Expat mags: what rough beasts are slouching towards Beijing?

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Just what we need

In the last month, Beijing’s English entertainment magazine world was shaken by two pieces of news. Firstly, Time Out was pulled from the shelves by regulators because the magazine did not have a publication license.

SEEC, the company that owns Caijing recently bought the magazine’s operations together with its license agreement with Time Out international, but while the Chinese version (乐) does have a Chinese publication license, the English Time Out had always piggy-backed on the Chinese. GAPP, the regulator that controls magazines in China, finally decided that the piggy back arrangement was not kosher. However, sources at SEEC believe the problem will be sorted out, although probably only after the Olympics.

In the meantime, That’s Beijing has also caught a little trouble. China Intercontinental Press (CIP), which controls the That’s series of magazines and their publication licenses recently gave the boot to True Run Media who have been producing That’s Beijing for several years. They handed the magazine over to China Electric Power Press who forked over 10 million yuan for the privilege (see Chinese press release).

It is unknown whether China Electric Power Press is aware that Mark Kitto, founder of the That’s empire, has an unsettled trade mark dispute about the That’s brand with CIP. Although CIP removed Kitto from his position as founder and chief of That’s, they were not able to alter his ownership of the trademark, which was registered in China.

The old That’s Beijing team are now working on a similar city magazine due to be published in July and called The Beijinger.

But the English-reading public of Beijing still does not know what rough beast is slouching towards us from the offices of the new That’s Beijing team. A blog post by one of the new editors, subsequently scrubbed from the Internet, said they wanted to make a magazine with New Yorker style writing and W magazine layout. Oh dear.

Amidst the confusion and chaos in Beijing’s English language magazine scene comes a new entrant whose debut cover is reproduced above: Expat Mag, which calls itself a “premier luxury lifestyle magazine for expatriates”.

Because, you know, expatriates in Beijing and Shanghai are not exposed to enough advertising for luxury clothing brands, pens and watches. There is a clear and urgent demand amongst expatriate readers for breathy, bilingual advertorials about expensive expensive beauty products and accessories, and vacations in luxury spa resorts.

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