Thursday, Feb 23, 2012, 4:46 AM CST – China

About Us

Like it or not – China, this country in the east, has made its existence felt throughout North America. Just take a moment to look at your material possessions – chances are most of it will carry the inscription ‘Made in China’.

Yet economics aside, there are many things both politically and culturally that also have a good deal to do with China. Or to put it another way, traces of China can be found everywhere across the world. But how much do you actually know about this country? I recently asked an American friend of mine to list as many Chinese cities as he could. His answer stretched no further than “Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong… And the city where the disastrous earthquake happened in May – Chengdu?”

Yet for all the perceived lack of knowledge more and more Westerners want to visit China and see the country with their own eyes. Indeed, this is a country currently enjoying the fastest growth rate in the world. Amazing changes have and continue to take place here. So when it comes to China, whether you’re an expert or novice, you can be sure of one thing, China is no longer the same country often portrayed in old Hollywood movies. Sure Kung Fu, Chinese cuisine, cheongsam and glazed tile roofed palaces all still exist, but now they are accompanied by luxury villas, contemporary art museums, sky scrapers and shopping malls. The greatest changes however are the changes that have occurred in the ideas and values of the Chinese people.

This very monthly magazine before your eyes – NEWS CHINA – is from Beijing and is the English edition of China Newsweek (Zhong Guo Xin Wen Zhou Kan), one of the most influential news magazines on the Chinese mainland. As a matter of fact, the magazine itself is the product of China’s reform and opening up. It was beyond anyone’s imagination that such a news magazine could have been published in China 30 years ago. This magazine, which is geared to investigative reporting, has so far managed to claim a wide circulation, or in other words, secure a big market, taking advantage of the rise of the Chinese middle class.

Based on market-oriented operation and management, China Newsweek has grown into a truly progressive modern news magazine. In 2007, we successfully published its Japanese edition. Now, its English edition has come to North America.

This brand-new magazine will show you a China in transformation. We are not used to lecturing or moralizing. We like to present news in an honest and open way, crafted as if we were telling a story. Westerners accustomed to Western food may not know the pleasure offered by real Chinese food, as pure Chinese cuisine may not fully cater to Western tastes. I found a restaurant in New York recently – P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. It is said that the restaurant has 133 outlets across the United States. Yet the vast majority of diners in this restaurant, furnished in Chinese Terracotta Warriers style, were Westerners. This may well be the result of a ‘good combination of Chinese and Western elements’. Reading materials in China are called ‘spiritual food’ and it is my hope that News China will become ‘cultural Chinese food’ in North America.

Views vary about the name of the English language magazine – News China. Some prefer ‘China News’ to ‘News China’, arguing that the latter sounds like Chinese English. In my view, however, ‘News China’ and ‘China News’ have a different meaning. The latter emphasizes that the news is from China while the former that we decided to adopt indicates that China is news itself.

Compared to the argument about the magazine’s name, it is the cover design that may in fact be more illustrative of how the magazine is defined. Instead of the complete red frame as is found on the cover of magazines such as Time, we choose the ‘two-bar’ design as you see it now because simply put, we don’t want to be ‘framed’ or ‘straight-jacketed’. News China is an open magazine. Open to the readers! Open to the world!

Contact Info:
NewsChina Magazine
15 E. 40th, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10016
email: readers@newschinamag.com

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