Fil-Chinese newspaper ed makes bid for Guinness

A journalist for seven decades in the Philippines who once ran an underground media blitz against occupying Japanese forces is claiming to be the world’s longest-serving newspaper editor-in-chief.

Sy Yinchow, an 84-year-old Chinese-Filipino, said the Guinness Book of World Records should be rewritten to acclaim him "the longest-serving, living editor-in-chief of daily newspapers."

According to the Guinness Book, the late Sir Etienne Dupuch holds the "world’s longest editorship" spanning 72 years – he was editor-in-chief of the Nassau Daily Tribune in the Bahamas from 1919 to 1972 and a contributing editor until his death in 1991.

But Sy, who has been editor-in-chief for the past 58 years, claims that Sir Etienne had been the top editor for only 53 years.

"A contributing editor is not editor-in-chief, is only an editor in name," Sy told AFP at his spartan residence in Manila’s Chinatown, where he has lived since he immigrated to the Philippines from China’s Fujian province at the tender age of three.

Aside from his main job as a journalist, the octogenarian is a world renowned literary figure and an ex-statistician, which is probably why he is so particular about records.

Once a senior member of the World Association of Track and Field Statisticians, he was recruited by its former secretary general, N. D. McWhirter, who ironically happened to be the founding editor-in-chief of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sy, a father of six grown-up children with successful careers, indicates that a place in the Guinness Book would be the ultimate reward for his colorful career.

"In 1999, I was already acclaimed the longest-serving newspaper editor-in-chief" by a Beijing state-run publication, said Sy, who has penned more than 20 books and translated more than 100 English and 72 French poems into Chinese.

He is currently the chief editor of the United Daily News, a leading Chinese-language daily in the Philippines, where he is regarded as the dean among Chinese media practitioners.

He is also an honorary president of the Hong Kong-based World Association of Chinese Writers and fellow of the International Writing Program of the US-based University of Iowa.

Sy began his news editorship stint in 1945 when he steered the underground publication, the Manila New Day, against the brutal Japanese occupation.

"Those were dangerous times," he recalled. "Some people poked fun by asking me: you want your head chopped off by the Japanese?

"But this is no laughing matter because I later heard that the wife of the French military attaché in Manila at that time who had taught me French was executed by the Japanese military – she was accused of being part of an international spy network."

Sy said although his "precise" translation of English poetry to Chinese had earned him many accolades, "my burning ambition is to be a noted translator of poetry from Chinese to English."

He has already completed translating 120 Chinese poems for publication soon. "The Chinese-to-English translation matches word for word, rhyme for rhyme and meter for meter and this will be my greatest achievement," said Sy, an English department scholar at the University of the Philippines before the Second World War disrupted his studies.

"The English he uses continues the tradition of Wordsworth, Keats (top English poets of the 19th century)," P.C. Hsia, a professor at Columbia University and considered among the best Chinese writers in English, said in a report.

Looking very fit for his age, Sy, an ex-medium-distance runner who exercises regularly, lives with his 82-year-old wife, Jade Co, acclaimed a "model Filipino mother" by the Chinese community.

Despite their age, "we still have sex," chuckled Sy, but not insisting that this be also etched in the record books. — AFP