Chinatown: A History of Henry Wong & Shanghai Printing (Part 17)

While recently walking around Boston's Chinatown, I stopped at 16 Oxford Street, pictured above, which is the former site of the Shanghai Printing Company. This was once the only Chinese printing plant in New England, catering to the various Chinese laundries and restaurants. 

There's a Historical Marker at this address, showing a photo of the former owner, Henry Wong, standing at a wall of thousands of Chinese characters for his printing press.  

Henry Wong, also known as Henry Leung and Henry You Min Wong, was born in Canton, China around 1912-1913. Around 1928, when he was 15 years old, he traveled from China to California, and a year later, in 1929, he moved to Boston, where he had relatives in the area. Initially, Henry went to work at an uncle's laundry in Concord, New Hampshire, but he didn't like the work. So, Henry moved back to Boston, where he worked at his cousin's noodle factory, the Hop Yuen Noodle Company at 14 Oxford Street.   

His cousin also owned a printing press, a rarity in Chinatown, and Henry learned how to operate it. It seems that he finally found work which appealed to him, much more than laundry or noodles. Thus, when his cousin returned to China, Henry purchased the printing press and decided to start his own business. Although some sources he started his business when he was 18 years old, other sources state that Henry started the Shanghai Printing Company in 1932, when he was 20 or 21 years old. It's possible that when Henry was 18, he simply continued his cousin's business, under the same name, and then started Shanghai Printing 2-3 years later. 

Seventeen years later, in 1949, was maybe the first newspaper mention of Henry and his printing company. By this point, Henry was married, to Katherine Chin, and had two children, Eric (age 60 and Jeffrey (age 5). The Boston Globe, May 29, 1949, ran a brief article about Henry, with five photos, including the photo that is depicted on the Historical Marker. The article mentioned that Henry's printing plant owns 20,000 Chinese characters, which were manufactured in Shanghai! Henry owns an ancient dictionary he uses to determine the proper characters for almost any word, but he's expected to know the characters for about 8500 common words. The characters above spell out "Boston Globe." It was also noted that the Chinese want color printing in every shade possible so Henry must mix his own inks. 

The Boston Traveler, April 18, 1956, stated that the Shanghai Printing Company was the only Chinese printing press in New England, and printed tickets for every Chinese laundry in New England. It was also said that his type case has 10,000 Chinese characters, half the number than which was previously mentioned. Henry was helped by an assistant, Martin Murray, and while Henry set the type, Martin would run the presses. Personally, Henry was said to be 42 years old and now had 5 children, including three daughters, Stephanie, Leslie, and Valerie. 

Consider the great difficulty of printing Chinese because of the vast amount of characters that are needed. English only has 26 letters, so you don't have to search too hard to find the letters you need. But with Chinese, you need to look through thousands of characters, a lengthier and more laborious process. And one man, Henry, did all of that work, of locating the proper characters among all of those possibilities. 

Curiously, the Boston Traveler, August 10, 1956, had some contrary information, stating that Shanghai Printing was located at 14 Oxford Street, not #16, and that the shop only had 6000 Chinese characters, 4,000 less than their previous article detailed. The article also stated: “This firm is equipped to prepare booklets, menus, laundry checks and other job printing work in either Chinese of English.”  

A more detailed article was presented in the Boston Globe, January 29, 1960. It was mentioned that Henry's business was relatively small, and located one flight down at 16 Oxford Street. Henry and his assistant, Martin Murray, performed printing jobs, using three flat-bed presses, in both Chinese and English. Henry possessed about 16,000 Chinese characters, in a big type rack, and regularly uses about 4,000. “Each character is a word, though not composed of alphabetical elements.” The article also mentioned the dictionary he used. “If the type calls for a word with which Henry is not thoroughly familiar, he can refer to the book. It is a sort of catalogue which defines the required character, and discloses its number. Henry can then go to the rack and instantly find it.”

