Fong Fo monthly zine: zine is an art exhibition on paper

Fong Fo’s founder Zhu Jianlin studied oil painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. In 2013, he started Fong Fo monthly zine with his schoolmate Fung Waiging. Fong Fo is priced at only RMB1. The incredibly affordable publication attracts content creators to contribute content such as fiction, essay, poem and illustration. There is no specific theme for Fong Fo’s monthly issue. There is no formal typesetting design either. The content will be exhibited raw on Fong Fo. At present, Fong Fo can be found in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc., reaching more than ten cities and retail outlets. Besides publishing monthly issues, Fong Fo is also an exhibition partner of art galleries.

Making zine to preserve his own works

Zhu Jianlin graduated from the school of art. Arts have influenced Zhu and his schoolmates greatly. “We all feel like it’s very enjoyable to do something consistently and regularly,” he said. “I want to preserve the artworks in some ways.” That’s why Fong Fo was created. “In the very beginning, we were selling the zines through some convenience stores near our school. It was a small village. We then slowly expanded our sales channels to sushi restaurants, bars and bookstores,” he said. Some business establishments that sell Fong Fo also have their own unique voice and vibe. Zhu is hoping that a zine publication can lead the readers into a special and experimental space. It’s like when they are reading zine, they are immersing themselves into a new world.

Fong Fo doesn’t aim to become a traditional magazine brand. It aims to preserve art. “It wasn’t until one year after we started making Fong Fo that we learned about the word ‘zine’,” Zhu said.

Appealing to content creators who are willing to contribute content for one year

Fong Fo monthly zine started from a ten-page publication in the beginning. Now the zine has 50 pages for readers each month. All the works on Fong Fo are directly contributed by content creators. “Fong Fo has a principle condition for collaboration, which is we only work with content creators who are willing to contribute content for one year,” Zhu said, explaining why Fong Fo has such condition. “We have maintained a passion and interest in making Fong Fo zines. So naturally, we want to find people who share similar ideas and are consistent in what they are doing.” In this case, content creators who continue to contribute to Fong Fo will be people who genuinely like Fong Fo, he said.

Zhu enjoys making Fong Fo zines. “There is no specific purpose of making Fong Fo zines. Having a bunch of people alike working on one project is the best part already,” he said.

The challenge lies in printing and binding for zine

Fong Fo’s monthly issue is priced at RMB1. “Considering the payment method and how the zine is delivered to them, RMB1 is the most suitable price for the consumers,” Zhu said, pointing out that consumers will most likely to buy the zine if it is just one Chinese yuan. Even if they regret it after buying, there is no big damage for them anyway, Zhu added. In the Fong Fo team, Zhu is in charge of the advertising service, responsible for finding advertisers and facilitating the negotiation. “Fong Fo has three advertising slots for each issue, with each one priced at RMB50. With each issue sold, the sales agent will get fifty cents,” Zhu explained, saying that the money from providing advertising service can cover the cost of paper. “Actually, we don’t have a set limit that specifies that there could only be three slots for advertisements. And we are quite open about the content of the advertisement.”

When asked about the challenges that they had encountered in producing zine publications, Zhu revealed that printing and binding the zines are quite time-consuming during the production process. “We are using home inkjet printers. So the printing efficiency is lower than those of professional printers,” Zhu said. “Fong Fo’s office is basically my home and my factory.”

Art exhibition, another side of Fong Fo

Fong Fo was kickstarted in 2013. During its six years of operation, the brand has published 72 issues in total. Besides rolling out monthly issues, Fong Fo’s team also organises exhibitions with art galleries occasionally. “We started a film and television department that is responsible for planning exhibitions and its relevant productions,” Zhu said. In 2015, Call Me Arthistory made by Zhu Jianlin, Fung Waiging and Shi Yijie was exhibited at the Shaanxi OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal. This year in April, Fong Fo will work with Bard College (US) on a new exhibition called “Fong Fo: Extra”. “Zine is an exhibition on paper. We are a group of artists who want to preserve artworks and arts. That’s why we founded Fong Fo and why we want to continue doing it,” Zhu concluded.

Recommended artists:

Tehching Hsieh (Taiwan)

Lee Kit (Hong Kong)

Chen Tong (Mainland China)

Elaine W. Ho (Hong Kong / US)

Fong Fo

Official WeChat account: fongfomag