The cover cartoon of “Selected Essays” in December 2023 has an intriguing meaning. Some netizens said that the comic is called “Show the Direction”, but people who move in the direction it points to fall into the abyss… (Internet picture)
[The Epoch Times, December 10, 2023](Reported by Epoch Times reporter Fang Xiao) Recently, “Selected Essays”, a magazine that was once very popular in mainland China and criticized current ills, issued a notice to suspend publication. The last issue of the magazine published an essay titled “Who can’t get along with you?” The cartoon on the cover of the magazine has an intriguing meaning.
On December 4, the editorial department of “Selected Essays” issued a “Notice of Suspension of Publication”. Announced that “”Selected Essays” will cease publication starting from January 1, 2024.” At the same time, the editorial department of “Selected Essays” also published a “To the Readers”.
The letter stated that “Selected Essays” was founded in 1988 and has been with readers and friends for 35 years. “Selected Essays” has grown from scratch and gradually developed and grown, which cannot be separated from the love and support of readers and friends. “Looking at the journey ahead, we have received many flowers and applause… Thirty-five years is enough for young men to grow their beards and for middle-aged men to turn white. The mountains are high and the rivers are long, so let’s cherish it.”
“Southern Metropolis Daily” reported that “Selected Essays” attracts readers of different ages, different occupations, and different hobbies with its positioning of “pointing out current ills, criticizing the secular world, reflecting on history, and interpreting life” and “fair, profound, pungent, humorous, and lively for both refined and popular tastes.” .
On December 5, Jiangxi writer Li Weiming saw that one of his essays, “Who Can’t Get Along with You,” was selected in the December 2023 “Selected Essays”. His article appeared in the last issue of the magazine before it went on hiatus, and Li Weiming felt it was “very memorable.”
What is particularly interesting is that the December cover cartoon of “Selected Essays” has an intriguing meaning. Some netizens said that the comic is called “Show the Direction”, but people who move in the direction it points to fall into the abyss…
In Li Weiming’s view, “Selected Essays” is “a very good magazine.” “At its peak, it seemed to have a circulation of hundreds of thousands, and it published three issues a month. Among many publications across the country, it also had a circulation of hundreds of thousands.” Influenced.” In addition, Li Weiming feels that the selection of manuscripts in “Selected Essays” is particularly flexible, and the definition of “essays” is very broad, so it is very readable. “This is also an important reason why it is popular among readers.”
For more than ten years between 2000 and 2013, Shandong writer Zheng Liangen had a close relationship with “Selected Essays”. Zheng Liangen said, “At that time, “Selected Essays” was definitely at the top of the essay world, and it was very powerful. The authors who published articles there were also among the top in the country, and those articles were also very sharp.”
The once popular magazine “Selected Essays” has ceased publication. Li Weiming believes that “the main reason may be because of the huge changes in the media industry.” Another reason for the suspension of “Selected Essays” is that “many people have a misunderstanding of essays, thinking that it is a troublesome style of writing, and try to avoid it.”
It is worth noting that in 2001, the journal was rated as a “double-effective (social and economic) journal in China’s periodical matrix” by the then General Administration of Press and Publication of the Communist Party of China.
Editor in charge: Li Renhe#
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2023-12-10 12:19:51
