Research on the Construction of Regional Characteristics in Local Comprehensive Yearbooks

Abstract:With the development of China's yearbooks, a number of local comprehensive yearbooks with different characteristics provide learning directions for yearbook workers at all levels, and the methods of constructing regional characteristics are particularly noteworthy. In order to highlight the characteristics of the yearbook, it is necessary to boldly innovate the framework and dig deep into the local culture, and this paper takes the yearbooks such as Xiaoyi Yearbook (2020) and Changsha Yearbook (2020) as examples to discuss the construction of regional characteristics of yearbooks.

Keywords: yearbook; regional characteristics; Filial piety yearbook; Changsha Yearbook

As a reference book with annual changes in social conditions as the main content, the purpose of the local comprehensive yearbook is to provide the public with a full range of information reference and record the changes and developments of various industries and fields in the region. From this point of view, the local comprehensive yearbook has the function of historical records and the function of serving reality. However, there are obvious problems in the compilation and writing of local comprehensive yearbooks, that is, the style and framework are rigid and monotonous, and they cannot well highlight regional characteristics. This paper is to study the local yearbooks and explore the way to construct their regional characteristics.

▲Image source: Fang Zhi China

1. Exploration of characteristics from the "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)".

(1) The dexterity of the frame design

Xiaoyi City is a county-level city under the rule of Luliang City, Shanxi Province, which was withdrawn from the county in 1992 and established as a city, and the "Xiaoyi Yearbook" was founded in that year. Like the compilation of yearbooks in many places, the yearbooks of Xiaoyi City have undergone non-regular and non-public editing and publishing stages, and it was not until 2014 that a fixed distribution model of annual and public publication was formed, and a total of 19 volumes have been published. "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)" was published in 2019 and reprinted in August 2022, and distributed nationwide for all units to read.

"Xiaoyi Yearbook (2020)" has 37 categories, nearly 200 subheadings and a number of sub-headings and entries, from the perspective of frame design, the three levels are clear, and the sub-headings are reasonably set up where necessary, so that the framework structure and focus are clear at a glance, and the framework design and classification are clear and reasonable. From the point of view of content coverage, it mainly includes special articles, special articles, memorabilia, overview of market conditions, party and government organs, rule of law, finance, agriculture and industry, water conservancy, communications, science, education, culture, health and social undertakings, etc., and the content covers a relatively comprehensive level. From the perspective of characteristic categories and item settings, the yearbook has a good grasp of the development focus and development characteristics of Xiaoyi City, and gets rid of the original single item title and content when setting the entries, and replaces them with category entries with obvious regional characteristics. For example, the subheading of "Economic Development Zone" in "Industry" has been upgraded to the category of "Development Zone Construction" to highlight the characteristics and clarify the key points.

(2) Prominent regional characteristics

The county-level yearbook is subject to factors such as small geographical scope and single industry, and there are generally problems such as single content and no regional characteristics, which also existed in the early stage of the "Filial Piety Yearbook", but in the "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)", readers can feel the new content full of filial piety regional characteristics, and also provide new ideas for the compilation of district and county yearbooks.

In terms of the construction of regional characteristics, the Xiaoyi Yearbook (2020) provides a reference method for the compilation of district and county-level yearbooks, which is mainly reflected in the framework and content. The first is to build a framework of regional characteristics. As a county-level city managed by Luliang City, Xiaoyi was selected as one of the top 100 counties and cities in the country in terms of comprehensive strength for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019. The second is to integrate regional characteristics with the characteristics of the times. Combined with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)" uses the opening color map form to show the new changes and new appearance of filial piety in infrastructure construction, economic development, ecological construction, cultural life, etc., and closely links the changes in regional development characteristics with the development of the times, so as to construct the regional characteristics of the yearbook.

