The Formation Of A City’s Image In The City Pictorial

For a long time, the formation of a city’s image has been closely tied to the city’s urbanization. A city’s image, developed within or outside of people’s awareness, has been presenting different images and metaphors. However, with continuous development of urbanization, cities’ images are becoming more and more identical to each other for cities’ daylight and night views are basically all made up of erect tall buildings and overpasses, sparkling neon lights. A city’s unique features seem to be lost in people’s awareness. Nevertheless, a city is nothing but a new scapegoat for it becomes a warehouse for our fear and insecurity towards changes. Conservative era and cultural rigidity are contradictory to cities’ life attitude and spirit. If we take a more close look at cities, we can find out their huge potentials, high extensibility and possibility, which definitely are all bad things. Nowadays, people and cities are all surrounded by information. The historical process of mass media is basically the same as the changes and development of the urbanization. And the rapid development of urbanization provides fertile soil and solid foundation to the development of mass media. Also, the mass media analyze cities with a peculiar “symbol” and “password” and affect the audience by its unique values and worldview. “City Pictorial”, as a city lifestyle magazine, not only delivers various messages ranging form cities’ basic life necessities, but also develops a literary, free, relaxing city image. City Pictorial, as a bridge of shaping cities images, enjoys uniqueness in formation of city images and delivers cities’ emotions and will by its unique description and guidance.City is indispensable to life. City Pictorial, as communicators of new life, depicts cities’ patters and features from perspectives of people’s life and behaviors. As a pioneer of new life, City Pictorial create unreal city images through established life style and values. City Pictorial is both an exploration of new city forms and metaphors behind city image. With its unique perspective, detailed description and emphasis on picture over content, City Pictorial, as a spokesman for Petty Bourgeoisie Magazine, Edgy Magazine, alternative magazine, conveyed new urban life and images. With a 17 years of history and being issued across the country, it has been the leader and advocate for new life. The lifestyle and information it conveys, constructed a new physical and mental image for the city. As a media, the image that City Pictorial presented, boasting unique features, is also shaping of virtual image, which is both different from and united with real city images, and will promote and guide the development and shaping of real city images. Most of us now live in the city, our life is city life. This paper, based on the City Pictorial, mainly discusses city images from the perspective of literature and art, consumption, freedom and leisure, and explores the metaphor of city images behind City Pictorial. This paper, not an utopia for policy imagination, mainly tries to find out what city life is made up of, who creates, so as to start a new discussion about the city life.