潮州鄉訊

吳以湘與《潮州鄉訊》

文：陳傳忠

吳以湘，一九一二年出生於澄海縣蘇灣都蓮陽鄉（今屬汕頭市澄海區蓮上鎮），為上世紀四十年代末創刊於新加坡的一份著名刊物《潮州鄉訊》的主編。

生長在「五四運動」時期的吳以湘，在「新文化運動」的熏陶下，少年時期就已經喜愛閱讀書報，對文學有濃厚的興趣也奠下深厚的文史根基。他南來新加坡後，曾到中正中學總校當老師教導國文（即華文）和史地等科目。吳以湘秉着一種讓僑胞通過家鄉事物，維繫鄉情的熱忱，用課餘時間辦起《潮州鄉訊》雙週刊。一九四七年八月，由他領導的編委會在新加坡小坡美芝路一七三號成立了「馬來亞潮州鄉訊社」，並交由當年的南洋印刷社承印，以每冊叻幣四角錢的售價，在南洋各埠的書局以及報社出售。《潮州鄉訊》的出版經費主要來自南洋各地潮州僑領的贊助和商家刊登廣告的收費，每兩週出版一期，每十二期合成一卷，自一九四七年創刊至一九六二年停刊，總共出版了廿六卷，二百七十三期。

《潮州鄉訊》一如其名，報導的主要是潮汕家鄉以及各地潮僑的訊息，涉及的內容多樣化，包括政治、經濟、歷史、地理、文化、風土民情、地方新聞等，也有人物專訪和行業特寫。此外，幾乎每一期的《潮州鄉訊》都闢有〈南洋潮僑動態〉，報導東南亞各地潮州人聚居地的近況，如馬來亞（今馬來西亞）的麻坡、亞羅士打、居林，印尼的占卑、泰國的曼谷等地，編者都曾撰文介紹。《潮州鄉訊》還有〈半月商情〉，報導汕頭和南洋多個地方重要物品如米、油、糖、豆類、咖啡、胡椒的價格，並附有金融行情。文化方面的內容則有潮州歌謠、掌故、俚語、俗謎、歇後語、方言等，不一而足。《潮州鄉訊》也闢有副刊，園地公開，稿源來自中國潮汕各地的新聞社、報社和社團，個人投稿者亦相當踴躍。

不過，中共在一九四九建立政權後，中國大陸與東南亞各地之間的關係日漸疏離，中、新兩地人民的交往也受到諸多限制，來自中國國內的稿源越來越缺乏，《潮州鄉訊》的內容從報導潮汕僑鄉的新聞，轉向着重報導東南亞潮團活動消息，最終在一九六一年左右停刊。除了稿源匱缺之外，鄉緣的越趨淡薄，或許也是迫使《潮州鄉訊》停刊的另一原因。《潮州鄉訊》停刊後，吳以湘在一九六四年又辦了一份新刊物《泛馬潮訊》（共出版五期），可惜這份雜誌沒幾年也停止出版了。

據吳以湘後人受訪時所述，除在中正總校任職外，吳以湘還在新加坡當地兩所夜校兼職，並替多家社團編寫特刊，剩餘的時間才用來編《潮州鄉訊》。吳以湘辦《潮州鄉訊》幾乎是「一腳踢」，從收集資料、寫稿，以至招廣告、約稿等，每每要工作至凌晨，而學校假期一到，他又得為稿件奔波於東南亞各地。幸好有其二弟吳以南以及中正同事陳詩豪等幫他校稿和整理資料，而有關潮州民俗和掌故方面的稿件，則有著名的潮州文人姚亞民和黃正經等為《潮州鄉訊》撰稿。

