The Death of Publishing Or For That Matter, Of Language And Culture As We Know It?

By in large subways are silent places with all eyes on
their smart phones. Books? Newspapers? Nary a one.

   I just returned from a trip to China. While many Americans, including our President, may think China is backward and far behind us, I found that in fact they are, in many ways far more advanced.       

 This struck me soon after I arrived. Traveling with my host on the subway I witnessed this scene: every single person, young and old, was looking at a smart phone, with all the younger ones hooked up with some form of headphone.

   This was a very different scene from my first experience on a subway in New York City in 1967.         In 1967 I don't think any city in the west of the Mississippi had a subway. I know growing up in Portland, OR I took the bus everywhere. However, I know Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and even San Francisco depended or cars or buses. Not a subway in sight.

   I was surprised to see that just about every rider had a newspaper or a book, something to read and again other than the noise of the train, cars were also pretty much silent. Papers then had huge readerships, some published before the morning commute and again for the afternoon commute. There was no instant news ... and yet,  the world survived.

Riders read newspapers or book and were certainly
 betterdressed in the "good old days"

   As a journalism major in college, I don't think anyone could have foreseen the changes that were about to take place. In the 60's newspapers nationwide were making the shift from letterpress printing to offset. They quickly evolved from typing metal slugs each with a letter on them to what was called cold type where the printed type was glued to a paper sheet with hot wax and each page photographed. Next came desktop publishing that get rid of just about everything physical in setting type to manipulating it on a computer screen. In some places it happened faster than others. In Oklahoma it started in the 60's, in Los Angles it was the 90's. After years of using the same basic printing format change came, and quickly. No more cutting your fingers with Exacto blades and burning fingers with hot wax guns, desktop publishing was a godsend.

Chinese have newsstands but I never saw
anyone reading something from here.

   Watching riders in Tianjin and Beijing it suddenly dawned on me what was causing the collapse of the publishing industry. I can remember the first Kindles, small, lightweight tablets that could hold up to 1500 nooks. They were all black and white but wasn't that the color of a book, except for its cover? Since every book since 1983 has been typeset digitally it was a wonderful way to save costs ... no printing, no distribution, no remainders to be returned. It was clean and digitally simple. The problem was they tried to charge the same price as if the book was printed. It took awhile but finally digital versions were sold cheaper and sales continued to rise until ... they didn't. 

The malls that are open are huge, multi 

story with each floor themed for food,

kids wear, clothing, etc. Signage is huge

as the hanging ads here are.

Amazon and publishers are beginning to see shifts in this scenario. Real, printed book sales started to rise again in 2016 wiping out the loss of  printed sales. Like the revival of LP (long play) records, customers seem to like and want to touch and hold the real thing again.

   However, not only are they not buying books or newspapers, they are not going to the mall either. While we saw many in China, most quite new, I would say that up to half are shuttered. One huge mall, once a thriving, bustling place was surrounded by a wall and abandoned. Even my friend admitted that he purchased most items online. Often it was cheaper and they, just like here, delivered to your door. 

The Chinese government wasted no time getting its new
leaders front and center before their citizens. I can't even
began to imagine such signage in my condo complex.

   

So, as I discovered, it isn't that people aren't reading, they are reading a way not much considered or understood 10 years ago. It has taken, at least the newspaper industry, several decades to figure out that the medium is the message. Their business was news and selling ads. Readers, they are finding out, will read, just digitally, not the way they had planned. The cost savings over tangible media should have invigorated the industry rather than killed it. Those that understood have thrived.

   Printing still is a big business in China. There are government signs everywhere, such as this signage inside my hosts condo complex. The government is visible everywhere, often in ways and places most western citizens would not tolerate. Passing this nearly every day for three weeks, it dawned on me that it wouldn't be imaginable in the US. Politicians might want it, the citizens, never. I'm  convinced one of China's biggest printing buyers is their government!

Even the local vendor gets into the act ... printed stickers
and an electronic sign overhead!

Ask and you shall receive!
Your message painted for you in real time.

            

However, no matter where you go, or at least in Beijing, Tianjin and yes, Hong Kong, signs are everywhere. Huge, colorful and often electric, every business seems to be covered with Chinese characters vying for your attentions that are so befuddling to westerners. However, it is also poetic and you see painted posters in every store, museum, in or on every business. You could have a local calligrapher paint you a special New Years wish or prayers or there are areas where hundreds of vendors sell everything you need for the forthcoming Chinese New Year.

   

Setting up of stalls that sell 2018 decorations for Year of the Dog Chinese New Years celebrations.

   We stumbled on an outdoor plaza nearby the condo that was in the process of setting up for the February Chinese New Years festivities. Talk about design. To see the intricate lazer cut paper items, once cut by hand, is to see absolutely amazing and sadly, disposable art. 2018 is the year of the dog so many of the decorations reflect that. However, that is not all you can purchase and a wide variety of hopes and prayers for health, wealth and well-being adorned the stalls. Even better, most of the paper cuttings are on "bright" red paper, a favorite, that are meant to be displayed until next year. My friend said that this decorating was extremely popular in Tianjin, not so much in Beijing.

Many streets feature signs, electric signs and lanterns

   But the signage doesn't stop there. Every street with vendors on it uses distinctive signage. While I couldn't read a word, their characters are artistic and are worthy and are often found as art in galleries, museums and such. If I saw one, I saw 20 different vendors selling the paper to practice calligraphy as well as brushes and inks. It is a hobby many retired citizens practice.

   Signs tend to be over the top both in size and how how they were displayed. Our trip to the 798 Arts District in Beijing had many galleries filled with traditional as well as modern art. One huge outdoor mural intrigued everyone who came across it and resembled something more likely to be found in the west. And like artists in the west, Chinese artists, or at least some, were exploring a kind of renegade art that could be at seen in any American avant grade home. We wandered around all afternoon but both agreed, Shenzhen was more fun. There you saw the artist at work, the raw materials for sale and prices that were considerably cheeper.

Mural in the 798 Arts District

   What I am trying to say and show here is that we are already changing, changing in ways that we had not foreseen and the process is not completed yet. Possibly there will always a need  for print and digital because already, historians and archivists are finding that they can't open files that were digitally saved 20 years ago. Even the CD that involved into the DVD has gone through many metamorphic

changes and new discs can't be played on old machines. If a printed book is carefully preserved it can be read for decades to come ... if the language still exists. So along with digital comes greater and greater standardization of languages. While I knew that every airline pilot in the world talks to the tower and each other in English, did you know that ship captains do as well? Is the day coming where even this culturally defined custom is replaced, where languages become fewer? While the Tower of Babel may have separated us, will the age of digital bring us back together again? We are in the midst of a revolution of expression and I don't think anyone knows where it will take us.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where the emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! Be sure to check my re-opened ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Many of the items talked about here are for sale there!