China has 9,000 magazines of its own, but for the young woman about townnothing's better than a foreign glossy - and publishers want to capitalise. Clifford Coonan reports from Beijing
Zhang Yilei is 32 and lives in Beijing, and like a growing number of young people in China she adores western glossies. "I just love reading Trends, Cosmopolitan and many other foreign magazines," she says. "My favorite is Elle. The printing quality is good. Reading beautiful magazines is very enjoyable. There are also lots of good pictures."
China's appetite for foreign magazines is insatiable. More than 100 titles are here already, not counting Chinese-language versions of Variety, Madame Figaro, Esquire, FHM and Elle Decoration, all of them gobbled up by the new rich. It's a surreal sight for anyone used to the news stands of old, which were grey affairs with scrappy copies of People's Daily hanging off pegs. Now they are a riot of colour, familiar western mastheads spilling out onto the street.
"It's entertainment for the eyes. And to keep up with the foreign trends you have to read foreign magazines, because their Chinese counterparts are usually lagging behind a whole season. Twenty yuan" - about €2 - "a copy is not cheap, but it is worth it," says Zhang, who works for the British Council.
China's young people want to know what the hip kids in New York, Tokyo or elsewhere are wearing, who's sleeping with whom, which cars they drive, which business models they follow, which music they listen to - and on which MP3 player - and which home decorations they spend their money on.
Yao Lingyun, a project assistant at a US company in Beijing, says: "I like foreign magazines because they always have lots about what's trendy. They've got lots of interesting stories about the right things to eat, what kinds of make-up to wear and what you should be wearing. I'm particularly interested in skincare stories. They fill me in on the new products from companies like Lancôme and Estée Lauder. Though I can't always afford expensive cosmetics, I can at least afford a good magazine to learn about them."
Walk through any of China's big cities and its inhabitants' increased awareness of foreign fashions is clear. Imported clothes remain expensive, but a lot of improvisation goes on, particularly with accessories, inspired by the stylists who dress models for Elle and Cosmo. It's a long way from a Mao suit.
With the economy growing so rapidly, the country's magazine publishers are bullish, says Quinn Taw, managing partner for China of the media group Mindshare. "We've been growing like weeds. Our clients are growing faster than they can control. It's not that hard to run a magazine here - there is a real go-go attitude - and it's a sign that there are so many things going on," says Taw.
The magazines have brought the world's top luxury goods and fashion houses in their wake, all hungry to advertise their products in China. Magazines such as Cosmopolitan or Rayli, from Japan, are making millions of dollars a year. The unaudited circulation of magazines such as Elle is claimed to be nearly 500,000. This is the kind of figure that has prompted Vogue to start working on a Chinese-language edition, expected in September.
"One of the reasons I'm very bullish on the magazine sector in China is that magazines' share of the market is still very low - currently 2 per cent of the market is magazines, compared with 12 or 13 per cent in the US or even 30 per cent in some European markets," says Thomas Gorman, chairman of CCI Asia-Pacific, which publishes Fortune China.
The invasion of foreign magazines is playing havoc with domestic titles. They can compete, to a certain extent, as Chinese readers are very loyal, but most people say that the arrival of more and more foreign titles, combined with reform of the market, will see casualties among the country's 9,000 home-produced magazines.
Not that it's all plain sailing to set up a Chinese-language version of a western magazine. Some of them were hoping for synergies between Taiwan, Hong Kong and China - they all speak Chinese right? Wrong. The three use different kinds of Chinese characters, which means different versions for each. And just because Chinese readers like western magazines doesn't mean they have identical interests and aspirations.
There are other barriers, too. The main obstacle to big publishers' arrival is the fact that overseas investors are technically barred from owning editorial operations. This means that, in legal terms, Chinese-language versions of foreign magazines are forbidden. The ones that exist are described as examples of "copyright co-operation" - in other words, they are the result of deals that make them Chinese magazines, even though huge chunks of their content are translated from parent publications. The foreign title has to find a local partner with a magazine licence - and the licences are a strictly controlled commodity.
Although areas such as fashion and lifestyles are rarely controversial, the government regularly bans new titles. The advice is generally to avoid sex and politics. This means sanitised versions of western glossies will go on inspiring people such as Song Tao, a 25-year-old who works for a Hong Kong advertising firm.
Foreign magazines bring colour into her life, she says. Like most of China's magazine readers, she doesn't regard censorship as a big deal. "I don't have many hobbies, but reading foreign magazines is one. It makes me more confident when I choose clothes. I know what's fashionable, and so I won't wear ugly designs or out-of-date fashion."