Yeh Chih Yun

Introduction

Yeh Chih Yun (叶季允; 1859–1921) was a famous newspaperman and poet. His alias included Ye Ji Yin (叶季隐), Ye Mao Bin (叶懋斌), Yong Weng (永翁), Ting Song Lu Shi Sun (听松庐诗孙). He was born on 21 July, 1859 in the Anhui province, China. He used to live in Guangdong and worked as an editor at the Zhongwai Xinbao (《中外新报》) in Hong Kong.

In 1881, when Lat Pau (《叻报》) was founded in Singapore, he was invited to be the newspaper’s Chief Editor, a position he held for 40 years. The editorials he penned were influential in the Singapore Chinese community. Yeh was also a scholar with many talents, which included seal-carving, playing the zither, penning poems, as well as being skilled in Chinese medicine. He published the Chinese Medical Journal (《医学报》), a weekly journal on modern medicine, on 2 July 1901, and advocated the importance of hygiene. In addition, Yeh was one of the founders of Yeung Ching School (养正学校), and General Chinese Trade Affairs Association (新加坡中华商务总会), the precursor to the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (新加坡中华总商会).

Selected poems of Yeh were included in Yongweng Shicun (《永翁诗存》), and he was hailed as one of the most extinguished newspapermen and poets in Singapore. Yeh passed away on 9 September 1921, aged 62.

Selected books on Yeh Chih Yun

• 陈育崧. [Chen, Y]. (Year unknown). 南洋第一报人. Singapore: World Book Company. Call no.: RCLOS 079.5957 TYS. Yeh Chih Yun was both a famous newspaperman and poet. The book’s author researched extensively into Yeh’s life and works, including his poems and discussed Yeh’s righteousness and selflessness as the Chief Editor of Lat Pau for more than 40 years. This book is an important resource for studies on the history of overseas Chinese and the development history of Chinese newspapers.

• 陈鸿能. [Chen, H]. (2007). 华人与新加坡中医学: 从开埠1819年到建国1965年. Singapore: 新加坡中华医学会, pp. 23–31. Call no.: RSING 362.1095957 CHN. The author gave a detailed description of Yeh’s training in Chinese medicine, his contributions to the field of Chinese medicine in Singapore, his literary talents in poetry, and his contributions to Lat Pau.

• 衣若芬. [Yi, R]. (2016). 南洋风华: 艺文· 广告· 跨界新加坡. Singapore: 八方文化创作室, pp. 34–51. Call no.: RSING C814.3 YRF The author describes Yeh’s work at the newspaper Lat Pau.

• 陈育崧. [Chen, Y]. (1983). 椰阴馆文存——第二卷. Singapore: 南洋学会, pp. 397-410. Call no.: RSING 959.008 TYS. The author provides a detailed account of Yeh’s life, character, his work and contributions to Lat Pau, as well as a selection of his poems.

• 柯木林. (主编). [Ke, M. L. (Ed.)]. (1995). 新华历史人物列传 [Who’s who in the Chinese community of Singapore]. 新加坡: 教育出版公司, p. 15. Call no.: RSING 959.570092 WHO-[HIS]. The book contains the biographies of 1,175 Chinese personalities in Singapore, covering the period from 1819 to 1990. Each biography contains the birth and death dates, dialect group, occupation and affiliated organisations of the Chinese personality. A short biography of Yeh Chih Yun is included on p. 15.

Selected articles on Yeh Chih Yun

• 衣若芬. (2017). 叶季允与新加坡同济医院. 收录于杜南发、梁秉赋编，《同济医院150周年文集》，新加坡: 同济医院, pp. 206–213. The author researched extensively into the relationship between Yeh and the old Thong Chai Medical Institution, and gave a detailed account of Yeh’s life, as well as his contributions to the publication Medical Journal.

• 柯木林. (2014). 大时代的“风向标”——新华甲午人物五个人. 收录于《怡和世纪》，新加坡：怡和轩俱乐部, pp. 80-82. Call no.: RSING SER 369.25957 OPEHHC. Yeh immigrated to Singapore from Hong Kong in 1881, but had always cared deeply for the political situations in China. In this article, the author wrote about how Lat Pau responded to news about China during the Qing regime and after the Qing government was overthrown.

• 叶钟铃. [Yeap, C. L.]. (1992). 叶季允创办《医学报》始末 [Ye Jiyun and the Publication of the Medical Journal]. 收录于《亚洲文化》[Asian Culture] 第16期 (1992年6月)，新加坡: 亚洲研究学会, pp. 191–195. Call no.: RSING SER 950.05 AC. This is an account of the background and publication of Medical Journal to which Yeh had contributed from July 1901 to May 1902.

Selected newspaper articles on Yeh Chih Yun

• 衣若芬. 叶季允家门前. (2016, September 24). 联合早报. Retrieved from Lianhe Zaobao website. The author visited the shophouse that used to be Yeh’s residence, and reflected on Yeh’s life and his daily surroundings in the last 20 years of his life.

• 柯木林. 养正学校切莫忘了叶季允. (2011, September 20). 联合早报, p. 13. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. A detailed account on Yeh’s life and his contributions to Yeung Ching School, which he had co-founded, and the Singapore Chinese community, are included in this article.

• 何乃强. 养正学校没有忘记叶季允. (2011, September 21). 联合早报, p. 24. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. The vice-chairman of Yeung Ching School alumni wrote this short letter in response to assert that the School had not overlooked Yeh’s contributions to the School as one of its seventeen founders.

• 《叻报》主笔叶季允. (1987, May 17). 联合早报, p. 33. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. This is a short introduction on Yeh’s life and contributions to Lat Pau as the Chief Editor.