How did Li Fang Bangqin acquire San Francisco Observer?

Li Fangbangzi was originally named Li Bangqin. More than 40 years ago, when Fang Zhouzi married her husband, according to the traditional custom in China, Fang Zhouzi's surname was added to her husband's surname. Her ancestral home is Hanchuan, Hubei, and she spent her childhood in the mainland. From 65438 to 0949, she went to Taiwan Province Province with her father, who was a railway engineer, and finished her studies in Bao Dao.

Li Bangqin has a beautiful youth. She is warm, cheerful, ambitious and beautiful. She has been a good student with excellent academic performance since middle school. After graduating from high school, she was admitted to the Frontier Politics Department of Taiwan Province Political University. She is the only girl in the department, also known as the "beauty queen". She not only served as the chairman of the student self-government association of the university, but also was elected as the general chairman of the Taiwan Province Youth Day celebration meeting.

The history of Fangjia people running newspapers in the United States can be traced back to 40 years ago. 1960, she met and married John Fang, a master of journalism who studied in the United States, and then immigrated to the United States with him.

When she first arrived in a foreign country, her life was very difficult. In her own words, she suddenly "fell from the sky to the ground" and "changed from a peacock to a hen". She gave birth to three sons. In order to support them and make a living, she worked hard with her husband and suffered a lot. Especially for a period of time, her husband was ill for three years, and the burden of family life was all on her shoulders. In order to make up for her family, she even has to work three jobs at most. She is alone, helpless, busy with her children's food and drink, and has to go to the hospital to deliver meals to her husband. Although she is bitter, she is too busy to sit down and cry. Only by putting the children to bed at night and taking time to fill their stomachs with a bowl of noodles will the wronged tears fall into the bowl and be swallowed with the noodle soup. Even so, she can't cry for long, because she will go to a printing factory to work the night shift. ...

Nevertheless, Li Fang Bunchin still gritted his teeth and never fell down. She said to herself: You can walk with your back bent or climb down, but don't fall down. If you fall, you'll never get up again. She always encourages herself with such a motto: "Yesterday has passed, and living today is to prepare for how to spend tomorrow." She believes that one day she will change from a hen to a peacock and walk with her head held high.

She ran around with her husband, got a loan, bought some old machines and set up a small printing factory. She is both a boss and a worker, doing all kinds of heavy work, including pushing 1000 pounds of roll paper to the printing machine ... This is how Fang's industry has gradually developed, from printing to booming business and real estate.

John Fang, the husband of Li Fang Bunchin, often gives speeches in Chinese newspapers, calling on China people to participate in politics and make China people's own voice in politics.

Li Fang Bunchin and John Fang believe that Chinese newspapers can gather Chinese people and spread homesickness, but in English-speaking society, Chinese newspapers will never become the mainstream voice. Americans can't read China newspapers. Although China newspapers often publish China people's views on the American government and society, only through translation can Americans understand this, just like scratching their boots. If you want the mainstream society to feel your presence and listen to your voice, you must run an English newspaper. China people can never just live in Chinatown.

1In August, 979, when the time was ripe, Fangjia began to March into the newspaper industry. Founded in San Francisco, AsianWeek is aimed at Asian Americans, including all Asian Americans except Chinese. Soon, Asia Weekly set up its own offices in new york, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and Hawaii.

Eight years later, 1987, they bought the independent, a four-page community newspaper. At that time, about 40 thousand copies were issued, and the scope was limited to ParkMerced in San Francisco. A year later, another English-language newspaper in San Francisco, Progress, closed down due to poor management. The Fang family seized the opportunity and concentrated on changing the Independent, which had only four editions, into a major newspaper for the whole city, covering the basic readers of the original Progress newspaper. Since then, the Independent has also published a regional edition of the Central Peninsula.

Under the management of John Fang, both English newspapers are getting better and better, and their circulation has greatly increased, which has greatly promoted the progress of Asian communities and encouraged Asian people to participate in politics. John Fang became so famous in San Francisco that after his death, people specially built his memorial wall in the Asian Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and established a John Fang Scholarship at San Francisco State University.

John Fang died in April 1992. His death was a great blow to Li Bangqin, which made her very sad. However, on the fourth day after her husband's death, she held back her sadness, dried her tears and appeared in her husband's office with a determined look. She knows that now is not the time for her to be sad. Employees are waiting for her to get paid, newspapers are waiting for her to make a decision, and Fang Jia's whole career is waiting for her to support and continue. She greeted the expectant eyes of the employees and resolutely said, "Although Teacher Fang has left, there are still people in Fang's family and me!" She, a weak woman, with three adult sons, spent another difficult period in Fang Jia's history. As Li Fang Bunchin himself said, "If your shoulders can bear 100 Jin, you will succeed. If your shoulders can bear 10,000 Jin, you will succeed. In short, people who can carry heavy burdens are successful people. "

1In the spring of 1993, Fang Jia acquired 1 1 English newspapers in the central peninsula, which were originally under the name of Chicago Newspaper Group and were all incorporated into the "Independent Department". It lasted only 1 1 year, and finally developed into a huge newspaper system with considerable political influence rooted in the mainstream society in the Bay Area.