In terms of the expression of regional characteristics, the "Xiaoyi Yearbook (2020)" comprehensively records the major events and changes of Xiaoyi City throughout the year, highlights the local industrial industry and cultural background, and reflects the strong regional characteristics, so that it can be different from the sameness of other yearbooks, which is mainly highlighted and expressed through the framework characteristics and content characteristics. The first is that the frame is distinctive. The framework features of the "Xiaoyi Yearbook (2020)" are specifically reflected in the setting of framework entries. Taking industrial content as an example, the Xiaoyi Yearbook upgraded the "Economic Development Zone" sub-heading in the "Industry" category to the "Development Zone Construction" category, and set up "Overview", "Coal Chemical Circular Economy Park", "Aluminum New Material Industrial Park", "Shanxi Luliang (Xiaoyi) National Agricultural Science and Technology Park", "High-tech Industrial Park", "Science, Education and Cultural Industry Park" and other sub-headings, focusing on the development of local characteristic industries and reflecting the exploration of resource-based cities in sustainable development; In the category of "industry", according to the concentration of local industries in the coal industry, a sub-heading of "raw coal production" is set up to introduce the development of the city's coal industry. The second is that the content is distinctive, which is mainly manifested in industrial characteristics and cultural characteristics. For example, in government work, in addition to general work such as letters and visits, administrative examination and approval services, etc., in view of local economic development, attention is paid to the governance of coal mining subsidence areas and the resettlement of residents in mining areas, and is described in the form of sub-items. The cultural characteristics are concentrated in the regional culture of Xiaoyi, mainly by changing the subheading of "construction and history" to "history and culture", and setting up items such as "ancient ruins", "cultural inheritance" and "local celebrities" under the subheading, showing the historical and cultural heritage of Xiaoyi City.

(3) Through the "Filial Piety Yearbook" to see the road to the compilation of high-quality yearbooks

"Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)" through the construction of regional characteristics, a change from the dullness and monotony of the past, in the continuous exploration to find the characteristics of yearbook editing, make it stand out among the county-level yearbooks, there are three experiences worth learning: First, the strong support of provincial units. Second, the compilation team is professional and promising. The Xiaoyi Local History Research Office has set up a research group for the "Xiaoyi Yearbook", selected the business backbone as the person in charge of the project, and selected relevant personnel as the members of the research group. The editorial staff of the research group are responsible for editing the corresponding categories, so that they can implement the specific responsibilities to the individual while "having a specialization in the industry" to ensure the quality of the content and the efficiency of the work. Third, the frame design strives for perfection. Carefully reading the "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)", various social undertakings are divided into specific categories, the overall content is refined and perfect, the framework design is clean and neat, and the subordinate relationship is reasonable and appropriate. Compared with some yearbooks, it is customary to concatenate various undertakings under the general category of "social affairs", which can easily lead to a bloated and disorganized overall framework structure.

2. Characteristics of regional construction of high-quality yearbooks

(1) The frame design highlights the regional advantageous industries

Take "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)" as an example. Xiaoyi is located in Luliang, Shanxi, coal and other traditional energy industries are relatively developed, but with the development of society, traditional energy gradually transitions to new energy, and Xiaoyi's local industries are also constantly upgrading and transforming, which is clearly reflected in its yearbook. The Xiaoyi Yearbook focuses on the positive actions of the transformation and development of traditional energy development areas, and focuses on the introduction of "development zone construction" as a new category. As a county-level yearbook, the Xiaoyi Yearbook highlights the situation of agricultural and rural reform, and tells the status of agricultural development while focusing on the development of secondary and tertiary industries.

Among the municipal yearbooks, the Changsha Yearbook (2020) and the Lianyungang Yearbook (2019) are taken as examples. "Changsha Yearbook" adopts the method of "three studies and four verification frameworks", that is, the study of the government work report, the study of the work functions of the compilation unit, and the study of the opinions of leading experts; Check the party newspaper and party journal, check the official website micronet, view the work briefing, and view the internal information, provide scientific confirmation for the optimization of the framework, focus on the joint development of the construction of the development zone and the surrounding cities, and set up the "development zone", "Hunan Xiangjiang New Area" and "Changzhutan 'two-type society' pilot zone" as category levels. The "Lianyungang Yearbook" focuses on the innovative design of the framework, according to the geographical location and development advantages, the original sub-heading "Lianyungang Port" is upgraded to a category, and the categories of marine economy and open economy are set up, so as to further highlight the focus and local characteristics of the city's development.

(2) The combination of pictures and texts shows the regional humanistic features

Many local comprehensive yearbooks will use color maps to show the development and changes of regional society, culture, economy and other aspects, and high-quality yearbooks are no exception, but in the use of pictures and texts, more attention is paid to showing the regional humanistic features. The Changsha Yearbook undergoes major adjustments every year in the color book layout, and the selected color books are related to the major events of the year, rather than simply listing pictures. Taking the 2020 volume as an example, Changsha, as a popular tourist city, was selected as one of the "Top Ten Influential Cities in China's Night Economy" in December 2019.

