Local stars more bankable

Chinese fashion and lifestyle magazines sell better with cover icons that readers can relate to. Kathleen E. McLaughlin reports.

Jiang Wen, Li Yuchun and Fan Bingbing might not be household names in the West, but when China's top editors at fashion and lifestyle magazines want to sell more copies, they approach the three stars, who are among the hottest go-to people to have on the cover. As the Chinese market for lifestyle magazines grows, editors have gotten to know their audiences well, and in the high-stakes game of developing tastes and competition for readers, highlighting of Chinese models and actors, among others, is essential.

Even though the Chinese versions of international magazines like Elle, GQ and Vogue are at least partly occupied with direct translations from their flagship American issues, localization, both on the cover and inside pages, is critical to growing readership and loyalty in China.