Yes, this job is still around. However, the concept has changed.
You see a newsstand it in the subway station. It is a vender where you can buy gummies, candies, lastly, newspapers. It may be a little incorrect to call that vender newsstand. In the past, you bought newspaper and other various magazines at newsstand. Stopping by at a newsstand and reading magazines for half an hour was my favorite part of daily routine.
In 1900s China, newsstand looks the same as modern one. What is different is the items that are sold. A newsstand is usually a small box-like room with steel wire attaching to the outside wall of the room. It has a huge window open, through which passersby talks to newsstand operator and has a look at all the readings that are displayed in the box room. The newsstand typically locates at the intersection of busy roads, where there is a spacious ground for people to stop by the booth.
Every morning the newsstand operator would clip different magazines onto the steel wire. The outside “mosaic” wall of newsstand looks very pretty with different but colorful magazines’ cover. The operator would also set up a stand that extends from the newsstand so more magazines and newspaper can be displayed.
There is one newsstand right out side of my community; I walked by several times a day. At that time, you could not subscribe to a magazine online, instead you sign up for subscription at a newsstand. I had my subscription of “Children’s Literature” magazine, it issued biweekly. I picked up my magazine every two weeks at the newsstand. Besides “Children’s Literature,” I actually browsed and read a lot of other magazines at the newsstand. The operator would usually prepare a few small stools around the stand. I sometimes sat on the stool and read books for a while, he did not mind and never asked me anything. He read different newspapers one by one. He organized the books. He reorganized books (a few times a day). He stared blankly. He did people watching. Back then; I always thought that newsstand operator must be the man who reads most in the world.
Today, people don’t go to a newsstand for reading. They pass by a newsstand and get some sugar to feel energized. Newsstand operator’s job is replaced by insanely convenient access online to numerous media outlet in your laptop.
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Photo courtesy of zazhipu.com and Sina.com
Gone Jobs 