A new chapter begins

It seems like a fleeting moment of beauty. Twenty years ago, artist Leng Bingchuan featured in a copy of a magazine called Wei Mei (meaning "only beauty"). The magazine, published by Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, focused on aesthetics and highlighted Leng's works. And that's where the fleeting part comes in－the magazine ceased publication after just one issue.

Leng remembers that, in a letter discussing the magazine, the publisher's editor-in-chief Wang Jiaming tried to answer the question: "What is beauty?" His answer stated that "to talk about beauty is to talk about life itself".

In early 2020, under the lingering shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang met Leng and Liu Guanghan, editor-in-chief of Guangxi Normal University Press. The three decided to restart Wei Mei, or Pulchra in Latin, in the form of a magazine-book－or "mook"－that carries works that are true to their creator's heart, hoping that "in our transient life, people might stop shortly for 'beauty'", Leng, chief editor of the magazine, said at the launch of Wei Mei in Nantong, Jiangsu province, on March 27.

"Apart from ideals, we wanted to make something comforting during that special period of time," he said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

The launch issue consists of two volumes－a white-covered left volume and an olive green-covered right volume. Both have 250 pages bound by threads of corresponding colors.

They carry the works of 72 Chinese novelists, poets, artists and scientists. In their paintings, photographs, poems, essays, short stories and dialogue, they talk about their views on aesthetics.

In total, across both volumes, the publication contains more than 500 pictures, and nearly 60 percent are high-definition, presenting personal exhibitions on paper of works by more than 20 artists.

To publish their works, Leng talked to the 72 contributors, one by one, starting in June 2020, reminding them that he wanted articles true to their hearts, which was "the only requirement". To his surprise, by the end of 2020, the whole thing had been completed.

The mook is a combination of a magazine's style in terms of content, but bound and laid out like a book. Seven types of paper have been used to add to its tactility.

"With soft durable covers and a special design for the characters on the front, we want to create something similar to traditional Chinese books that can be easily rolled when being held or carried," Leng says.

It provides a platform for different artistic forms to communicate and for artists to "cross creative borders".

For instance, Jin Yucheng, writer of Fan Hua (blooming flowers), a novel set in Shanghai that won China's premier book prize, the Mao Dun Literature Award, in 2015, published his paintings in Wei Mei, together with an essay that recounts his transformation into a painter.

"We don't work for a small group of people, some plan or project. We don't have targeted readers, but in our imagination, young people who are interested in truth, goodness and beauty will be our readers," Leng says.

Every issue will be devoted to aesthetics, Leng says, which is worth discussing forever.

"There are people talking about aesthetics all the time, but their voices have been too timid, or they have drawn too little attention," he says, explaining the timing of the publication's resurrection.

"As publishers, we are sensitive to the time in which we live. The remaking of Wei Mei is another expression of our dignity at such a time. Furthermore, aesthetic education is very necessary and important for a developing country," Liu says.