ABSTRACT
Chinese language media have been on the American scene since the earliest Chinatown but only recently have they achieved the status of an influential ethnic institution serving both social and economic functions. In much of the pre-World War II era, the Chinese immigrant community was essentially an isolated bachelors’ society consisting of a small merchant class and a disproportionately male working class who were legally excluded from participating in the mainstream American economy and social life. Chinese language media did not form a significant ethnic institution at that time, because of the extremely low levels of literacy and Chinese language proficiency among many older immigrants, the limited scale of ethnic economies, and the face-to-face patterns of interaction among coethnic members in segregated enclaves. Nevertheless, occasional and back issues of newspapers and magazines published in China, and concentrating almost entirely on China or China-related events and topics, did circulate among the small Chinatown elite. There were also publications of community newspapers and newsletters, but circulation was small and was confined to Chinatown. Not until the late 1970s did Chinese language media start to take on a dual role as both an ethnic social institution and an economic enterprise.
