‘An English-speaking Mao Zedong’|Lee Yee
In mid-November, a friend of mine, a youngster, texted me: “He’s really stingy.” I replied: “It’s OK! Even though we have been holding different views for years, he has been putting up with my audacity.”
Since we met because of June 4 at a dinner with other pro-democracy movement figures, we have been acquainted with each other for more than 30 years, during which we had frequent dealings and contact with one another for a number of years. Asked by him about how much money was needed for running a magazine, I, the operator of The 90s, a business with small capital, told him to put in ten times of mine for a weekly publication. In the end, he invested a hundred times of it in running the most influential magazine that cornered the market in town. Later on, he founded a newspaper which also changed the media ecology in Hong Kong, initiating an unprecedented market setting all at once.
Inspired by the democracy movement in Beijing to switch to another line of work, he surely did it for his compassion for China. I used to have it myself, and it stayed strong until June 4, after which I merely hoped for the indigenous values of Hong Kong to be preserved. In light of the Handover being imperative under the circumstances, to get the democratization of Hong Kong moving seemed to be the only way out, though I reckoned the chance of success was slender as well.
In terms of our beliefs in freedom, democracy and the rule of law, there hasn’t been much difference between us. As to our outlooks on the prospect of democracy of China and Hong Kong, I have always been pessimistic while he has always taken the opposite view. It is understandable because pessimism is never an obstacle to my writing while it is to an operation of such a big media business.
In 2005, I was invited by him to become a writer-turned-editor in charge of the opinion page. He promised me back then he would never meddle in my editorial orientation. As I recommended on purpose a commentator who had fallen foul of the paper, he consented without hesitation. It’s a shame that I was finally turned down by that commentator.
From being an editor to being fired nine years later, from writing editorials to writing a column, I have been disagreeing with him on a number of issues over the last decade: localists versus pro-Greater China camp, freedom of discussion about independence, evaluation of the youths and the valiant, support for or criticisms of the pan-democratic alliance, “conspiracy theories” in all previous elections… But as my boss, he has been putting up with me, delivering to me his opposite viewpoints through somebody else. And he never hampered me from publishing articles I showed him in advance that bluntly criticized him.
With his compassion for Greater China, opening up of China was definitely appealing to him. As far as I know, China did try quite a number of times to take him in in its united front work. There was an occasion that one of his good friends met him in Taiwan, saying to him that he was invited by the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) to pay a visit to China, that he was to be allowed to run newspapers there about everything – entertainments, sports and the society, except for politics, and that in view of the growing economy of China, he would earn a big fortune. No sooner had he finished listening to it than he called the security guards to send the guest off. Later, he explained to me why he did it so abruptly instead of euphemizing. He said he was actually afraid of not being able to resist the enticement, and that he would abstain from the principle of distancing himself from the power. Listening to the story about his being aware he would get feeble, I admired him in all sincerity.
At whiles I just think he displeased the CCP not because of his words and deeds, but the fact that he couldn’t tell good from bad. Who couldn’t be bought off? Not least he’s just a businessman. That was just so riling!
When the publication began in Taiwan, I was told that according to the tacit business regulation in Taiwan, kickbacks had to be given to those who were empowered to do ad placements from the clients’ side. Yet the boss disapproved of it, which made things difficult for the staff in the advertising department. I asked him why he couldn’t bend the rule a little. He said as we kept laying bare under-the-table deals among politicians and businessmen, it was hard to justify ourselves if we also engaged in the same dirty deals. He is really somebody who insists on complying with laws, attaches importance to rules and ethics. Whenever I think of such a person being imprisoned, I feel sorrowful about him and the society.
It has been more than a year since last time I got in touch with him that he gave me a call asking me to stop writing my memoir for a few days to talk about the anti-extradition movement in my column in March last year. That was the only time he has ever suggested a writing topic for me. I agreed for I was going to do the same thing.
