This photo ran in the 16 October issue of Southern Metropolis Daily. What kind of shady political infighting resulted in some award recipients getting snubbed by being placed in the black-and-white half of the picture?
As it turns out, there’s no hidden meaning intended; the strange coloring came out of advertising concers, as Mr. Zhang explains:
It turns out that page A08 was black-and-white, while A09 was color. They both had ads printed at the bottom; black-and-white on page 8 and color on page 9. The prices were set beforehand and could not be changed at will. So, to the editor’s chagrin, the news content came out like the above picture. This is a classic example of the way in which news gives way to advertising. Many of my colleagues saved that day’s paper; in the history of Chinese newspapers, this kind of two-faced photograph is not often seen.