On Nov. 3, Zuo Fang, a prominent newspaperman and a co-founder of the Southern Weekly, died in Guangzhou, at the age of 86.
Southern Weekly was founded on Feb. 11, 1984. Its first edition, a total of 7,000 copies, sold out in less than half a day. Zuo, leader of the preparation team for Southern Weekly in its early stage, could never conceal his happiness when talking about the first edition: the lead article on the front page was about Huang Zongying, a famous actor who had gone into business in Shenzhen, while the second article featured Deng Xiaoping’s tour to Zhuhai with a title of “Uncle Deng hikes to the top of Luo Sanmei Mountain.” With innovative layouts, Southern Weekly displayed Guangdong province’s new vitality after reform and opening up.
Zuo, whose real name was Huang Keji, was born in Chatou village in a western suburb of Guangzhou in 1934. His father died in the war with Japan, and he was raised by his widowed mother.
Zuo was smart, studious and independent and joined the army when he was only 16. In 1957, he left military service and to study Chinese literature at Peking University, graduating in 1962. Zuo then joined the Nanfang Daily, the official newspaper of the Guangdong provincial Communist Party committee.
During the Cultural Revolution, he became the leader of a rebel group. After the movement, he was investigated and forced to work in the Nanfang Daily’s archive room for seven years. In Oct. 1983, Ding Xiling, then president of the Nanfang Daily, asked him to be responsible for the preparation work of a new newspaper, Southern Weekly. That was the real start of his journey as a newspaperman. The pains he suffered and the awakening that came later — derived from the changes to his country and family, and the ups and downs of his life — became intrinsic motivations for running a newspaper.
Weekend papers, run by party-owned papers, first came out in the 1980s and later flourished in the 1990s. In 1982, the Nanjing Daily founded China’s first weekend paper, the Weekend. The following year, the Nanfang Daily was set to start its own, the Southern Weekly, and then Ding asked Zuo to “gain experience and cultivate talents.” Zuo saw this as an initiative to reform and felt the pressure. He consulted Huang Wenyu, an old member of the Guangdong press and the founder of the Yangcheng Evening News, on how to run a newspaper.
After gaining a good understanding of the business, he created the motto of the Southern Weekly and gave the paper its unique style, which can be summarized as follows: A newspaper should have its bottom line: “There are truths that we cannot tell yet. But we shall never tell lies.” A newspaper should have firm principles: “We should focus on the quality of paper instead of money and on the quality of articles instead of who writes them.” And the highest aspiration of a newspaper is to be “calm and unruffled.”
Zuo retired from the post of editor-in-chief in 1994. By then, the Southern Weekly, with over 1 million copies sold and distributed, had become quite a hit. Later, he was rehired and worked for four more years till October 1998. After 15 years, Southern Weekly has risen to be the biggest achievement of any journalist and its vast influence continues to this day. I will try to summarize his thoughts under three “alignments.”
The first is to align with tradition, adhere to the enlightenment of science and democracy. Navigating through uncharted water during the early time of reform and opening up was not easy, and running a newspaper was no exception. Zuo learned about the tradition of socially-progressive newspapers in the 1930s from old-timers including Huang, and felt a deep need to advance scientific and democratic enlightenment.
Southern Weekly was knowledge-based, interesting and suited both refined and popular tastes in the 1980s. In the 1990s, it focused on improving citizenship, raising awareness of human rights and advocated “showing love, upholding justice and adhering to conscience.” Although the directions of the newspaper might vary in different times, they all shared the same ultimate goal — to advance science, democracy and the rule of law.
The second is to align with people, bridging the gap between the intelligentsia and the ordinary people. Zuo’s claim was very clear. This bridge should run in both directions: Newspapers must pass the intelligentsia’s notions to ordinary people and ordinary people’s living conditions and emotional needs should be passed the other way. The so-called enlightenment should not be condescending but thoughtfully prepared.
The third is to align with the market, treating newspapers as commodities. Zuo pioneered the “Three Wheels” business philosophy, in which the editorial department, publishing department, and advertising department are three indispensable wheels. Specifically, the editorial department is the driving force, while the publishing department is the heart. The advertising department is not selling space in the newspaper, they are selling content. In the mid to late 1990s, this philosophy was pioneering. Many people came to him to learn about this managing philosophy, as the market share of the Southern Weekly continued to rise.
Southern Weekly has been in circulation for 37 years and has gone through several editors-in-chief. It is well-recognized in the field that Zuo was the key founder of Southern Weekly, but he only referred to himself as one of the co-founders. He always thought about his three mentors in journalism: Huang Wenyu, a newspaper tycoon in Guangdong, who taught him a lot in the early days of Southern Weekly; Huang Mei, his old leader at Nanfang Daily, who always stepped up and provided help at critical moments; and Guan Zhendong, the first editor-in-chief of the Southern Weekly, who was Zuo’s first teacher when he first worked for a newspaper.
Zuo did not hesitate to praise younger generations’ creative contribution to the Southern Weekly. For example, he said more than once that Zhang Xiangchun, the art editor who designed front pages, played a greater role than him in the early times. Besides being kind to younger generations, Zuo could be very stern to those who violated the motto of the Southern Weekly and those who displayed aggressive behavior that could harm the paper. Those who were present could never forget seeing him bursting into anger.
Competition in the newspaper industry is fierce. Zuo knew that attracting and retaining talent was the key to success. He had many friends in the domestic ideological circle and managed to get many influential scholars and writers to write for Southern Weekly. He traveled around to recruit professionally trained people: He invited Yan Lieshan, an essayist, to manage the editorial section, and Qian Gang, a senior reporter, to oversee editorial matters. He also offered favorable benefits to attract outstanding journalists from all over the country. People from all over the world gathered at the Southern Weekly, bringing success to the paper.
Zuo always chose rationality and common sense and this was the way he ran the newspaper. There is still a long journey ahead, filled with his unfulfilled dreams and anticipations.
Jiang Yiping is former editor-in-chief of Southern Weekly.
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