Posted on: Sunday, September 12, 2004

OUR HONOLULU

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

James Yan, editor and publisher of the only Chinese-language newspaper printed in Hawai'i, the Hawai'i Chinese News, is finally making it pay better than driving a taxi, but it took quite a while.

He spent two years learning to type Chinese characters. As a taxi driver, he had no idea how to print pictures. So he took a graphics course at McKinley Community School for Adults. His leading columnist broke his typewriter and can't afford to buy a new one.

Don't despair. The last issue ran 20 pages and he's cut his workday to eight to 10 hours from 14.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him.

"That's a good question," he said. "When I drove a taxi, I saw no Chinese newspaper from Hawai'i. They are all sent here."

Yan said he saw a niche and filled it. Fortunately, he added, driving a taxi had taught his body to accept long hours without rest.

So I give you James Yan, living proof that you don't need millions of dollars to start a newspaper. You can do it with a computer, sweet talk, and the durability of an Energizer battery. Yan puts out his newspaper in two second-floor rooms downtown on King Street. Anybody who understands how a story gets from a reporter's notebook onto the printed page has to be in awe of him.

Because he does it in Chinese. One Chinese character sometimes represents three or more English words, each of which has to be pecked out on his Chinese typewriter. He said his first eight pages took two people 26 hours to put into print. By this time he's whittled eight pages down to 16 hours.

He said he has seven contributing reporters whom he pays $35 to $50 for 1,000 words, depending on the quality of the writing. He has a bigger problem finding writers in English, of which he prints two pages, than in Chinese, which fills the rest of the newspaper.

Yan takes his responsibility as a publisher seriously. Last year, when SARS outbreaks overseas were a concern, rumors were rife in Chinatown about Chinese cooks returning from China with the disease. Yan put together a special edition with the correct information, but he didn't have $500 to pay the printer.

He made the rounds asking for donations. The people of Chinatown, like the operator of a beauty parlor next to the newspaper office, chipped in. The edition came out.

An advertising salesman quit after one issue, so Yan sells all the ads. He and his wife load bundles of the Hawai'i Chinese News in the trunk and drop them off at supermarkets and restaurants. He also has 100 paid subscribers at $25 per year.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.