The youngsters in touch with me have always been discontent with him and his paper because of a lot of events over more than a decade, but I have always told them to take a look at a bigger picture. He is said to be an English-speaking Mao Zedong in the newsroom. Maybe it’s true. Mao’s merits and demerits aside, his manifest stubbornness and insane words and deeds showed he was somebody that would achieve something big. Winston Churchill was also an eccentric and moody person, but he did a marvelous feat against all odds. It seems Trump belongs to the same category, so does he.
call for paper publication 在 VOP Facebook 的最佳解答
#新刊發行 ! ! 🙌🙌🙌🤓
Voices of Photography 攝影之聲
Issue 24 : 攝影書作為方法II
Photobook As Method II
書——作為一種創作物——已成為當代攝影藝術領域獨領風騷的話題。猶記2011年在《攝影之聲》創刊號中,我們提到方興未艾的個人出版運動,數年過去,這股逆數位化的影像出版浪潮奔流未止,並在世界各地擴散,即使紙本出版環境在本世紀被認為進入了寒冬期,火熱的攝影書潮卻一點也沒有退燒的跡象。如今,國際間小型獨立出版絡繹不絕地出現、藝術書展市集也遍地開花,「#攝影書」佔據著各個攝影節、博覽會與創作獎項的主要位置,成為攝影發展歷程裡前所未有的獨特地景,也重新定位了「#製書」在視覺藝術中的角色和概念。
我們正在經歷攝影書的黃金年代,而《攝影之聲》也持續關注台灣的影像閱讀與出版,並自創刊以來,每兩年製作一次攝影書專題,記錄台灣的攝影出版形貌,作為影像文化的觀察報告。這次,我們再度公開徵集自2016年以來的台灣攝影出版品,收到了逾百本各式各樣的讀物,數量比往年增加,編輯室也因此呈現著歷經書本大轟炸的狀態。在本期雜誌中,我們將一一介紹許多有趣的出版品,並邀請設計師何佳興、藝評人徐文瑞和張世倫參與對話討論,針對 #台灣攝影出版 現況進行評論與回應。
另外,我們還舉辦攝影書的 #國際紙上派對,邀集多位評論人、出版人、收藏者等來自世界各地的攝影專業讀者——飯澤耕太郎、朴智洙、言由、李錦麗、Daniel Boetker-Smith、Dieter Neubert和Larissa Leclair,與大家一起分享他們近期最喜愛的攝影讀本;當然,我們也沒忘了和大家一起去逛逛熱絡的國際 #藝術書展,感受此刻正在全球爆發的製本風潮與書展氣氛。同時,我們也新開啟「攝影書製作現場」系列,首集介紹在紐約從事獨立出版的 #SessionPress 攝影書企畫項目,其後將陸續從攝影書的編輯設計、印刷工法乃至品牌經營流通等環節,推出線上專業工作者的訪談,敬請期待。在「論影像」專欄,則挖掘了出版於1895年台灣受日本殖民統治開端之際、由英國人George U. Price拍攝的《#北福爾摩沙的回憶》(Reminiscences of North Formosa),這是目前所知最早以「台灣/福爾摩沙」為名出版流通的攝影輯冊,在精煉的影像中,藉北台灣的茶業生態,書寫著面對不明未來的島嶼紀事;除了張世倫對這份珍貴影像史料的精彩分析,我們也將全書重新編輯作為附錄別冊,使讀者能一探其貌。
在Artist’s Showcase單元中,我們特別介紹日本藝術家 #栁美和,刊載她的攝影新作並回看她自1990年代以來的創作歷程。此外,也製作了已故攝影家 #深瀨昌久 的專題,由深瀨昌久文獻庫總監Tomo Kosuga執筆,引介深瀨戲劇性的攝影人生。我們並紀念今年逝世的中國出版人殷德儉先生,感懷他在攝影出版上的投入奉獻。
感謝本期與我們分享書本的所有藝術家。《攝影之聲》正式進入第七年,今年我們再次獲得了金鼎獎人文藝術雜誌獎的肯定,並仍在影像出版的路途上努力邁進,謝謝所有親愛的讀者與我們比肩同行。
● 購書 Order | http://bit.ly/vop-24
As a form of creativity, books have become the single most important topic in the field of contemporary photography. Looking back, we first spoke about the self-publishing movement that was just unfolding in the inaugural issue of Voices of Photography in 2011. Several years later, this publishing wave has been raging and leaving its mark all around the world. Even though paperback publishing is thought to have entered its dying phase in this century, the burning flames of the photobook wave shows no signs of letting up. Nowadays, small international independent publishers have sprung up all over the world and art book fairs have bloomed. Photobooks are now the centerpiece of photography festivals, expos and creative competitions, becoming a special sight unique to this journey of development of photography and redefining the role and concept of “book-making”.
