Practicing journalism at a fashion magazine

Esquire, August 2008

To its admirers, Southern Metropolis Daily is a bastion of independent investigative journalism and astute commentary — a commercial paper with a social conscience. To its detractors, it's a den of rightists and traitors.

The men's magazine Esquire seems worlds away from that newspaper. Published in China by the Trends Group under the name 时尚先生 ("fashion man"), it sounds like a men's version of women's glossies like Harper's Bazaar (时尚芭莎) or Cosmo (时尚·Cosmopolitan), whose periodical registration it borrowed for its first few issues. The Chinese Esquire lacks the "new journalism" pedigree and reputation for short fiction that distinguishes the American edition; the weightiest story in the August issue (pictured, with Kris Philips on the cover) is an abridged translation of a Chris Jones profile of John McCain.

So it might come as a surprise to learn that a top editor at Southern Metropolis Daily is leaving to become editor of Esquire. Dou Jiangming, an SMD editor known for his activism on behalf of the Shanxi kiln slaves, will take over the position currently filled by Wang Feng.

He explained his reasoning in a recent blog post:

Taking over from Wang Feng comes as a surprise to many people.

I believe that this surprise is rooted in misunderstanding.

On one side is a misunderstanding of Southern Metropolis Daily.

One typical misreading sees Southern Metropolis Daily as "anti-Chinese media." The little shits* would do better to read over the Report from the 17th Party Congress to learn what progress the party has made, and to reflect on the stench they've brought back from the garbage dump of history. What SMD article violates the spirit of today's party? Some people have set up Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science* as imaginary enemies and want to bind the party to themselves. It's pretty ridiculous. SMD is Chinese media, like the rest of the country's media.

And there are others who see Southern Metropolis Daily as grass-roots journalism. So concern for the people's welfare, for society, and for the disadvantaged isn't mainstream conversation among society's elite? Besides, you'd be blind not to notice the Southern Metropolis Daily's influential entertainment and sports reporting.

On the other side is a misreading of Esquire, just as I misread it at first, too. Maybe you're misled by the name, with "fashion" as an attributive. But if you flip through the past few years of "Fashion Man," you'll find it's an abnormal sort of fashion magazine: its understanding of China, its concern for society, and its reaction to the world are all far beyond anything that the word "fashion" conjures up.

"Fashion Man" is the Chinese edition of the high-end international men's magazine Esquire, which was a trailblazer for "new journalism." The magazine reported on massacres of civilians by American troops during the Vietnam War.

One impression people have is that fashion magazines don't care about the public interest: they care only for personal enjoyment. But it's hard to imagine that someone like that would win the respect of others. Men's magazine have a sense of social responsibility that's almost intrinsic.

Before I joined the magazine, I wrote a letter to Zhang Xiaodong, Esquire's assistant publisher [and general manager], to communicate my thoughts. Perhaps it will explain things for you:

I have connected myself with fashion, even after working entertainment at Southern Metropolis Daily for nearly ten years and running eight Chinese Film Media Awards. For Southern Metropolis Daily's ten-year anniversary, I wrote up a retrospective piece, "My memories of SMD," which basically described what things were like.

When I came to Beijing last year, I was no longer in charge of entertainment. I was working on developing the Beijing office, while at the same time I also put my energies toward China's "black kiln" situation (for which I started a blog, In search of recovered kiln workers who vanished), something even further removed from fashion.

So when Esquire looked me up for the editor's position, my initial response was, "impossible." Embarrassingly, I had only a superficial acquaintance with the magazine, so I truly felt that I had very little in common with it. But after I looked into it, I found out that I had actually come across a lot of its articles while browsing the Internet, and then I discovered that Esquire and I really did cross paths.

The surface intersection is in the entertainment world, particularly from the many years I've spent following the film world. But I've found more important ones. Current editor Wang Feng said, in regard to the basic idea of Esquire, "This magazine should represent the most advanced social productive forces, the most advanced ideas and culture, and the ideals of China's most advanced social classes. I feel these 'three represents'* basically encompass the content and values of this magazine."

Naturally, this reminded me of how Southern Metropolis Daily defined its position: "A recorder of the progress of time, a nurturer of modern society, and an inspiration for civic awareness." China is in the throes of the most intense transition in its history, and media stuck in the limited confines of the superficial meaning of "fashion" has no way to follow through with its interest and concern and for the times we live in. Esquire and Southern Metropolis Daily speak to different audiences, but they have similar ways of thinking.

Of course, I'm absolutely not saying that I want to turn Esquire into a "Southern Metropolis Man" under my editorship. I'm only trying to say that SMD has had a deep impact on me, and this impact intersects with the way that Esquire's positioned. Now that I've found this intersection, I've also found enough interest and confidence to take over as editor.

But besides that intersection, naturally, many differences remain. A friend asked me, will you change? Another asked, will Esquire change? I don't really want to use the word "change"; I'd rather use "growth." Of course, the difference from the physical meaning of the word (where the ultimate result is maturity and then senility) is that this growth is unlimited: through dialogue and struggle with the world, it becomes ever more powerful.

Note 1: 粪粪, a derogatory name for "angry youth" (愤青, by way of the homophone 粪青, "shit youth").
Note 2: 德先生赛先生: May 4-era terms for Democracy and Science
Note 3: Three Represents, in Jiang Zemin's formulation, has the party represent advanced social productive forces, the progressive course in China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the majority.