At this point, the "Independent Department" has become the largest non-daily newspaper department in the United States, with a circulation of more than 500,000 copies per issue, and 85% of families in San Francisco alone have become its readers.

Of course, for Li Fang Bonqin, the best time in her life was in 2000. As some media have said, "She wanted to be a peacock, but unexpectedly she became an eagle." The so-called "becoming an eagle" refers to the acquisition of the San Francisco Observer, because the emblem of the Hearst family and the San Francisco Observer is an eagle with wings spread.

The ancestors of the San Francisco Observer were hostile to China people, and Li Fang Bunchin actually "had an impulse to take it down one day". I didn't expect this opportunity in August of 1999. At that time, the Hearst family bought San Francisco Chronicle, another English newspaper in San Francisco, and prepared to merge it with San Francisco Observer. Because it violated the anti-monopoly law of the United States and was opposed by the government and the judicial department, it had to sell the San Francisco Observer. Bangqin and Fang enterprises participated in the bidding competition with the confidence of winning. As an Asian, one year's ups and downs made Li Fang Bunchin fully aware of all kinds of injustice in white society. In fact, some people in the white society were very afraid of Fang's acquisition of San Francisco Observer, so after Fang won the bid, Fang's white opponents formed a party and went to court again and again. They invited eight experts to talk in court for four days, and there was only one theme: Fang Jia would destroy the observers, so he could not sell them.

Bang Qin knows the crux of this storm, only because Fang's family is an Asian family and also a China family. She was very angry. She took the opportunity of attending the white rich party and shouted: "In fact, people in the United States are immigrants, depending on whether they came from Europe, Asia or Africa, 200 years ago or two years ago ... Don't forget, everyone is an immigrant!"

Despite setbacks and bumps, Li Fang Bangqin finally won the lawsuit. It can be said that she won and succeeded with indomitable personality. Her success has a great influence on encouraging Chinese to enter the mainstream American society and has become an example for Chinese to explore their careers in the United States.

On September 8, 2000, Willie Brown Jr., Mayor of San Francisco, awarded Li Fang Bonqin the "Outstanding Chinese Award" in recognition of her contribution to promoting the prosperity and progress of the United States and improving the status of Chinese in the United States, and announced this day as "Li Bangqin Day".

The celebration atmosphere of "Li Fang Bangzi Day" was warm, with as many as 1500 people coming to congratulate and the dragon and lion performance team. There were so many people that they had to be divided into two venues. Watching the jubilant scene of dragon and lion dancing, Li Fangbangqin remembered a sentence: "China people in the United States can't just sit in the passenger seat of the bus, but also sit in the driver's seat behind the steering wheel." This is what her husband John Fang said before he died.

Many Asian ethnic groups in the United States and even mainstream American society regard Li Fang Bunchin as a legend. On the other hand, Li Fang Bonqin has another opinion: "Some people say that I am a legend, but there is no legend at all. These achievements of mine are the result of seizing every small opportunity and working hard. Every experience and stone under your feet is the cornerstone of your success. If they are not strong, you may get up, trip or even fall. "

Li Fang Bunchin said: "Opportunities keep slipping away from us, depending on whether you can seize them. Sometimes you catch it, but you're not ready. Success lies not in opportunities, but in whether you have enough quality and preparation. In the 40 years since I came to the United States, I have suffered for 20 years, but I have not wasted it. I am accumulating and doing it silently. A gentleman makes money in a proper way. I am braver than my husband in business. I think that as long as you do everything sincerely, there will always be good results. "

However, Li Fang Bunchin said more than once, "The reason why our family can achieve today is the result of my husband John Fang, me and my three sons. Now it is not a person who supports the enterprise kingdom, but a family. John Fang left with me, my son was behind me, and now I have a grandson. Although I have lived in the United States for more than 40 years and my three sons were born in the United States, we will always have the blood of the Chinese nation, which cannot be changed. "

From a small printing workshop, it has developed into the largest non-daily newspaper group in the United States; From a restaurant in China to many industries including Chinese weekly, English newspaper, printing house, real estate, pasture, computer company and film and television company, Li Fang Bonqin has become a strong woman in business.

Former US President George H.W. Bush wrote in the preface of Biography of Li Fang Bunchin: "The United States is a fairy tale in which immigrants build their homes on a piece of land and open up their lives. The story of Li Fangbangqin is a chapter in this fairy tale. "