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Practicing journalism at a fashion magazinePosted by Joel Martinsen on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 11:32 AM
To its admirers, Southern Metropolis Daily is a bastion of independent investigative journalism and astute commentary — a commercial paper with a social conscience. To its detractors, it's a den of rightists and traitors. The men's magazine Esquire seems worlds away from that newspaper. Published in China by the Trends Group under the name 时尚先生 ("fashion man"), it sounds like a men's version of women's glossies like Harper's Bazaar (时尚芭莎) or Cosmo (时尚·Cosmopolitan), whose periodical registration it borrowed for its first few issues. The Chinese Esquire lacks the "new journalism" pedigree and reputation for short fiction that distinguishes the American edition; the weightiest story in the August issue (pictured, with Kris Philips on the cover) is an abridged translation of a Chris Jones profile of John McCain. So it might come as a surprise to learn that a top editor at Southern Metropolis Daily is leaving to become editor of Esquire. Dou Jiangming, an SMD editor known for his activism on behalf of the Shanxi kiln slaves, will take over the position currently filled by Wang Feng. He explained his reasoning in a recent blog post: The intersection of Southern Metropolis and Esquireby Dou JiangmingTaking over from Wang Feng comes as a surprise to many people. I believe that this surprise is rooted in misunderstanding. On one side is a misunderstanding of Southern Metropolis Daily. One typical misreading sees Southern Metropolis Daily as "anti-Chinese media." The little shits* would do better to read over the Report from the 17th Party Congress to learn what progress the party has made, and to reflect on the stench they've brought back from the garbage dump of history. What SMD article violates the spirit of today's party? Some people have set up Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science* as imaginary enemies and want to bind the party to themselves. It's pretty ridiculous. SMD is Chinese media, like the rest of the country's media. And there are others who see Southern Metropolis Daily as grass-roots journalism. So concern for the people's welfare, for society, and for the disadvantaged isn't mainstream conversation among society's elite? Besides, you'd be blind not to notice the Southern Metropolis Daily's influential entertainment and sports reporting. On the other side is a misreading of Esquire, just as I misread it at first, too. Maybe you're misled by the name, with "fashion" as an attributive. But if you flip through the past few years of "Fashion Man," you'll find it's an abnormal sort of fashion magazine: its understanding of China, its concern for society, and its reaction to the world are all far beyond anything that the word "fashion" conjures up. "Fashion Man" is the Chinese edition of the high-end international men's magazine Esquire, which was a trailblazer for "new journalism." The magazine reported on massacres of civilians by American troops during the Vietnam War. One impression people have is that fashion magazines don't care about the public interest: they care only for personal enjoyment. But it's hard to imagine that someone like that would win the respect of others. Men's magazine have a sense of social responsibility that's almost intrinsic. Before I joined the magazine, I wrote a letter to Zhang Xiaodong, Esquire's assistant publisher [and general manager], to communicate my thoughts. Perhaps it will explain things for you:
Note 1: , a derogatory name for "angry youth" (, by way of the homophone 粪青, "shit youth"). Links and Sources
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The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
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