The newspaper was published under the name
Chinese General Merchants Daily from 1919 to 1923 when the
Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and
Daily Press co-owned the company. The contract later ended and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce published the paper on its own. In 1925, it was sold to Shum Wai-yau. It was renamed
Wah Kiu Yat Po and began publishing on 5 June 1925. In December 1941, the
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began.
Wah Kiu Yat Po was one of the few newspapers that were allowed to continue publishing. The newspaper used different writing strategies to pass censorship review by the Japanese military government and secretly convey anti-Japanese messages. On 1 April 1945,
Wah Kiu Man Po () was founded. The last issue of the newspaper was on 1 April 1988. In 1985, the founder Shum Wai-yau died. His son Shum Choi-sang was unwilling to keep running the newspaper. Therefore, in December 1991, the newspaper was sold to
South China Morning Post. The Post sold it again in January 1994 to Heung Shu-fai, who improved its sales. However, it still closed down for financial reasons on 12 January 1995.
Governor Chris Patten said he was very sad and that the paper had been famous for its integrity and commitment to community values. == References ==