Muse (Hong Kong Magazine)
Encyclopedia
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
's art and culture scene.. Until December 2010, Muse published an award-winning monthly arts and culture magazine. It was the only art magazine to have won the Society of Publishers in Asia’s Award for Editorial Excellence (local English newspaper/ magazine category) in 2008 and 2009. The magazine started publishing in February 2007 and released its last issue in December, 2010.
Muse now concentrates on digital media, books, and specialized publishing projects.
Muse published its first four books in March 2011. These include Once A Hero: The Vanishing Hong Kong Cinema a book on Hong Kong film by Perry Lam. An expert in cinema and in cultural criticism, Lam had been editorial director of Muse magazine from 2007 to 2010 before becoming assistant editorial director of Oxford University Press. Also in March, Muse published a three-volume series in partnership with the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The bilingual series, New Plays Selection 2011 includes newly-comissioned theatre works by Yan Yu, Harriet Chung Yin-sze, Poon Chan-leung, and Chong Mui-ngam. Particularly notable is Chong's play, Murder in San Jose, because it won the Best Script Award from the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies and because the English translation is adapted by David Henry Hwang, the award-winning U.S. playwright.
History
Founded by Frank Proctor, ex-general manager for Asia and international circulation director for NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, Muse was originally conceived as a response to the perceived lack of cultural life and activity in Hong Kong.
Modeling itself after The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Muse was edited by a local cinema and cultural critic, Perry Lam, and featured contributions from some of the region's foremost writers.
In the March 2008 issue, the magazine exclusively published Eileen Chang
Eileen Chang
Eileen Chang was a Chinese writer. Her most famous works include Lust, Caution and Love in a Fallen City....
's English short story, The Spyring, on which her Chinese short story Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution is an 2007 Chinese espionage thriller film directed by Ang Lee, based on the novella of the same name published in 1950 by Chinese author Eileen Chang. The story is mostly set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when it was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army and ruled by...
, and the subsequent Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
-directed movie, were based.
In the July 2008 issue, the famous Chinese-American novelist Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
was invited to a tour of the Wan Chai
Wan Chai
Wan Chai is a metropolitan area situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area north of Gloucester Road is often called...
district.
In 2008 and 2009, Muse won prizes at the Society of Publishers in Asia Editorial Awards. The 2009 "Excellence in Features Writing" award went to "It Started with a Fire," by Sylvia Chan. In 2008, the award "Excellence in Explanatory Reporting" went to "Too Close for Comfort" by Olivia Chung.
Style
Although Muse was primarily written in English, Chinese elements were also included. The magazine prided itself on its unique brand of bilingualism, a feature it believed to reflect the linguistic dualism and political complexities of postcolonial Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Lam, the magazine’s Editorial Director, has likened Muses use of English and to a jamming session between two musical traditions.
Content
Each issue typically included two to three feature stories and profiles relating to the colorful cultural life and personalities of Hong Kong. Other regular content ranged from a monthly events diary to fiction and poetry, as well as reviews of concerts, cinema, books, and theater.Muse published the articles and columns of distinguished writers like Lung Ying-tai
Lung Ying-tai
Lung Ying-tai is a Taiwanese essayist and cultural critic. She occasionally writes under the pen name 'Hu Meili'....
(龍應台), Xu Xi
Xu Xi
Xu Xi, Xu Xi, Xu Xi, (originally named Xu Su Xi(许素细) (born 1954) is an English language novelist from Hong Kong.She is also the Hong Kong regional editor of Routledge's Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literature (second edition, 2005) and the editor or co-editor of the following anthologies of Hong...
(許素細), and Ping Lu
Ping Lu
Lu Ping , born in Kaohsiung in 1953, writes under the pen name "Ping Lu." Her writing encompasses a broad range of genres, including novels, essays, poems, commentary, and theater plays. She is also known in the Chinese-language world for her critique of social phenomenon, ranging from cultural...
(平路). It ran columns by Lam Joi-Shan (林在山), and Leo Lee Ou-fan (李歐梵).
Muse also gave prominence to the visual arts, as highlighted by sections such as Muse gallery (featuring the work of local artists) and Muse tour (photo essays of different parts of Hong Kong).
Readership
As of March 2008, the magazine has had 1,000 paid subscriptions and several hundred copies sold on newsstands. By late 2009, the magazine had a circulation of about 16,000 copies a month on average.Sponsorship
Muse sponsored many different arts and cultural events in Hong Kong. Most notably, it partnered with and sponsored new plays and films at organizations like the Hong Kong Arts FestivalHong Kong Arts Festival
Hong Kong Arts Festival , founded in 1973, is a focus programmes for the Culture of Hong Kong, in order to provides a wide range of art programmes from all over the world....
and Hong Kong International Film Festival
Hong Kong International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival is a platform for filmmakers, film professionals and filmgoers from all over the world to launch and experience new film work. There are seminars, conferences, exhibitions, and parties celebrating the festival community...
.
In October and November 2009, Muse launched an exhibition named “Think Outside, Look Inside” with 15 renowned local artists. More than 24 art pieces were displayed at Page One bookstores. The artists included Kacey Wong, Sara Tse, Chihoi Lee and Wilson Shieh.
From Spring 2010, Muse established a Critic-in-Residence program at the University of Hong Kong. A journalist of international stature, who has an established reputation for writing critically about arts and culture, would be invited to spend a term in residence at HKU’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre. The Critic-in-Residence will teach students and will also be an active participant in Hong Kong’s cultural life during the residency period. The critic-in-residence for the 2010 spring semester will be Christian Caryl.
Muse also sponsored HKU's "Distinguished Lecture Series in the Humanities", which was held from September to December 2009 by Leo Lee Ou-fan, the magazine’s book critic. Total attendance of the series of talks totaled approximately 1,000 people.
The Next Big Things
In 2010, Muse launched its inaugural ‘The Next Big Things’ election. The magazine solicited public nominations for what they considered to be ‘next big things’ in the local arts scene: the people, concepts, ideas, projects and events which were to make the greatest positive cultural impact.On June 29, 2010, an awards ceremony was held, bestowing awards to local screenwriter Christine To Chi-long (杜緻朗), HKAPA Dean of Drama, Tang Shu-wing (鄧樹榮), and the Hong Kong Photo Festival 2010.