direction.

Leong recalled that the two existing publications back then focused heavily on international news, and there was little entertainment beat.

Being a veteran, Cha understood the readers' mentality and to gain readership and subscription, there had to be a novel change in content creation.

Therefore, Shin Min was very different from the two big Chinese newspapers at that time. 

Generally, the layout was also more eye-catching with lighthearted content.

Unlike other publishers, there was a full page of entertainment beat on Shin Min, with a Malaysian edition on weekends.

What popularised Shin Min was also having local news on its front page.

Cha also exclusively published his serialised wuxia novel, The Smiling Proud Wanderer in Shin Min.

He later published The Deer and the Cauldron too, which boosted the readership and made Shin Min one of the most popular local newspapers.

Shin Min started earning profits in its third year, two years earlier than expected.

Top photo collage from Shin Min Daily News and 金庸群俠傳Online – 武林至尊

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