Rolling Stone - China

[Ding Yiyi]

Da Jia Hao,

I recently saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about the first issue of Rolling Stone and the person they chose for the cover. If anyone has any information on Cui Jian, the artist on the cover that would be awesome. The article says that he is the "godfather of Chinese Rock and Roll" and that he's about as radical as China allows any of its citizens. I'm really interested in learning about him, if anyone knows anything about him, and his work and could point me in the right direction that wold be appreciated.

Zaijian!

[Xiao Kui]

If you do a search on Cui Jian in this forum, you'll get a lot of hits - he's a lot of people's favorite.

Look in these threads for starters:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/10-is-chinese-grammar-easy-dont-you-just-love-chinese-words13&highlight=cui+jian

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/99-the-chinese-bob-dylan&highlight=cui+jian

[niubi]

the latest news of course is that RS in china has been shut down; will have to wait and see if there will be any future issues.

as to cui jian, there is a lot of information about him in print and on the net. start with his website http://www.cuijian.com

[Lu]

They got shut down after just one issue?? Wow, that's fast, even many underground journals survive longer than that.

[wushijiao]

I guess this new shaddy regulation will censor more than just Rolling Stone.

BEIJING (AP) -- China has imposed a moratorium on licensing new foreign magazines for publication, an official said Friday, in a possible blow to companies that hope to break into the booming Chinese media market.

The most high-profile possible victim of the new policy is the Chinese edition of Rolling Stone, published by Wenner Media LLC. The publishing venture in Shanghai for the U.S. music and pop culture magazine was ordered to dissolve last month after it put out a single issue.

Maybe this is a form of cultural protectionism, not just pure censorship.

While some foreign magazines in China commission original material, others mostly use translations of foreign articles.

Chinese officials are also worried about the social impact of imported pop culture and have tightened media controls in recent years with steps that include restrictions on foreign television programming.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-China-Magazine-Ban.html

Anyway, maybe my single issue of Rolling Stone will become a collector's item someday.

[gato]

Many Chinese pop culture magazines are quite awful without the help of any foreigners, unfortunately.

[roddy]

You might not have to wait very long for it to become a collectors item . . .

Roddy

[gato]

Under new central government regulations, new Chinese edition of foreign magazines are only allowed in the technology area. News reports indicate that the regulation has been in effect for a year, but was secret and hasn't been used until the publication of "Rolling Stones."

[roddy]

News reports indicate that the regulation has been in effect for a year, but was secret and hasn't been used until the publication of "Rolling Stones."

You've got to laugh. Wonder what other regulations are being hidden in drawers, waiting till their needed. . .

[yingguoguy]

My brain hurts,

Under new central government regulations, new Chinese edition of foreign magazines are only allowed in the technology area. News reports indicate that the regulation has been in effect for a year, but was secret and hasn't been used until the publication of "Rolling Stones."

But hang on, surely Rolling Stone and Chinese partner had to apply for permission before issuing the first edition? If the regulation was in force then, and it's a matter them being shut down because of cultural influence rather than banned content, surely they should have never been granted permission in the first place? Is there anything in this first edition which is particularly ban-worthy? Was putting Cui Jian on the first cover a miscalculation by RS, as being the closest thing to a rebellious article. Something, they wrongly assumed, would just about be allowed?

I suspect I know the answer to this already, but are there anything RS magazine can do to claim some kind of damages for this?

[wushijiao]

Was putting Cui Jian on the first cover a miscalculation by RS

Well, the CCP (or should we say "The Man") has banned some of Cui Jian's songs. The Man had successfully created a fantasy world in which people like Cui Jian conveniently don't exist in public life. Rolling Stone just boldy pointed out the obvious.

I don't think there was any real political stuff in there though.

Anyway, the Rolling Stones are playing tonight in Shanghai. We'll see if they can stick it to the Man by playing "Brown Sugar", or other song's on Daddy's official no-no list.

[gato]

Actually, I miswrote. I should have said "policy" instead of "regulation." It is legal for the government to have a secret policy, whereas a secret regulation would probably probably not.

Here's part of the article. It says that foreign magazines have always been prohibited publishing on their own, but in the past they have just used a Chinese's partner's permit number to publish. Under the new, previously secret policy, the government is cracking down on this "gray" practice.

By the way, a few weeks ago google.cn was blocked because they had also been operating the site under a Chinese partner's permit. Since eBay and Yahoo's China sites were doing the same thing but were not blocked, it was probably an attempt to get google to change their notice that search results were filtered.

2006.04.08　 中国时报

科技类外 大陆禁外国杂志上市

王绰中/台北报导

《亚洲华尔街日报》昨天证实，按照中共去年内部规定，除了科技类以外，暂停所有外国杂志进入大陆国内市场。对于希望从中国大陆蓬勃发展的广告市场上分一杯羹的国际传媒公司来讲，这无异于当头一棒。

这项已获中共出版界主管机构批准的新政策的一个牺牲品是摇滚及青年文化杂志《滚石》(Rolling Stone)中文版。

中共当局曾对投资出版物设过限制，不过后来政策有所放宽，有时对一些违规做法也睁只眼闭只眼。不过，新规定对于生活类杂志的出版商是个不小的打击，因为虽然中共对电视节目管制较严，但在生活杂志领域，外国传媒企业本来还是有很大发展空间的。

Hachette Filipacchi Media中国、东南亚及澳洲地区首席执行长维克托．维索(VictorVisot)表示，「今后我们会向政策可能批准的方向调整业务，在中国市场允许的范围内继续以预期的速度发展壮大。」

相关知情人士透露，已批准的杂志可续正常出版，这也得到了几位新闻出版总署官员的证实。此项政策已出台近一年，但从未公开。

中共当局不允许外国公司出版报纸杂志，但允许中国大陆出版社和外国合作者进行「版权合作」。在这种模式下，实际上是国内出版社将已有的杂志刊号出借给外国合作者，再由外商将杂志重新包装为Vogue、ELLE或《滚石》等的中文版，之后这些杂志还须经过监管部门的严格审批。