Blackpaper Magazine（）was a Hong Kong magazine founded by Roy Tsui, Luk Ka Chun and Yiu Ka Ho in 2009, and owned by Most Kwai Chung.
History
The Blackpaper magazine was published on the 1st and 15th of each month and sold at 7-Eleven only. It was printed on A5 paper and folded in half.
In 2010, it sold 160,000 copies in Hong Kong. The magazine ceased publication on 1 January 2017.[1]
Outside the magazine, the company also sold merchandise like T-shirts and books.[2]
Rationale
Blackpaper published content in short for the local new generation, mostly post-80s and post-90s, to encourage them to read. It features celebrities as cover people, especially from the local entertainment sphere. Sometimes, they would invite political figures.[3]
Changes
Each year, the main theme of Blackpaper changes, but it mainly contains a "black interview" (interview with celebrities), "black survey" (results of survey related to the theme of that issue) and "black sentence" (；sarcastic sentences based on the theme of that issue).
2010
Branded as a "Faux Literature Magazine"（）.
Every issue was titled with a single word and only 'black sentence' as its contents. There was no limit on the colour tone.
2011
Branded as a "Faux Entertainment Magazine"（）.
Every issue was titled with a single word, with 'black sentence' and 'black interview'.
The cover was in greyscale, including the portraits of the interviewees in 'black interview'.
2012
Branded as a "Faux Advertisement Magazine"（）.
Every issue was titled with a two-word vocabulary. Most of the issues were composed of "black sentence" and "black interview".
Influences
Politics
Topics related to Hong Kong politics are their main focus, especially during the June Forth event and election in Hong Kong.
Every year, Blackpaper titles "June Fourth", the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, as its first issue of June, in order to remind the public of the struggles.
After the Hong Kong Chief Executive election of 2012, Blackpaper published an issue titled "Darkness", expressing distrust towards Leung Chun-ying, the new chief executive. Moreover, another issue published in August 2012 disapproved of the 2012 Hong Kong legislative election.
Some celebrities from the local entertainment sphere were asked about the issues in Hong Kong society. For instance, Mag Lam, a local diva, expressed her opinion toward education in Hong Kong.
Blackpaper Magazine was used in some protests. During the protest against Moral and National Education in Hong Kong in 2012, the founders of Blackpaper issued a special edition of Blackpaper Magazine with the word "Retract" printed on it.
Copies of this issue of Blackpaper were distributed to protesters outside the Central Government Complex on 7 September.[4]
External links
References
- Most Kwai Chung Limited - Share Offer Most Kwai Chung, retrieved 2 April 2018^
- Penny, Z. (11 February 2010). Upclose with Black Paper . HK Magazine. Retrieved 21 March 2014, from http://hk-magazine.com/events/article/upclose-black-paper.^
- 王貽興. http://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/lifestyle/20130504/00485_002.html 太陽報, 4 May 2013, retrieved 20 March 2014^