Rose Quan -

interview with the founder of Wandering China

About Wandering China:

Wandering Media

On our WeChat (ID: guanlanzhongguo) we publish original articles daily. Subscribe to read our Wander travel pieces, Local Voices articles which gather views directly from local people, and Cultural Differences which explore issues of social and cultural interest.

Our magazines are released monthly. Our magazine is unique in being devoted to exploring a single topic of particular cultural significance and fundamental consequence for anybody trying to understand what is happening in China now.

The Wandering China Writers Club meets once a month. Our writers, artists, editors, translators and publishers are an open-minded community devoted to idea sharing and exchanging fresh perspectives on China and the West.

DE: Could you tell me a little bit about how you got into publishing?

RQ: I previously worked at the China National Tourism Association. At that time, in 2004, the Olympic games were being held in Beijing. I thought there would be an increased demand from the international market to get to know China. On the one hand I saw this demand, and on the other, China is a big country but there was very little non-Chinese language information about it. Lonely Planet does a great job, but China is not only Beijing, Shanghai and places like that. There’s a lot more to China. At that time, one big thing was that China was not so open. The media was a little bit afraid of inviting Western journalists to write about China. I was probably the first person to say, “In order to introduce China, we need to invite foreign writers to come experience and write about it.”

DE: Previous Chinese guidebooks were just translated word-for-word, is that right?

RQ: Yes. The translated books could be good or bad, but one big factor is the cultural differences. Because the Chinese way of thinking is really different. The books that introduced smaller places contained translated information that was not attractive. So it was in English, but still couldn’t be understood by Western readers. I realized having Western writers come and experience these places would be very valuable. They bring fresh ideas and an international angle to the understanding of local places. After I came up with this concept I quit my job with the China National Tourism Association and started publishing.

DE: And what books did you publish at that time?

RQ: From 2004 until now we’ve published a lot. For example, Sichuan, The Spice of Life. Chonqing and the Three Gorges. Zhengzhou, the cradle of Chinese civilization. Qingdao. One about the Olympic games. China Through The Looking Glass: Hangzhou. Datong, A Historical Guide. Nanjing, A Cultural and Historical Guide for Travelers. Breaking God’s Flail. We have nearly 20 book titles covering most parts of China.

DE: Yea, that’s a lot. You spent some time studying tourism in Europe as well?

RQ: I really value that time. I still feel very grateful to the European Union, because I was received the Managers Exchange Training Program sponsored by the EU. This was designed by the EU Commission with the purpose of exchanging young managers between Europe and China. It’s about cultural exchange and working together. So I had an internship with the EU Travel Commission. Though it was a short period it gave me a sense of the people there and the challenge of living in a totally different culture and traveling independently. All that experience challenged me and has validated what I do in China; that a guidebook should go deeper into the culture. Even now I still keep in touch with my classmates in Europe.

DE: What is your vision for Wandering China? Why did you decide to start this new venture?

RQ: To benefit as many people as I can. I’ve been a publisher for 12 years, so I understand how it works. But starting Wandering China has been a big challenge; especially working so closely with Western colleagues in the office. If there’s no trust, everything is cold. I do believe numbers make people cold.

DE: Numbers make people cold?

RQ: If everything is based on numbers, based on money. How good is a book? Numbers. How can you judge whether a book is good or not by numbers? Or a relationship. People might talk in a very kind way, but behind it is numbers. I believe that’s wrong. Wandering China wants to help people realize that this is wrong.

DE: You’re interested in writers who can give a more in depth view of things, which surprised me a little bit for a travel publication. Like, it seems different from what Lonely Planet does.

RQ: I think for Lonely Planet it’s hard. I mean they work very hard. But it’s hard for them to understand Chinese culture in depth. Our books offer in depth looks at local places. But Wandering China magazine is more about culture. I hope the topics we discuss can unveil a lot, even where there are problems. Right or wrong doesn’t matter; we just want to unveil the depths for people to see and understand.

DE: The magazine is bilingual, which is really cool. Is your audience more Chinese or Western? You mentioned that Chinese people are often quite interested in Western takes on China.

RQ: The magazine has two audiences. For example, our current magazine’s theme is gender issues. It’s an international topic. Globally, everyone is talking about gender issues. But what is happening here in China—I think—is difficult for people living outside of China to understand. And what is the background? We want describe what is happening here, but we also want to unveil the background. So reporting, in depth, what is happening here, could be one way the magazine is valuable. On the other hand our Chinese readers do value the Chinese translations.

DE: I’m curious what Chinese readers find interesting about Western views of China.

RQ: Lots of people want to understand Western values. They want to understand what the international community thinks about China. So our articles are translated into Chinese especially for young people. The cultural differences are very easy to see. Take for example how our Western writers talk about leftover women…the concept is so ordinary in China! But to the Western world it’s strange.

DE: Yes, for me it’s a very interesting concept.

RQ: For me it’s so common. Why is it strange to you? And to understand what you find strange about it can help me to understand how the Western world observes China. My ability is limited, but I still want to show that trust is very important. It can make people warm. Even if people hurt me. I believe one day we will realize the importance of trust.

About Rose Quan:

Rose is an adventurer, publisher and entrepreneur. She has been a travel book publisher for 13 years, and she’s been in the tourism industry over 15 years, both in the EU and at a Chinese state-owned company. In her professional life, she has been the founder and director of several companies.