Henry only carried 14 and 18 point type sizes, and the characters come from China. Henry purchased the characters by the pound, which generally cost about $1.00. A pound of 18 point type had about 35 characters while 14 point type had about 50. Most of their print work included restaurant, laundry checks, and labels. And the most popular color for their printing jobs was red. 

It was briefly mentioned in the Boston Sunday Herald, July 18, 1965, that “All the laundry tickets for Chinese laundries in New England are printed at the Shanghai Printing Co. on Oxford St." 

The Sampan, January 1983, reported that, on January 6, there was a powerful explosion that destroyed the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association’s four-story brick and wood building at 14 Oxford Street. The storefront of Shanghai Printing, at 16 Oxford Street, suffered heavy damages. The Athol Daily News, January 6, 1983, reported that 14 Oxford Street also had three apartments, two of which were vacant. Some witnesses reported a smell of gas prior to the explosion. 

The Boston Globe, January 7, 1983, provided more details of the explosion. Four people were injured, including one man, a 59 year old restaurant worker, who fell four stories but only sustained some cuts on his feet. A natural gas explosion is thought to have been the cause. 

Ownership handed down in the family. The Boston Sunday Herald, August 18, 1991, noted that Shanghai Printing was now run by Henry's on, Jerry Wong. However, twenty years later, in 2011, Jeffrey shut down Shanghai Printing, in large part as he was unable to compete with the new computer printing companies. 

Unfortunately, the Boston Globe, March 21, 1992, reported that Henry You Min Wong had died on Friday, March 20, leaving behind his wife Katherine Chin, his five children including Eric Wong, Jefferey Wong, Stephanie Fan, Leslie Chan, and Valerie Wong, as well as 10 grandchildren. The Boston Globe, March 22, 1992, added that Henry, age 80, had died of heart failure. It was also noted that he established Shanghai Printing in 1932. In addition, he founded the Chinese Progressive Association in 1977, and was the honorary president since 1982. 

Chinese Progressive Association "...is a grassroots community organization working for full equality and empowerment of the Chinese community in the Greater Boston area and beyond. CPA was founded in 1977 out of a series of community organizing campaigns around issues such as Chinese parents’ input into the Boston school desegregation process and organizing for community control over land development in Chinatown. Our membership is made up predominantly of Chinese immigrants and the Chinese-speaking; most are workers in low wage industries, working families, or low-income elderly. CPA has no single issue focus because we believe that people have many concerns–jobs, education, freedom from discrimination, a clean and safe living environment. We have seen that once people achieve their rights in one aspect of their lives, they will be more likely to actively participate in solving other community problems."  

Henry stated, “The aim of the Chinese Progressive Association, as I see it, is to serve the community, and it also stands for the liberation of thought … I am happy to be able to do my share in the fight for racial equality. Whether we succeed or not, everybody must do what you can!” 

And that fight continues! 

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A History of Boston's Chinatown and Its Restaurants: 

Check out Part 1, covering the 18th & 19th centuries
Check out Part 2, covering the years 1901-1920
Check out Part 3, covering the 1920s.

Check out Part 4, covering 1930-1959

Check out Part 5, covering the 1960s
Check out Part 6, the tale of Ruby Foo

Check out Part 7, the tale of Anita Chue
Check out Part 8, the tale of Mary Yick
Check out Part 9, a Deeper Look into Two Restaurants

Check out Part 10: Sam Wah Kee: From Chinatown's Most Wealthy Merchant to Wanted Fugitive

Check out Part 11: An Early History of Chinese Herbalists in Boston

Check out Part 12: Dr. Ensang Chang: Boston's First Chinese Licensed Physician 

Check out Part 13: A Historic Look at Chinese New Year in Boston (1870-1890)

Check out Part 14: An Early History of Christmas in Chinatown

Check out Part 15: Chinatown, Little Syria & Its Restaurants

Check out Part 16: The Chinese Shoe Makers of North Adams

And also see my Compilation Post, with links to my additional articles about Chinese restaurants, outside Boston and in Connecticut, as well as a number of related matters.