The first issue of FHM China arrived with a whimper earlier this month. It is being produced by the Trends Group, who also publish the Mainland version of Cosmo, Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire.
The inside of the magazine is pretty tame. And the cover does not use FHM’s logo, instead using the full name of the magazine. Still a little coy eh?
The cover girl is actress Zhao Wei (aka Vicki Zhao). Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: zhwj posted a comment on this article, pointing out that the China FHM may be “pushing the boundaries in a different way from the English FHM” referring to the large coverline that reads: Zhao Wei, Opium of the Youth.
Zhwj also asks ““How do the stories and pictures inside compare to, say, Ma(n)gazine?”
Mangazine has long articles, many of them pompously written pieces about rich people, occasional interviews and the odd fashion spread. In a Danwei article on Mangazine, you can see one of the more adventurous pieces they have done: a photo spread and article about sex blogger-turned-author Muzi Mei.
In stark contrast, FHM China contains cartoons, visual jokes and adolescent eye candy aplenty, most of it translated from other editions of FHM. It’s a fun read despite being comparatively tame.
Anyhow, print magazines in China will struggle to compete in the girlie pics competition with state-owned news wire Xinhua, which has become a close follower of beauty pageants. The image on the left was taken from an exhaustive collection of bikini-wearing Miss Universe competitors that you can find on Xinhua’s website here.
Internet portals are another provider of images for lads in the form of multi-media animated clips that you can download to a mobile phone. You can find the images pictured left on Sohu.com, here.