《观览中国》简介：

旅游栏目

我们每天会在微信公众号“观览中国”上推送原创文章，关注我们的微信公众号，阅读Wander和Voice栏目，即可了解当地人的想法； 阅读Culture Differences即可了解社会文化焦点问题。

《观览中国》是一本月刊杂志，我们的特别之处在于，我们致力于探索中国特有文化背后的故事，以及给试图想要了解中国的外国人传递相关热门资讯。

我们每月会举办一次观览中国作家俱乐部活动，这里的艺术家，作家，编辑，翻译，出版商都是一群思想活跃，包容开明的人儿。同时，我们还着眼于汇聚前卫思想和分享中西方文化故事。

DE：你能告诉我你是如何从事出版行业的吗？

RQ：我之前是在中国国家旅游局工作，那个时候是2004年，奥运会即将在北京举办，我当时就想，肯定会有越来越多的国家想要了解中国，一方面我看到了这个需求；另一方面是，我发现中国太大了，但关于中国的非汉语咨询少之又少。《孤独星球》在这方面做得很好，但是中国不仅仅只有北京上海这两个城市，还有很多其他城市等待去挖掘和发现。那个时候的国民思想还比较保守，媒体也比较胆小，不敢邀请国外记者报道中国。估计我是当时第一个人说：“为了传播中国文化，我要邀请外国作家来体验中国，报道中国”这样的话吧。

DE: 以前的中文旅游指南书都是逐字翻译吗？

RQ：是的，译文有好有坏，影响这个的关键因素是中西方文化间的差异。中国人的思维方式真的很与众不同。一本介绍中国小地方的书，即使包含一些英文简介，老外也不太感兴趣。于是我们做成全英文版本，但老外仍一头雾水。这时我意识到，邀请外国作家来中国体验是非常重要的，他们对了解当地文化有一种新颖的想法和国际视角。之后我决定辞掉中国旅游局的工作，然后从事出版行业。

DE: 那个时候你出版了什么书呢？

RQ：从2004年到目前为止，我们出版了很多书。比如《四川》、《生活调料》、《重庆与三峡》、《郑州》、《中华文明的摇篮》、《青岛》、《奥运会》、《镜子里的中国》、《杭州》、《大同市，历史游览指南》、《南京，文化历史旅游指南》、《打破上帝枷锁》。我们有近20本书的书名覆盖了中国大部分地区。

DE：天哪，是挺多的。你在欧洲时也花时间学习旅游业方面的知识吗？

RQ：我非常珍惜那段欧洲求学时光，我到现在都非常感激欧盟，因为欧盟赞助了我，我才有机会参与这个“经理交换培训计划”，这个计划是欧盟委员会为促进中西方文化交流和合作而制定的，主要交换的是中国和欧盟国间的年轻经理们。于是我到了欧盟旅游局实习，尽管实习期十分短暂，但这给我对当地人产生了一种感情，并且这段经历锻炼了我一个人在异国他乡独立生存的能力，并让我受益匪浅，我更加坚定回国后的发展目标，那就是出版一本深入当地的旅游指南书。即使到现在我仍和当时班里的欧洲同学保持联络。

DE：你对《观览中国》的愿景是什么？当初为什么决定成立这家新公司？

RQ：我希望尽我所能，使更多的人受益匪浅。我从事出版商已有12年了，所以我很清楚这行的运作模式，但是创办《观览中国》真的是一大挑战，特别是和外国同事近距离办公。如果彼此间没有信任，任何事情都是冷漠的，没有感情的。我觉得数字很让人心寒。

DE：什么叫数字让人心寒？

RQ：如果一切以金钱数字为标准，怎么能更好地发展这本杂志？通过数字，或者利益关系，就能评价一本书的优劣吗？人们也许会用一种友好的方式去谈论收益，但背后关心的还是金钱数目。我认为这种想法是错的，《观览中国》想要帮助大家去意识到这点。

DE：你对那些善于深入探索事物的作家很感兴趣，这一点让我很吃惊，感觉和《孤独星球》做的很不一样。

RQ：我感觉《孤独星球》做不到这样，虽然员工工作很卖力，但是他们也很难去深入的了解中国文化。《观览中国》提供了很多深入全面的信息，但它的内容已不仅仅涉及文化方面了，我希望我们能发掘并揭示更多的问题，观点的对与错不重要，重要的是这个问题的的揭示深度，好让读者深入了解当下的中国。

DE：这本杂志是中英双语的，好赞啊！读者大部分是中国人还是外国人呢？你之前提到中国人对老外报道的中国消息很感兴趣。

RQ：中国人和老外都有关注这本杂志。比如说，目前我们杂志以国际热点为主题—性别。全球范围内，所有人都在讨论这个话题，但是对于那些生活在异国他乡的国人来说，他们会很困惑“中国当下正在发生什么重大事件呢？”“中国的大环境是怎样的？”，因此我想要去描述和揭示这些问题。一方面，深度报道中国当下时事是这本杂志的精华所在，另一方面，中国读者很在意中文翻译文本。

DE：我很好奇，为什么中国读者那么关注西方人对中国的看法？

RQ：很多中国人想要了解西方人的价值观，想要了解国际社会对中国的看法，所以为了这些年轻人，我们的杂志被译成了中文，这样他们就更容易发现文化差异了。比方说，西方作家如何报道剩女....这观念在中国很正常啊，但是在西方人眼里就觉得很奇怪！

DE：是的，我觉得这是个很有趣的观念。

RQ：对我来说，这现象太常见了，你为什么会觉得奇怪？了解你觉得奇怪的原因能帮助我理解西方对中国的看法。我虽能力有限，但我一直很想去传达信任的重要性，不论对方伤我多深，我都能打从心底里感到温暖。我相信，有一天，我们会意识到信任的重要性。

权新颖Rose简介

Rose 是一个旅游探险家，图书出版商兼企业家。她担任旅游图书出版商已有13年了，并且她分别在欧洲和国有企业从事旅游行业已超过15年。在她的职业生涯中，她曾担任许多家公司的创始人和执行董事。

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