Small Swords is a promising new online magazine, produced in Shanghai. It’s an elegant and slightly eccentric collection of photos, essays and articles most of which are about Shanghai and China, although there are also stories such as A Salute to the Greatest Crotches in Rock History, and a column ‘that explores subjects related to the word “China” but completely unrelated to the People’s Republic of China’ called Not That China.
This is where their name comes from, according to their ‘about‘ page:
The name “Small Swords” references the Small Swords Society, a political organization that occupied Shanghai toward the end of the Qing Dynasty and launched a systematic takeover of the city’s Chinese districts, at the same time strategically preserving the foreign concessions.
Although Small Swords Magazine does not share the militarism or political beliefs of its namesake, we do admire the society’s bravery, kindness to Westerners, and most of all, its name.
Small Swords’ current feature story is an interview with Howard W. French, Shanghai correspondent of The New York Times.
French has some interesting thoughts on China and Africa.
About the “the potential of English-language journalism in China”, he had this to say:
English-language journalism is largely invisible within China, and one should not expect it to have much of an impact here.