Much of the everyday reading in the Chinese community consists of newspapers and magazines. These items are found at everyday places--anywhere from bakeries to car dealerships--and are often free or cheap. Certain news sources build consistent readerships, as people develop habits of picking up their favourite material as part of their everyday routines.
Outside of Chinatown, customers visiting places such as Costco or Superstore will find a rack for newspapers and often an entire section dedicated to books. While standing in check-out lines, gossip or celebrity magazines also catch their attention. However, this is an uncommon sight in the Chinese community. In Chinese supermarkets, it is rare to find a section dedicated to books, and food, rather than magazines, builds up beside the cash register. For example, when I went to T&T Supermarket at West Edmonton Mall, there was a tiny rack of cookbooks near the produce section and nothing else.
However, newspapers (which may be available in other languages, such as Vietnamese and Korean) and magazines remain highly popular in the community. Some Chinese news sources available in Edmonton include Truth Monthly (a Christian newspaper), The Chinese Journal, Ming Pao Daily News (along with its Sunday supplement magazine), Edmonton Chinese News, Sing Tao Chinese Cosmo Weekly, Epoch Times, Herald Monthly, Global Chinese Press, and Sing Tao Daily.
Newspapers such as Edmonton Chinese News, The Chinese Journal, and Epoch Times (Chinese version) are all locally printed, and are meant for free distribution. Other publications such as Sing Tao Daily and Global Chinese Press are printed in places such as Calgary and Vancouver and cost up to $3. Interestingly, while we assume newspapers will have a catchy front cover story to capture readers’ attention, Chinese newspapers often ditch the cover story and have advertisements instead. Many of the front covers the publications I collected are dominated by real estate or car dealership advertisements, and all of the pages in Edmonton Chinese News are advertisements except for two.
Larger newspapers printed outside of Edmonton often differ from local newspapers. They include a wider variety of topics, and contain specialized sections. One example is "Immigrant's Story" and "Special Report" in the Global Chinese Press. In addition, these publications are divided into regional sections, such as a “Hong Kong/Taiwan” section, a “Mainland China” section, and a “Canada” section. Global Chinese Press even has a section dedicated to news originating from Western Canada. These paid newspapers are more likely to be found in supermarkets, while free newspapers are found in restaurants and car dealerships.
Restaurants have an especially large variety of print. Some even provide their customers with English newspapers such as The Metro, and religious booklets on Buddhism in addition to free Chinese newspapers.
Supplementary magazines often accompany larger publications, and are similar to gossip and celebrity magazines such as People and US Weekly. The cover usually shines a spotlight on a well-known celebrity and the scandals that they are involved in. These magazines are highly popular, especially since they usually focus on the entertainment business based in Hong Kong. Since these magazines are only printed weekly on Sundays, they are an enticement for readers to buy the Sunday paper.
Chinese newspapers and magazines are usually unpopular among youths, and this is mainly due to the language barrier. Reading these material require a high proficiency in Chinese, and although many Chinese youths attend Chinese school under the direction of their parents, their proficiency levels often drop after graduation. Nonetheless, newspapers and magazines remain popular among the older generation.
