This summer’s China publishing fad is the trash celebrity magazine, and for good reason: When you can’t write about news, why not write about frivolous nonsense!
Beijing Youth Weekly is a well-established trash weekly, as is the weekend edition of Beijing Daily Messenger newspaper, printed on pink paper. This year’s new players are sure to take journalism to lows or heights never before seen in the People’s Republic. The majority of the new publications are magazines (as opposed to newspapers) : A Chinese version of ‘OK!’ is supposed to launch later this month, and every week the newsstands see a clutch of less-renowned local arrivals printed on glossy paper.
One of the top players so far is 8 Weekly. The square format is different from most of the other trash magazines and newspapers, but what really makes it stand out is the true paparazzi style of some of the photo essays, such the cover story of this issue (May 25).
As you can see from the image on the right, a journalist spied on a date between singer Zeng Xiuwen (Sammi) (who used to be singer Xu Zhi’an‘s grilfriend) and an unidentified rich guy. The photographic evidence gathered by the journalist is helpfully arranged in chronological sequence, and laid out on the magazine’s page with little arrows to guide the reader through the date.