《潮州鄉訊》在當時的流通範圍相當廣泛，並具有一定的影響力，它的銷行地區自新、馬至暹羅、越南、印尼各地，在南洋各埠的潮州社群中擁有廣大的讀者群。新、馬地區的一些刊物如《馬來亞潮僑印象記》、《馬來亞潮僑通鑑》都曾對它作了介紹，並指出它是馬來亞潮僑唯一之定期刊物。《潮州鄉訊》上世紀四、五十年代曾在汕頭地區流通，一些報章在報導有關新、馬潮社概況時還曾引用過其中的資料。

作為當時一本僑刊，《潮州鄉訊》扮演了新、馬潮人與祖國家鄉、南洋其他地區潮社的聯繫紐帶，把新、馬潮人帶進家鄉和其他地區潮人社群的社會場景，為各地潮人建立起一個想像的共同家園。誠如吳以湘在創刊號裡所言︰「……來到這異域謀生的僑胞大眾，無論是誰，對於祖國故鄉的一切，其關懷之殷，想念之切，相信人同此心，心同此理了罷。…… 我們創辦了這個《潮州鄉訊》。我們將以誠懇而熱烈的心情，為我們的潮僑負起了溝通潮州消息的責任，翔實報導，嚴正批評，務使縱然僻居山芭海角的同鄉，讀了是刊，亦能憬然於故鄉的面貌，燃起其愛國愛鄉的情緒。」

《潮州鄉訊》雖然已停刊多年，而吳以湘也在一九八六年因心臟病去世，但該刊迄今仍是人們了解南洋潮人事蹟與成就的重要資科，是研究海外潮人學者所不可或缺的參考文獻，具有不容忽略的學術價值。

Goh Yee Siang and Teochew Home News

original text in Chinese by Terence Tan

translated by The Teochew Store

Goh Yee Siang (吳以湘) was born in 1912 in Nio-ior village, Sou-uang town, Thenghai County (澄海縣蘇灣都蓮陽鄉) (now Nio-zie town, Thenghai district, Swatow city [汕頭市澄海區蓮上鎮]). He was the editor-in-chief of a well-known publication Teochew Home News (潮州鄉訊) that was founded in Singapore in the late 1940s.

Growing up during the "May Fourth Movement" period, Goh Yee Siang came under the influence of the "New Culture Movement". He loved reading books and newspapers since his youth and through this developed a strong interest in literature and a solid foundation in historical knowledge. After he moved south to Singapore, he became a teacher at Chung Cheng High School (Main) and taught the “National Language” (國文 [i.e. Mandarin]) Chinese (Chinese), history, geography and other subjects. With a desire for overseas Teochews to maintain warm feelings for home through matters connected to their hometowns, Goh Yee Siang used his spare time to run the bi-weekly Teochew Home News.

This publication was started in August 1947 when he headed an editorial board to establish the Malaya Teochew Home News Society (馬來亞潮州鄉訊社) at 173 Beach Road, Singapore. Nanyang Publishing (南洋印刷社) was engaged as printer and the publication was sold at bookstores and newspaper agencies in major cities in Southeast Asia at the price of forty cents (Straits Settlements currency) per copy. The publication of Teochew Home News was primarily funded by the sponsorship of Teochew leaders from Southeast Asia different parts of the region and revenue from advertising by businesses. One issue was published every fortnight and every twelve issues formed one volume. From its founding in 1947 to its cessation in 1962, a total of 26 volumes and 273 issues of Teochew Home News were produced.

As its name suggests, Teochew Home News mainly reported about the Teochew region in China and Teochews living overseas. Its contents were diversified and covered politics, economy, history, geography, culture, customs, local news, etc. There were also personal interviews and features on businesses and industries. In addition, nearly every issue of Teochew Home News has a “Happenings with Teochews in Nanyang” (南洋潮僑動態) segment that reported on the recent situation of Teochew communities in different parts of Southeast Asia. For example, there were editorial write-ups introducing places including Muar, Alor Setar and Kulim in Malaya (now Malaysia), Jambi in Indonesia as well as Thailand’s Bangkok.

