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Magazines
Two magazines for menPosted by Banyue on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 6:18 PM
 Zhou Qiao Today's dose of Chinese print media is a two for one: both lads magazines. The first is a magazine that should looks like the Chinese edition of Maxim and contains a lot of content from Maxim, but the only way you would be able to guess that is from the email addresses of the editors: @maximonline.com.cn. Oh, and there's also a tiny little 'M' in the Maxim logo typeface on the spine. It's probably pretending not to be Maxim for some reasons related to its publication license. In the meantime, its calling itself Fengdu (风度) which means something like style, manners or fashion. Maxim is produced by Crossline Advertising Co., a Beijing entity controlled by the South China Morning Post Group, using a publication license from the Foreign Language Publishing and Distribution Bureau.  Zhou Xun FHM China is also a little shy about its name: it does not use the FHM logo, but has 'FOR HIM MAGAZINE' underneath the Chinese logo 男人装 (man's clothes). FHM China launched in 2004. It is published under a licensing agreement by Trends Group (时尚杂志社), which also publishes Cosmopolitan and several other foreign titles. Both are lads magazines, so their content is very similar: girls, cars, gadgets etc. One exception is that Fengdu has a military feature, which FHM doesn't. Interestingly, Fengdu's cover girl is a hot model Zhou Qiao, who is not very well-known. FHM's is a popular movie star, Zhou Xun, but she's not so hot. But both their surnames are Zhou. |
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Comments on Two magazines for men
NOOOOOOO! STOP THE MADNESS!
Yet another magazine cover featuring Zhou Xun! Why? Why?
Aren't there any other sexy, charming and beautiful Chinese girls around? Of course there are! So why the covers of these magazines (including women's magazines) always feature the same faces. ALL THE BLOODY TIME!
Not long ago Zhou Xun was already featured on the cover of FHM. Now what? Again? Spare us, please! (there's no way we are going to get rid of her, given that she's now ALSO on Motorola's new ad campaign together with another rarely seen face: Jay Zhou...). Whatever...
A nice summary until the closing sentence, where Banyue had one of those increasingly popular "brain explosions":
"...but she's not so hot."
Sheesh.
I agree with Shan, Banyue's last sentence was a bit strange. From the safety of Bloglines, I could tell that the writer was not Jeremy or Joel. And then to continue the strangeness, she points out the obvious - both their surnames are Zhou.
Hi Jeremy! Maybe we could start a 'Maxim' type magazine here in China?
Zhou Xun gets tons of magazine covers, but few of the shoots seem to know what to do with her - they rarely put her in the sort of sexy, provocative poses that you'd associate with men's mags (like on Maxim, above), so I'd agree with Banyue that she doesn't come across as all that 'hot', really.
Then again, Danwei's assessment of the first mainland issue of FMH back in 2004 was that it "arrived with a whimper," with a cover featuring a remarkably un-sexy Vicki Zhao, so maybe the magazine's just catering to an audience that's not too demanding. Someone ought to do a month-by-month critique and comparison of how hot the cover models are on the different lads' mags....
This is ridiculous. I used to enjoy reading Danwei because of the writers' insightful and often witty analyses of Chinese media and culture. Then I read this post. What exactly are we supposed to be getting out of this? One model is hotter than another who has the same surname. Fascinating.
WHAT!? Zhou Xun is not the sexy type with big boobs, but she's got quite a pretty face! I'd like her more if she's younger. (I think she's 30 now.) But still... She's worthy of being on the cover!
What do you mean when you say "military feature" in regards to Fengdu magazine? What exactly is that?
[EDITOR'S NOTE (JG): It's a story about war games / simulations played by miltary forces in the Asia Pacific region]