The Cold War and Southeast Asia: My Journalistic Life

★ Witness the Cold War from the perspective of Southeast Asian Chinese! ★
◎ Leaving firsthand testimony to the Cold War era in Southeast Asia ◎ Spanning the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the armed struggle of the Malayan Communist Party, and the separation of Singapore and Malaysia ◎ Collection of many precious news photos ◎ Retracing the life trajectory of a legendary journalist
Dedicate the best years of your life to journalism.

"Cold War and Nanyang: My Life in Journalism" is a review of the 70-year journalism life of the late Singaporean veteran journalist Chen Jiachang.

The "Cold War" in the title is the time dimension, and "Nanyang" is the spatial coordinate. It interweaves the most important historical nodes and key figures in his journalistic career, and writes about the Nanyang perspective in the Cold War.

From the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Bandung Asian-African Conference, the Baling Peace Talks, the separation of Singapore and Malaysia to the rise and fall of the Pan Asia News Agency , Chen Jiachang has visited every news scene and written about every geopolitical change. It is not only a career narrative of a journalist, but also a history of Cold War Asia written from the perspective of Southeast Asia.

"I first joined the newspaper as a reporter in late 1949 and quickly got into the swing of things. I believe I have a keen sense of news, a keen sense of perception, and a keen eye for the world. I speak Chinese, English, and Japanese, and besides my native Meixian Hakka dialect, I'm fluent in Teochew, Minnan, and Cantonese. Add to that my familiar Qiongzhou dialect and Malay, and you have nine languages ​​in total. They're all a great help to my work; they're all natural talents. I don't have anyone to guide me; all I need to do is understand what news is and be able to write it." — Chen Jiachang

Chen Jiachang (1931–2023)

A veteran Singaporean journalist, he previously worked for Chung Hsing Daily, Yi Shi Bao, China Press, and Pan Asia News Agency, covering Southeast Asian politics during the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s. With over half a century of journalism experience, he has covered stories such as the Bandung Conference, the separation of Singapore and Malaysia, Singapore's independence, student protests, the Welfare Bus Workers' Disturbance, race riots, and major regional diplomatic events.

write:
Vietnam: A Troublesome Neighbor (Pan-Asia News Agency, 1979)
Cambodia: A Prophesied Sacrifice (Pan-Asia News Agency, 1980)
"Learning from Japan, Watching Japan: The Realities and Facts of Japan's Number One" (Pan-Asia News Agency, 1982)
Vietnam, I'm on the Scene (Banfang Cultural Creation Studio, 2011)
Vietnam, I Was There: Memoirs of a War Correspondent (Ming Pao Publishing, 2012)
Vietnam War Confidential Files (China Development Press, 2014)
The Lee Kuan Yew I Know (Lingzi Media, 2015)
Beyond Island Nation Thinking: Lee Kuan Yew's Path to Nation-Building and Cross-Strait Relationships (Common World Culture, 2016)
Sixty Years of Sino-Cambodian Relations: Chen Jiachang's Historical Notes (Lingzi Media, 2018)
The PAP and the Rise of Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew's Military and Media Strategy as a Nation-Builder (Songye Culture, 2024)

Translation:
The Fall of Singapore: Three and a Half Years by Shinozaki Mamoru, translated by Chen Jiachang (Pan-Asia News Agency, 1982)

Preface News Life Seventy Years 3
A Thousand Miles of Marriage/Ozeki Ryoko 7
Preface to My Father's Life / Chen Lifen 11
Editor's Note/Lin Fengying 15
Historical Photos 1937-2019 21

Part 1 My Youth and Family <br />Chapter 1 My Father 59
Chapter 2 Our Big Family 73
Chapter 3 From Guangyang to Public Education 87
Chapter 4 Asking Me to Become a Pharmacy Apprentice 95

Part 2: Starting a Journalism Career at Chung Hsing Daily <br />Chapter 5: Entering the Journalism Industry 103
Chapter 6 Big Shots and Little Reporters 117
Chapter 7: Colonial Government's Leniency 137
Chapter 8 My First Shocking News Story 145
Chapter 9: Gossips from the Bandung Conference 167
Chapter 10: Reaching for the Wider Sky 175

Part 3 Song Dehe and the Pan-Asia Society <br />Chapter 11 Postwar Japan 187
Chapter 12 Song De and Occupied Japan 201
Chapter 13: Establishment of Pan-Asia Society 213
Chapter 14 Meeting in Yurakucho 231
Chapter 15 Tokyo Pan-Asia Society "Generation Change" 255
Chapter 16 Song Dehe's battlefield interview 263

Part 4: The Malayan Communist Party and the Turbulent Times in Malaysia and Singapore <br />Chapter 17: The Declaration of Emergency in Malaysia and Singapore 281
Chapter 18: Malayan Communist Party Turmoil 295
Chapter 19 Witnessing the “Baling Peace Talks” 311
Chapter 20: The History of Newspaper Industry 323

Part 5 My Days in Pan Asia Society <br />Chapter 21 My Days in Pan Asia Society 353
Chapter 22: Saigon and Phnom Penh Again 387
Chapter 23: News Agency "Transformation" and Self-Rescue 401
Chapter 24 Information Transformation New Products 413
Chapter 25: Boldly Launching a Japanese Weekly Bi-Daily Magazine 419