Teochew Home News also contained "Half-Monthly Business Information" (半月商情), which reported the prices of important commodities in Swatow and other places in Southeast Asia, such as rice, oil, sugar, beans, coffee, and pepper, along with financial market information. Culture-wise, there were contents on Teochew ballads and rhymes (潮州歌謠), anecdotes (掌故), slang (俚語), riddles (俗謎), allegorical sayings (歇後語), vernacular expressions, and so on. At the same time Teochew Home News was supplemented by articles from varied sources, such as news agencies, newspapers and groups in the Teochew region in China. Individual article contributions were also enthusiastic.

However with the Chinese Communist Party establishing its regime in 1949, ties between mainland China and Southeast Asia became distanced and exchanges between the people in China and Singapore were subjected to many restrictions. Consequently contributions originating from China grew increasingly scarce. Teochew Home News shifted the focus of its contents to news on the Teochew diaspora and the activities of Teochew communities in Southeast Asia. Finally it ceased publication in 1961. Besides a falling number of written contributions, weakening sentiments towards “home” was perhaps another reason that brought the publication to an end. Following this, Goh Yee Siang started a new publication in 1964, Pan-Malaysia Teochew News (泛馬潮訊). Unfortunately this venture only lasted a few years and produced five issues in total.

According to Goh Yee Siang's descendants who were interviewed, apart from his job at Chung Cheng High School, he also taught part-time at two night-schools in Singapore, wrote articles for a number of societies and used his remaining time to edit Teochew Home News. Goh Yee Siang virtually ran Teochew Home News all by himself, from collecting materials, writing articles, soliciting advertisements, seeking manuscript contributions, etc. He worked till dawn every day. Whenever there were school holidays, he had to travel to different places in Southeast Asia for the manuscripts. Fortunately, he had help from his younger brother Goh Yee Nam (吴以南) and Cheng High School colleague Tan See Haw (陳詩豪) in editing articles and collating materials. As for manuscripts on Teochew folklore and stories, Teochew Home News had support with contributions from renowned Teochew literary figures Yeo Ah-Min (姚亞民) and Ng Chia Keng (黃正經).

Teochew Home News was widely circulated at the time and had a degree of influence. It was sold in different countries from Singapore and Malaya/Malaysia to Siam/Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, and had strong readership following among Teochews living in key cities throughout Southeast Asia. Notable Teochew literature from Singapore and Malaya, such as The Impression of Teo-chews In Malaya (馬來亞潮僑印象記) and Teo-chews in Malaya (馬來亞潮僑通鑑), all wrote about it and highlighted it as the sole periodic publication of the Teochews in Malaya. Teochew Home News was also available in Swatow in the 1940s and 1950s, and some local newspapers even cited its materials for their reports on the situation of the Teochew communities in Singapore and Malaya at the time.

As an overseas Teochew publication during that period, Teochew Home News played the role of connecting Teochews in Singapore and Malaya/Malaysia with their ancestral hometowns in China as well as other Teochew communities elsewhere in Southeast Asia. By bringing the Singapore and Malaya/Malaysia Teochews into a common social setting with kindred in other places, it created an imagined common homeplace for Teochews everywhere.

As Goh Yee Siang wrote in the inaugural issue: “… to all Teochews now working for a living overseas, whoever you are, with regards to everything about our motherland and hometown, the things that we care for and miss, I believe everyone of us is of one heart and mind… (thus) we created Teochew Home News. We will with sincerity and enthusiasm, take on the duty of communicating news about Teochew to fellow overseas Teochews, report factually, criticise seriously, enable even our kindred living in the most remote places, after reading our publication, to long for the sights of home and be kindled with patriotism and love for hometown”.

Even though Teochew Home News has stopped publication for many years, and Goh Yee Siang passed away following a heart attack in 1986, the publication remains an important resource for understanding the deeds and achievements of Teochews in Southeast Asia. It is an indispensable source of reference for researchers studying the Teochew diaspora and possesses scholarly value that cannot be overlooked.

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