(3) Reflect the characteristics of the development of the times

Throughout 2020, yearbooks at all levels focus on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 2019, showing the changes and development of the city, focusing on the characteristics of the times in the region since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Lianyungang Yearbook integrates participation in the construction of the "Belt and Road" into the yearbook work, combines the development characteristics of the times, and sets up a separate category to highlight the government policy activities while recording the development characteristics of the times.

3. Local yearbooks draw on the construction of revitalized regional characteristics

The valuable experience of the "Filial Piety Yearbook (2020)" is worthy of learning and reference by the yearbook editing departments around the world. How to reflect the regional characteristics, cultural characteristics and the style of the times in the yearbook is not only the idea that the yearbook management organization needs to learn from, but also a topic worthy of study in the yearbook work at all levels. So how should local yearbooks learn from and revitalize the construction of regional characteristics?

(1) Excavate regional characteristics

The first task of excavating regional characteristics is to find the right advantageous positioning. In the process of compiling and revising the local comprehensive yearbook, it is first necessary to identify the characteristic industries and development advantages of the region and reflect them in the yearbook. Throughout the current yearbooks, they are more or less committed to reflecting the advantages and characteristics of their own regions, but they cannot become high-quality products, what is the gap? The author believes that there are three reasons. First, make a brief mention rather than an important one. Many yearbooks are edited to a greater or lesser extent on the key points of industrial development in the region, but they are basically in the form of a single small item or occasional mention in different items. The arrangement and treatment of characteristic industries in the boutique yearbook is mostly highlighted, and it is raised to the status of subheadings or even categories, giving it a strong stroke. Second, the characteristics of the framework are not reflected enough. Many yearbooks, especially those at the district and county levels, are rigid in their framework design due to their small size, and most of the fixed entries remain unchanged for several years, which makes it difficult to reflect the innovation of the compilation of yearbooks, let alone the construction of regional characteristics. Third, the relevant person in charge does not pay attention to it. Considering economic work as a top priority, and treating yearbook work as an unavoidable errand, etc.

Secondly, it is necessary to have a clear division of labor and reasonable arrangements. The level of provincial and municipal yearbooks is relatively high, and the editing is relatively standardized, but the district and county yearbooks are constrained by the lack of professional editing talents, and it is inevitable that they will not move forward in framework innovation and regional characteristic design. Therefore, it is necessary to rationally arrange the relevant staff of the yearbook, absorb people with lofty ideals, boldly change and innovate in the framework, and focus on serving the specific geographical conditions of the region, rather than treating it as a task. This requires yearbook workers not only to be familiar with and understand the situation of the region, including customs, social development, industrial development, etc., but also to have a high professional standard, and be able to design a reasonable and appropriate framework on the basis of the regional conditions, which is not only complete and comprehensive, but also distinctive.

Finally, it is necessary to actively excavate geographical information. Taking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China as an example, most of the yearbooks only focus on the series of activities held by the region for the 70th anniversary, while more yearbooks focus on the earth-shaking changes in the region in the past 70 years, and dig deep into the history of the region, which not only fits the times, but also highlights the characteristics, and does not fall into clichés, which not only meets the requirements of the yearbook editing work, but also digs deep into the local history.

(2) De-politicization

In the process of compiling yearbooks, many localities regard them as a political task and ignore the essential requirements of yearbooks. This politicized tendency is mainly manifested in the prominent leaders in photographs, the special articles are mainly in the government work report or conference report, and the leaders are the main objects of record in the category of people, and so on. The fundamental purpose of the compilation and revision of the yearbook is to preserve history and inform the government, and it is required to reflect the major events and new events of the year, so as to give full play to its role as a social reference book. Therefore, while fully demonstrating the political nature, that is, under the guidance of correct policies and guidelines, the editorial content of the yearbook should be backward compatible, based on society, and aimed at recording, without overflowing beauty or praise, and avoiding the tendency of excessive politicization and propaganda.

IV. Conclusion

The vivid experience and bold innovation of local yearbooks in the construction of regional characteristics are the only way for yearbooks to continue to innovate and innovate. Through study and study, we can experience the innovative practice and characteristic display of local yearbooks in the construction of regional characteristics, and internalize them in our hearts, so as to promote the better development of yearbook work.