Chinese magazines - recommendations?

[yonitabonita]

Hi folks,

For variation in my studies, I've taken to branching out beyond text books. I tried out 读者 and while it's ok, I find many of the articles too mushy mushy touchy feeling for regular reading.

If there's a magazine out there that's got the same tone as antiwave podcasts, I'd really like to know about it. That is, critical, but still approachable. ie, I don't think I'd do too well reading academic texts.

It'd be a bonus if I can get it at regular news stands.

Any suggestions?

thanks in advance,

Y

[gato]

To quote myself:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=102157#post102157

you might find 三联生活周刊 (Life Week) interesting. It's a bit like Time magazine.

http://www.lifeweek.com.cn/

There's also 南方周末 (Southern Weekend), which aims at a somewhat more intellectual set.

http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20070308/

There is a bit of over-focus (IMHO) in Life Week to introduce Western culture to a Chinese audience. But to me, Antiwave has that same tendency, so you may not mind.

Southern Weekend mostly focuses on happenings around China, which is what I like, because if I want to read about the West, I'd read something in English.

[heifeng]

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/1331-radmap-all-about-radicals5&page=2&highlight=%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B%E4%BC%9A

Ok, not exactly story journals, but the national geographic magazines are always good...and I started reading 品位杂志。。。well mostly b/c they gave away a free book light with this month's edition.

Sadly, 故事会 (mentioned in above link) no longer has text messages at the bottom of each page so it has lost one loyal customer....but I still like those stories, brain rot causing or not:mrgreen:

[wushijiao]

I've always like 凤凰周刊, although some issues are better than others.

[zhwj]

A book-light? So that's what that thing is. I couldn't figure it out from the outside of the package (it's not written on the label, is it? Then I'd feel pretty stupid).

The weekly newspaper 青年周末 YWeekend is probably right up your alley. Punchy, irreverent stories, divided into two sections - media review, which looks at the stories behind the current news headlines, and a sort of web-style-arts section. It's not available at all newsstands, but look around for it on Thursday or Friday. It's got an orange-and-black cover. Or you could just read it online every week.

[yonitabonita]

Wow, so many suggestions! And so many thanks in return to you all.

Y

[againstwind]

My recommendation is 新周刊, which is considered as the most advanced plane media in the Mainland. It focuses on current Chinese life and has released many influential ideas to the public in the latest decade, such as 知道分子, 草根阶层, 飘一代, 大盘点, 浅阅读 and so on.

[wushijiao]

One other magazine that I really like is 广角镜, from Hong Kong. Basically, the magazine is designed for “policy makers”.

The advantages of it are:

1) It is very direct, and un-euphemistic in its writing style.

2) It talks about “sensitive” political issues, such as the top leadership of the CCP, Taiwan, and China’s foreign policy in a very direct and objective manner.

3) It sums up some of the most important trends in the Mainland in a very concise manner.

4) It uses traditional characters (I’ve basically fallen in love with traditional recently)

It’s disadvantages:

1) It is only sold in a very limited way in the Mainland (at airports, special bookstores…etc)

2) It is relatively expensive at 40 RMB

3) It takes a somewhat pro-CCP viewpoint, and a pro-China viewpoint on the Taiwan issue. Although it takes that viewpoint, I don’t think it is unnecessarily biased, because it still presents the overall context. In the English-speaking world, the Economist and the Guardian both provide opinionated information without compromising objectivity, in my opinion. This magazine is similar.

4) It mainly focuses on politics, current news, and society, and thus the focus may be too narrow for most. It might also be too dry for some. The fact that it uses traditional may also be a barrier for some, although I personally feel that that can be overcome after some heavy reading in traditional.

Anyway, if you can find it, it might be worth buying.

[Raye Zhang]

《万象》http://www.lep.com.cn/wxzz/wxmw.htm

Have fun!

[limaygolf]

My favourite is 中国国家地理。

[gougou]

limaygolf, and also Raye, it would help if you could explain to people what's so good about the magazines you recommend. For an example, have a look at wushijiao's post above!

[skylee]

I've come across this staff magazine "Word Power / 文訊" which I find interesting. It is published by the HK government department responsible for languages/translation and covers different topics mainly on the use of the Chinese language. Being a staff magazine it is fairly easy to read. But as you can expect, it is in traditional Chinese. There are also a few columns written in English in each issue.

The electronic versions of the magazine can be found here -> http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/publication/2006.html

My recommendation obviously does not meet the Admin's requirement in #11, but I hate it when people tell me what / how to write.

[gougou]

My recommendation obviously does not meet the Admin's requirement in #11

Actually I think you're recommendation is great! You describe what's in the magazine, and I'm able to decide whether I'm interested in a matter of seconds.

I am sure that the magazines that Raye and limaygolf suggest are great, too, but by just reading their posts, I couldn't judge whether those magazines might be interesting for me or not (even though I can take somewhat of a guess what 中国国家地理 might be about... )