BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Highbrow magazines hit a low
By Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-12 08:27

Becoming marginalized

The ups and downs of Book Town illustrate how an "intellectual magazine" can become marginalized.

It was founded in 1993 by Ni Moyan, a renowned scholar of modern Chinese literature, with investment from the Shanghai Municipal Press and Publication Bureau. At first, it enjoyed quite a reputation among intellectual circles, with its stories often arousing widespread feedback and being reprinted by other media.

During the mid-1990s, the magazine claimed a circulation of 30,000. But it carried few advertisements, if any, and had to ask constantly for financial support from the municipal publication bureau.

In 1998, State-owned Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore Co Ltd took ownership as part of an industry-wide reform in which the government severed its ties with most magazines. 
But two years later, Sanlian Bookstore Co Ltd closed Book Town, which was losing more than 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) annually, according to a report in China Reading Weekly. It didn't reappear until December 2001, after 21st Century Newspaper Corporation bailed it out with money and editors.

By the end of 2004, the newspaper corporation had lost more than 3 million yuan (US$375,000) on the magazine. Book Town was abandoned again, but merely one month later it received new investment from four large enterprises in Beijing.

After struggling for another year, the magazine announced it would stop publishing again last December. Shanghai Jiu Jiu Reading Co Ltd provided funding in May to allow it to start up again.

The new investor wants the magazine to take on a fashionable look. On the editorial committee, popular writers have replaced college professors, and Yu Qiuyu, a well-known author, became the honorary editor-in-chief.

The new issue presented in June comprises mainly introductions to novels and other new books that are expected to become bestsellers, and also articles about the joys of life such as the mellow aroma of East China yellow rice wine.


Page: 1234

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)