Annotation

Chu Kong Pictorial Weekly was a magazine with an impressive sales record, printing (or claiming to print) more than 10,000 copies of each issue. Although it changed its publication cycle from every seven days to every 10 days after its 25th issue, its name remained unchanged, while in line with that name – Chu Kong means ‘Pearl River’ – most of its articles, illustrations and news focused on the delta region around Guangzhou, had a focus on the area. Indeed, it even went as far as describing the Pearl River area as ‘the centre of our nation’. Its ‘Alternative History of Singers’ column featured biographies and pictures of such household names of the time as Xiao Mingxing and Gu Yinglian, while its ‘Breeze and Moon over Pearl River’ column published portraitsand detailed accounts of the lives and background of prostitutes. Its ‘Essence of Han’s Painting’ column was devoted to art of the Lingnan School, often featuring background and photographs of the school’s masters. The weekly also featured film reviews and regular updates about films being made in Guangdong, such as Kingdom of Girls from Journey to the West made by Tianyi Film Company. Its ‘Local Scenery’ column featured articles about places and landscapes along the Pearl River with photographs of locations such as Yuexiu Park, swimming pools at Mount East and Lychee Bay. It also published all kinds of fiction, including ‘black curtain (exposé)’, ‘Pearl River stories’ and ‘hearsay stories’.