On December 10, 2020, the Lanzhou Urban Planning Exhibition Hall "Reader" leisure audio-visual station attracted the public to experience. (Data map) Photo by Yang Yanmin
Lanzhou, March 26 (Reporter Ding Si) "At night, after freshening up, turn on the lamp, lean on the bedside and hold a copy of "Reader" and read quietly. Recalling the story in the editorial department of Reader, Gao Maolin, 50-year-old deputy general manager and deputy editor-in-chief of Gansu People's Publishing House, still remembers this scene mentioned many times in the reader's letter.
Gansu People's Publishing House was founded in 1951, over the years published a large number of excellent books and several journals that later became highly known in China, in 1981 founded the comprehensive digest magazine "Reader's Digest" (renamed "Reader" in July 1993).
In the 40 years since its inception, Reader has had a profound impact on tens of millions of readers at home and abroad, and is known as "the spiritual reader of Chinese".
On December 1, 2020, citizens walked out of the Reader's Station located in Jincheng Park, Xigu District, Lanzhou. (Infographic) Photo by Gao Zhan
The Age of Hunger: The Reader opens a window into the outside world
In the 1990s, Reader won the love of readers of all ages and different classes with the richness and diversity of form and content, becoming the "first brand of Chinese periodicals", and men, women and children became its loyal fans.
In 1995, Gao Maolin, who was born in Zhangye, Gansu Province, graduated from the department of Chinese of Peking University and decided to return to his hometown for employment, and "Reader" became his first choice for work.
I submitted my resume and came to Lanzhou from Beijing for an interview. Gao Maolin was interviewed by Hu Yaquan, one of the founders of The Reader. After some exchanges between the two, Hu Yaquan said, "The young man is not bad." After graduation, Gao Maolin became a member of the Reader.
"Doing 3 months of editorial work" has become the first test for young people who have entered the workforce. "The main job is to open the reader's letter, open it one by one, unfold the letter, use the stapler to nail the letter and the envelope together to facilitate the editor's review; register the postal remittance slips sent by the reader and the magazines and bound copies that need to be purchased and pack them away, send and receive magazines, and so on." Gao Maolin was recently interviewed by reporters from China News Agency and China News Network, recalling his "editorial story".
At that time, as a graduate of a famous university, doing these trivial chores, I could not help but have some gaps and distress in my heart. Gao Maolin, who had slowly figured it out, often said to himself, "If you come, you will be safe", and he became increasingly addicted to reading this handwritten letter from a reader. After several months of tempering and reading from a third-party perspective, Gao Maolin's understanding of "Reader" is increasing day by day.
"About 95% of the readers' letters are praise for the magazine, like an old friend telling his story with the magazine, some families of three rushing to circulate it, some falling in love with the magazine through the recommendation of the teacher, and letters from prison..." Gao Maolin said, and some readers regarded the magazine as confidants, wrote letters to tell their troubles in life, and some put forward some opinions and suggestions for the articles in the magazine.
In the early 1980s, the door of the country gradually opened, and the people of the country were full of curiosity about the outside world and eager to know more. Positioned as "eclectic at home and abroad, gathering essences, enlightening ideas, broadening horizons", the "Reader" will be famous works at home and abroad and anecdotes, relaxed and witty humorous cartoons and other careful selection, to give people the spiritual food of truth, goodness and beauty.
Leading the trend of the times: Yangchun white snow or riba people?
"The most important key to the success of "Reader" lies in the selection of content. We are by no means a 'scissors + paste' type of copy and paste, and the responsible editing system implemented by the magazine has become the key to ensuring the quality of the content. Gao Maolin said that a magazine is like a flesh and blood person, through the careful arrangement of the editor, first of all, there must be a main line (just like people have a backbone), connecting the entire magazine, just like people have a backbone to walk upright, rather than piecing together a bunch of scattered abstract manuscripts, which is also the basis that "Reader" is difficult to imitate.
He said that each editor is responsible for the screening of some manuscripts, and through reading newspapers, magazines, books at home and abroad, as well as the manuscripts recommended by readers' letters, these articles are carefully selected, polished, revised, edited, etc. Again, and it takes more than 50 days for a magazine.
Yangchun white snow and lower riba people, how to balance? Gao Maolin said that "Reader" always has its own persistence, because the magazine's audience is very wide, to find a balance in it; on the issue of guidance and pandering, "Reader" has a firm attitude, selecting positive, full of positive energy, promoting truth, goodness and beauty articles and guiding readers to go in this direction.
In the 1980s and 1990s, "Reader" became the spiritual sustenance and object of some readers, and the magazine also set up a "Confidant Big Sister" mailbox to relieve its worries; opened a column of "Heaven south and north" to collect geography, humanities, folk customs, etc., to meet readers' interest in anecdotes and anecdotes around the world. After 2000, the "Today's Topic" column was also set up to provide a platform for the public to talk about hot topics in society.
"This magazine accompanies and witnesses China's progress and development, from the Chinese people's curiosity about the outside world to the confident display of Chinese culture at this stage, Reader follows the footsteps of the times and also leads the trend." Gao Maolin said.
The picture shows Gao Maolin, deputy general manager and deputy editor-in-chief of Gansu People's Publishing House. Photo by Ding Si
Exploration in the digital age: online and offline to call back to traditional reading
In 2006, the Reader Publishing Group, with Reader magazine as its core subsidiary, was established. In 2007, reader's network, an online development platform other than the publication, was established, with 20 channels and more than 100 columns. At the end of 2008, he founded the "Reader" mobile newspaper. In 2010, the Reader e-book was launched, with all the articles of Reader magazine pre-installed for 30 years.
In the face of the impact of the Internet, Reader has never stopped innovating and going out. In January 2011, Reader (Taiwan Edition) was launched and began to be distributed in Taiwan. At that time, Gao Maolin was transferred to the editor of Reader (Taiwan Edition). In 2013, he was transferred to the overseas edition of The Reader as executive editor.
In July 2020, Gao Maolin was transferred to Gansu People's Publishing House. In his view, meeting the needs of readers and following the footsteps of the times is still the goal of his publishing work. "Realizing the integration and development of paper publishing and digital publishing" has also become the future development goal of Gansu People's Publishing House.
Will paper readings usher in spring again? In Gao Maolin's view, as traditional media people, in fact, they are not as self-contained as the outside world imagines, and everyone has been actively trying, hoping to keep up with the pace of the times at the first time.
"As the times have evolved, the number of paper readers who have gone and returned has increased." Gao Maolin said that the fast-paced lifestyle has changed people's lives and reading habits, and in recent years, the voice calling for traditional deep reading has become more and more intense; respecting the real reading needs of readers and providing readers with high-quality spiritual food that they really need is the original intention and mission of publishing workers. (End)