The China Mail was an English-language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 published in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 from 1845 to 1974. David Smith

David Smith

-In sports:* Dai Smith , rugby league footballer of the 1900s, who played for Salford, and Other Nationalities* David Smith , South African Olympic sport shooter...

, who had started on the newspaper in 1971 as the sports editor, was the acting editor at the time of its closure. The Journalists Association of Hong Kong, headed by Jack Spackman, organised a sit-in at the China Mails offices to protest the number of journalists being sacked, some after many years' service, with no compensation. This was the first protest of its kind in Hong Kong to protect the rights of workers. Most of the European journalists and some of the local Chinese journalists were moved to the South China Morning Post

South China Morning Post

The South China Morning Post , together with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is an English-language Hong Kong newspaper, published by the SCMP Group with a circulation of 104,000....

which owned 80% of the China Mail or managed to obtain employment on other publications.