This is the golden age of photobooks. We have been watching closely the reading and publishing of imagery in Taiwan and since our inaugural issue, we have done photobook features every two years, keeping a record of the photography publishing landscape in Taiwan as an observation of image culture. This time, we had put out another open call for Taiwanese photography publications from 2016. We received more than a hundred contributions, a huge jump in numbers from before, flooding our editors’ room. In this issue, we are featuring many interesting publications, and have also invited designer Chia-Hsing Ho and art critics Manray Hsu and Shih-Lun Chang for a dialogue to discuss the current developments in regards to Taiwan’s photography publications.
In addition, we are throwing an international photography party on paper as we bring together critics, publishers and collectors from all over the world – Kotaro Iizawa, Jisoo Park, Yanyou Di Yuan, Gwen Lee, Daniel Boetker-Smith, Dieter Neubert and Larissa Leclair – to share their recent favorites in photography publications. Of course, we have not forgotten to bring our readers on a trip to boisterous international art book fairs for a real feel of the book-making trend that is exploding across the world, as well as soak in the atmosphere at the book fairs. At the same time, we are introducing a new “Photobook Making Case Study” series and in the first installment, we are featuring photobook projects from Session Press, an independent publisher based in New York. Subsequently, we will introduce the different aspects of photography publication such as the editorial designing of photobooks, printing methods, and even branding and supply chain management. Do also look forward to interviews with professionals in the industry in future issues. In “On Images”, we unearthed “Reminiscences of North Formosa”, a photobook authored by Englishman George U. Price, published in 1895, just as Taiwan came under Japanese rule. This is the earliest known photobook using the name “Taiwan/Formosa” and which was published and circulated. The slick images set against the background of Taiwan’s tea industry chronicle the happenings on this island facing an uncertain future. Apart from Shih-Lun Chang’s impressive analysis of this precious historical imagery data, we have also re-compiled the entire book and included it in this issue as a supplement volume for our readers.
In this issue’s “Artist Showcase”, we are introducing new photography works by Japanese artist Miwa Yanagi while looking back at her creative journey since the 1990s. We also have a special feature on the late photographer Masahisa Fukase’s dramatic life in photography, penned by Tomo Kosuga, Director of the Masahisa Fukase Archives. In addition, we pay tribute to the late Chinese publisher De-Jian Yin, who passed away earlier this year, as we reflect on his dedication to the publication of photography.
We would like to express our gratitude to all the artists who have shared their works with us for this issue. As VOP enters its seventh year, we are honored to be awarded the Golden Tripod Award (Humanities and Arts Award in the Magazines Categories) again as we continue pushing forward on this road of image publication. A big thank you to all our readers out there who have been marching alongside us!
---
Voices of Photography 攝影之聲
www.vopmagazine.com
call for paper publication 在 國立臺灣大學 National Taiwan University Facebook 的精選貼文
【花火主題徵文:世界由我們創造 畫一幅花火地圖】
NTU Sparks - Call for Entries
《花火校園》歡迎愛旅行的冒險家們,向花火投遞你的旅行遊記,藉由刊登於網路平台上,讓大家浪漫地共享許多個不一樣的世界!
"Sparks” is a student publication led by the NTU Student Association. The online and paper publication is now calling for tales of your travel adventures for the next edition of the “Sparks Campus” project!
► 字數:600-2500字;隨信附上至少五張遊記相關照片,並附上說明文字。
► 時間:2016.04.02-2016.05.02
► 來稿方法:請將文章檔案寄至信箱(ntusacampus@gmail.com ),主旨標明「網路投稿-世界由我們創造-系級學號姓名」;編輯室收到信後將回信確認,若來稿未收到回信,請與我們聯絡。
► 稿費:自由投稿,恕無提供稿費、亦不接受一稿多投。
歡迎所有臺大學生踴躍來稿!