Shishang Xiansheng

The magazine was started in 1993 as a supplement to Shishang yieng, a women's magazine.^[1][2] The founding company was the Trends magazine group.^[1] From 1997 Shishang xiansheng became a separate title.^[2] Two years later the magazine began to be published as the Chinese version of the American men's magazine Esquire.^[1][2][3] Upon this an English script Esquire was added to the background of its title.^[4]

Shishang xiansheng is a venture of Trends Media Group, International Data Group (IDG), and Hearst.^[4] The magazine is published by the Trends magazine group on a monthly basis.^[5] Its target audience is affluent Chinese men in their 30s and 40s.^[2] The stated objective of Shishang xiansheng is to provide a harmonious balance between the material and spiritual wealth, which reminds the official discourse of Chinese state "to grab with both hands, with both hands tough."^[6] It mostly covers the topics of fashion and accessories.^[6]

The magazine established an award, Man of the Year, in 2004.^[7] In 2005 Wang Feng was appointed the editor-in-chief of the magazine.^[4] In 2008 a movie, Esquire Runway, was produced by the publishing company to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the magazine.^[8] Shishang xiansheng was the best selling men's magazine in China in 2010 with a circulation of 680,000 copies based on the reports by the publishing company.^[5]