The Beijinger
ISSN 1673-0178 | |
The Beijinger (
The magazine has a weekly newsletter discussing the city's events and lists places' addresses in both Chinese characters and pinyin. It has classified advertising and personal advertisement sections that allow users to find housing, employment, and relationships as well as buy and sell goods.
History
The Beijinger is a free
Government licenses to run publications require substantial money and work, so the magazine opted to rely on collaborations with Chinese companies to get approval. The magazine in this way occupied a "legal grey zone".[11] The State Council Information Office-backed China Intercontinental Press owned the "that's Beijing" brand.[9] Over many months of discussions about the magazine with True Run Media, a private company, China Intercontinental Press attempted to expand its authority and profits.[9] China Intercontinental Press terminated the partnership in June 2008.[9] Mike Wester, the general manager, said in an interview, "It just didn't seem fair, but it's totally within their rights because they control the brand. This is just the way business works in China."[9]
That month, that's Beijing was required to rename to The Beijinger after China Electric Power News' subsidiary China Electricity Media purchased the "that's" trademark from China Intercontinental Press.
Overview
The magazine has a weekly newsletter discussing the city's events and lists places' addresses in both Chinese characters and pinyin.[2][12] It has blogs and forums and routinely reviews newly opened bars and clubs.[13][14] Although the English-language website's primary audience is people from outside of China, Beijing women make a substantial number of postings in the personal advertisement section, seeking relationships with foreigners. Some of the women who have made posts had obtained master's degrees from American, Australian, British, Canadian universities. Calling themselves "nontraditional", the women say they have trouble rejoining Chinese society after having until just a while ago been out of the country for so long.[15] The writer Roseann Lake said the website had a "very lively" classified advertising section.[15] Expatriates in Beijing frequently use its classified ads when they need to secure housing. The website has several hundred housing options available, allowing expatriates to use an English-language resource to do their search (as most other options are in Mandarin) and to find roommates from countries outside of China.
Many agents on The Beijinger will take advantage of expatriates' ignorance, levying rental rates that are far above a property's market value. For example, while a Chinese tenant might pay a monthly rent of CN¥1,000 (US$151) through a room found on a Chinese website, an expatriate might may have to pay CN¥2,000 (US$302) on The Beijinger. A downside of the website is that listings largely come from letting agents, who charge fees. There could be very few options in expatriates' desired location still remaining after excluding agent-listed properties.[16] The website also offers homestays.[17] Expatriates can use the site to sell and buy furniture, bicycles, and scooters.[17]
The website has a feature "Echinacities" that lets people browse a substantial number of jobs. Users can choose jobs that are freelance, part-time, or full-time and filter by location. They can choose jobs in the secretarial, IT, and teaching sectors. Since a posting will include the employer's email address, users can apply directly instead of having to create an account on The Beijinger.[16] Around 2010, the company Rent A Laowai ("laowai" means "foreigner" in Chinese) created an ad listing on The Beijinger offering to rent foreigners to foreigners.[18] The ad said, "Occasionally companies want a foreign face to go to meetings and conferences or to go to dinners and lunches and smile at the clients and shake people's hands. There are job opportunities for girls who are pretty and for men who can look good in a suit."[18]
The magazine puts on the Hot and Spicy Festival every year, a two-day event featuring worldwide
From 2001 to 2011, the writer Kaiser Kuo wrote a Beijinger column titled "Ich Bin Ein Beijinger" that discussed his experiences in Beijing.[21][22] The column's German-language name means "I am a Beijinger" and is inspired by the 1963 speech "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner") that John F. Kennedy gave in West Berlin.[23]
Reception
Food critic Michael Shafran called The Beijinger an "influential magazine".
References
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This month marks the Beijinger's tenth birthday and you're all invited to the party.
- ^ a b c d e Wei, Annie (2008-07-04). "'That's Beijing' back, but under new editorial team". Beijing Today. Retrieved 2022-02-22 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Santelli, Santelli (2018-10-15). ""Roma fa schifo", polemica per la gaffe della catena di pizze cinese" ["Rome sucks", controversy over the gaffe of the Chinese pizza chain]. la Repubblica (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
- ^ a b c d e Savadove, Bill (2008-06-19). "Media with foreign tie-ups under attack". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
- ^ Wei, Annie (2009-01-30). "Jeremy Goldkorn: Blogging the trend". Beijing Today. Retrieved 2022-02-22 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ EBSCOhost 33930513.
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- ^ a b Farrar, Lara (2010-06-29). "Chinese companies 'rent' white foreigners". CNN. Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
- ^ "Hot and Spicy Festival to lure foodies in Beijing". China Daily. 2019-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
- ^ Wei, Xi (2011-07-01). "Hot pepper eating contest highlights Canada Day celebrations". Beijing Today. Retrieved 2022-02-22 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Bridge over troubled water". China Daily. 2009-08-07. Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
- ^ Kuo, Mercy A. (2016-07-10). "New Potus Brief: Getting US-China Relations Right. New Potus Brief: Getting US-China Relations Right". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
- ^ "图文:郭怡广在TEDxBeijing发表演讲" [Photo: Guo Yiguang speaks at TEDxBeijing] (in Chinese). Sina Corporation. 2009-11-13. Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
- ^ Shafran, Michael (2011-10-11). "A leader in fine China. An Australian chef has revived a waning Beijing restaurant". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
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- ISBN 978-1-84353-019-0. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
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- ^ Mills, Edward (2011-02-10). "Taking online reviews with a pinch of salt". China Daily. Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
External links
- Official website
- the Beijinger at the Wayback Machine (archive index)