克城消息

Reflections on Tea and Conversation with Ying Pu, Publisher of the Erie Chinese Journal

Dear Readers,
Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down to a socially distanced tea with Ying Pu, Publisher of the Erie Chinese Journal. A New Year often brings reflection and Ying Pu mused that she has now lived in the U.S. for twenty-nine years, which is longer than the twenty-eight years she had lived in China. She told me that she loves both countries, and it is clear that her adopted country loves her back, for she has been honored and recognized on a number of occasions throughout the years by the City of Cleveland for her service to the community.
   As publisher of the Erie Chinese Journal, a bi-monthly publication, she has had the opportunity to meet heads of state and others in high positions, such as former U.S. Presidents Barak Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former First Lady Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, who was also a senator and secretary of state. Considering that meeting such personages is beyond the expectation of many average Americans, I asked her to tell me more of her amazing journey on the road from her childhood in China to her position now, of a well-known, well-respected and much beloved figure not only in the Asian-American community, but in the wider American community, encompassing people of all backgrounds.

   Ying Pu told of her days studying Public Relations at the University of Shanghai, saying that she loves people. To this I can assuredly attest, for I have seen her warmth, generosity and exuberant personality draw people to her like a gravitational force! (Even the family dog, who Ying Pu’s daughter, Diana, insisted must join the family, chose Ying Pu as his favorite. Keke, a miniature Schnauzer, joined us for tea… but don’t worry about Diana, she is now happily married and living in London.)
   Today, Ying Pu compares her newspaper to a strand of pearls: people are the pearls and the newspaper is the string which links them together. However, there were many years of hard work and uncertainty in the intervening years leading to the fulfillment of this lovely, poetic analogy, and Ying Pu spoke no English when she and her husband, Chester Lu, decided to come to the U.S. in 1991to further his studies in engineering and computer science.
   Their children, Diana and Frank were born in the early 1990s and Ying Pu worked as a waitress to help support her young family until her husband completed his advanced studies. Once her husband began working in his field, she was able to spend several years as a full-time mother, raising their children.

   Ying Pu’s inspiration to publish her own newspaper came in the early 2000s, after she had spent a few years writing articles for the World Journal, the largest Chinese language newspaper published in the U.S.
   Her longing to connect people, an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to earn her own income, she states, were all factors leading to her embarking upon the prodigious undertaking of becoming a publisher. From covering events, writing articles, taking photographs, soliciting ads and even delivering the print editions, Ying Pu has been a one-woman wonder, doing all of this in the early years, on a few hours of sleep per night. She works enormously hard, which her daughter confirms with an interesting story of a family vacation. Diana tells me that when she was young, the family went on a cruise, which was enjoyable to all… except Ying Pu. With thoughts of articles to be written, deadlines to meet and contacts to be made, she found it very nearly to be torture! Ying Pu’s memory of it now is of too much food and being separated from her work by too much water, a clear indication that she truly loves her work and the people she connects along her strand of pearls.

   Reflecting over the years, she states that her experiences in the publishing world have led to her growth in many ways, including spiritual growth. Her happiness comes from the happiness which she brings to others.
   Through the internet, the Erie Chinese Journal is available globally at www.ecjweb.net and she is proud of the fact that the print run of each edition numbers over 10,000 copies per issue and is distributed in areas of Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburg, New York and Chicago, among others. Covering stories of international, national and local interest as well as sports, human interest, entertainment and culture, her readership has come to depend upon the Erie Chinese Journal as an important part of their lives. Karis Tzeng, AsiaTown Project Manager for the non-profit MidTown Cleveland, cites the benefit to the community on many fronts, including the dissemination of valuable and reliable information to aid in protecting against the coronavirus. Particularly, Ms. Tzeng also noted the importance of the physical newspaper due to the lack of computer access in some areas.
   However, news organizations, both large and small were suffering in the pre-pandemic era, and now, Ying Pu notes, the struggle for survival in this era of pandemic is very real. As a testament to the value of her work, the Erie Chinese Journal was awarded a Covid-19 Local News Relief Fund grant from the Facebook Journalism Project Community Network Grant Program in May of 2020.
   As Ying Pu spoke of her love of the culture of both the east and the west, saying that being immersed in each makes life colorful, I could not help but recall the words of a 19 th century writer:
     “Trade has ever been the grand pioneer of civilization, and wherever in the past or present we find a nation or people engaged in commerce, we find also the highest type of civilization. Commerce between nations, as well as between people, breaks down national antipathies, removes local prejudices, and binds the whole family of man by the strong ties of association, and of mutual and dependent interests... How unlike war is its mission! The one showers upon a people wealth and happiness; the other riots in blood, misery and desolation!” (Prof G.A. Gaskell 1880)
   How very pleased I am to call Ying Pu my friend, knowing that her strand of pearls works to link the family of humankind, weaving a wealth of happiness along the way.