Fang Xiu was a pioneer of Chinese literature in Singapore and Malaysia. A journalist, scholar, educator and literary champion, he single-handedly laid the foundations for the study of Malayan Chinese literature since the ’50s. In 1970, he published A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Malayan Chinese Literature, a 20-year labour of love that was the first ever collection and all-encompassing study of Malayan Chinese literature, comprising short stories, poems, dramas, prose, and literary criticism published in the six decades between 1919 and 1976. An essayist, poet and literary critic, he also wrote and compiled comprehensive histories of modern Malayan Chinese literature. In 2008, he received the inaugural Nanyang Literature Award from the Confucius Institute of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Born Goh Tze Kwang in Guangdong, China in 1922, Fang Xiu attained his primary and secondary education in Guangdong. After spending a year at a training institute for teachers, he moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with his parents in 1938, and found work in a factory manufacturing machine spare parts.

In 1941, he started working as a proofreader and a reporter on probation for the night shift at Xin Guo Min Daily News, beginning a long career in the papers. Working at the newspaper, Fang Xiu got to know many other journalists and writers who encouraged him to submit his writings for publication.

However, the Japanese army invaded Malaysia at the end of 1941, and Fang Xiu and his peers escaped to Singapore. They joined a youth cadre the following year, and lived out the rest of the World War II years in Singapore.

When the war ended in 1945, Fang Xiu moved back to Kuala Lumpur to work for Min Sheng Pau. The next year, he joined Zhong Hua Newspaper, and then returned to settle down in Singapore to become a primary school teacher, teaching in schools in Singapore, Johor and the Riau Islands in Indonesia.

In 1951, Fang Xiu returned to a career in journalism and became editor of Sin Chew Jit Poh and Sin Chew Weekly, rising to become chief news editor in 1956. During this period, Fang Xiu decided to document the development of Chinese literature in Singapore and Malaysia, and embarked on the monumental task of single-handedly compiling a history of modern Malayan Chinese literature and what would become A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Malayan Chinese Literature, a 10-volume collection that took him 20 years to complete and publish. Along the way, he also served as the editor for several publications including 《文艺》(Wen Yi), 《星期小说》(Xing Qi Xiao Shuo), 《青年知识》(Qing Nian Zhi Shi) and 《文化》(Wen Hua).

Fang Xiu’s task was aided by his own philosophy that writers should have good and honest characters and attitudes. Living a simple life completely consumed by his task, he stayed at home writing and compiling, only leaving to research at the newspaper offices or the libraries with his note book and camera, taking photos of research materials that he could not borrow. He used his earnings towards the collection, buying books for research, film for his camera and hiring assistants to make copies of research materials. His friends and fellow journalists also aided him by passing him old magazines and newspapers for him to scour for information.

In 1970, after two decades of putting his heart and soul into the collection, Fang Xiu published the complete A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Malayan Chinese Literature, the first ever collection and all-encompassing study of Singapore and Malayan Chinese literature, comprising short stories, poems, plays, prose, and literary criticism that were published in the five decades between 1919 and 1969. The anthology immediately became an important and authoritative reference on Chinese literature in Singapore and Malaysia, providing a significant and detailed record of Singapore Chinese literature for the first time. Fang Xiu also compiled and published other detailed anthologies on the topics of Malayan Chinese literature in the pre- and post-World War II periods and Chinese literature in Malaysia.

Besides his role at the Sin Chew newspapers, Fang Xiu also became a part-time lecturer at the University of Singapore in 1966, teaching courses on modern Chinese literature and Malayan Chinese literature. Through his teachings and the publication of A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Malayan Chinese Literature, Fang Xiu was an instrumental pioneer in the academic study of Chinese literature in Singapore and Malaysia.

Known among his peers for his modesty and gentle nature, Fang Xiu enjoyed sharing his knowledge and engage with his fellow writers to do his part in promoting and contributing to the development of Chinese literature in Singapore and Malaysia. Regarded as the foremost authority and a living encyclopaedia of Chinese literature, younger peers often visited him at his home to consult and seek advice. Fang Xiu came to mentor and guide many young writers in to ’60s through to the ’80s.

In 1978, Fang Xiu retired from both his newspaper and teaching jobs. Two years later, he became the chief editor of the bi-monthly literary magazine 《乡土》(Xiang Tu). In 1997, he founded 热带文学艺术俱乐部 Tropical Literature & Art Club, for which he served as a consultant.

Through the decades, Fang Xiu edited and compiled over 100 literary publications—many of them on the topic of Malayan Chinese literature—and wrote almost 70 poems. As a writer, he believed that literature should reflect the historical realities and the aspirations of people in Singapore and Malaysia.

For his invaluable contributions to Chinese literature in Singapore, Fang Xiu received the inaugural Nanyang Chinese Literature Award from the Confucius Institute of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2008.

In Feb 2010, he contracted pneumonia and was admitted into Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Fang Xiu passed away three weeks later at the age of 88.

In May 2010, the Tropical Literature & Art Club and the National Library Board organised In Memory of Fang Xiu: A Commerorative Forum at the National Library, with the club launching 《论说方修》Remember Fang Xiu, a collection of essays and poems by Fang Xiu’s admirers and friends. The event was attended by Singapore writers, scholars and friends of Fang Xiu, who shared their thoughts and memories of the Chinese literary giant.

At the event, Fang Xiu’s youngest child, Alan Goh, announced a donation of $40,000 towards a foundation for the Fang Xiu Literature Award, which was established in 2009 by the Tropical Literature & Art Club.