Road To Beijing
Date:2008-07-25
Editor's Note:
As Beijing Olympics is only 14 days away, Shanghai Daily's IOC-registered reporter, Ms Ma Yue, is eagerly waiting for the most important assignment so far in her career to begin. Before she goes to Beijing on July 30, the online department invited her to share with our readers with her thoughts. We also plan to launch a blog for her during the Olympics at our Olympic mini-site.
Road To Beijing
Ma Yue
It's just 14 days left before the world's best athletes begin their quest for sporting world's ultimate glory.
And it's 14 of us -- reporters -- from the Wenhui Xinmin United Press Group who will be heading to Beijing to cover the Olympic Games, the ultimate thing for any sports journalist.
I will be representing Shanghai Daily at the Olympics. Can it get anything better than that?
The occasion is doubly momentous -- the Wenhui Xinmin United Press Group is also celebrating its 10th anniversary.
For me personally, it will also be a chance to mingle and talk to the best in the business from all over the world -- almost like an education tour, and I'm expecting a lot of help from my seniors who are making the trip to the capital. they include writers and photographers from the group's other publications, namely Xinmin Evening News, Wenhui Daily, oriental Morning Post and oriental Sports Daily.
Besides the 14 IOC-registered reporters, there will be other "resident" reporters on the beat outside the main venues. The Olympics is not only about Games and success on the pitch as well, it has also got to do with the Olympic spirit .
Shanghai Daily has set up a special Olympic team, led by deputy editor-in-chief Zhu Huanian. There are the other supporting and technical team, all of whom will work hours galore to put out a competitive newspaper and our website, all of whom I am sure, will bring the best of the Games to the readers.
The group hopes it can deliver greater better faster news to the world -- and I'm confident of delivering just that as the moment demands.
United working platform
A "United working platform" was launched last month after months' of trials and testings in Beijing. We did have our trial runs earlier this month. The real test, off course, begins now. All the reporters and photographers will upload their news stories, pictures and analysis from this very platform which will be transmitted to Shanghai editors and the respective papers. Despite being miles away, we will stay in touch by the minute, almost as though we are right across our desk.
Wenhui Xinmin United Press Group has also rented a room at the MPC (main press center), and next to neighboring news agencies like Xinhua, AP and Reuters, serving as the media base for reporters in Beijing.
A video conference will be held everyday at 3pm with all the seniors where ideas will be shared for stories, articles, analysis and pictures of the day from this very room. "You will never walk alone", the hymn song of Premier League club Liverpool fans, will almost be our working motto as well. At least mine.
Beijing cometh
With a laptop, a camera, and a recorder I can say I'm ready to start work right now.
I have just been a year on the sports desk with Shanghai Daily. In that sense, this is the ultimate prize I could have dreamed off. For me personally, it fills me with a sense of pride that I will get to report on the glory and the pain that an Olympic occasion provides.
I remember telling myself when joining Shanghai Daily one year ago: Great power comes with great responsibility.
I'm ready for that test.
so Beijing, here I come...
The 18th issue of e-magazine is out now!
Date:2008-07-25
The issue has 9 sections: Cover Story, Macro Economy, Finance, Human Resources, Air, Auto, Metal and Energy, Technology and Opinion, which have been re-typeset in the magazine.
Our e-magazine is specifically designed for business readers and is mainly based on issues discussed in the Business Insight pages of Shanghai Daily.
Officially launched in January 2007, the magazine is published every month and is free to download during its trial.
You can download the magazine via PDF files from our Website (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/emagazine/). or you can subscribe to our Insight Newsletter by typing in your e-mail address in the box at the bottom of the front page. The readers on this list will be e-mailed when a new version of the magazine is published.
Monthly award winners unveiled
Date:2008-07-23
Shanghai Daily’s “Best Story” and “Best Page” Awards for June were announced this aft...
ShanghaiDaily.com has all the Olympic scoops
Date:2008-07-21
ShanghaiDaily.com today launches its 2008 Olympic mini-site to provide fresh insight into the Games and, more importantly, service information for Olympic spectators in Shanghai.
During the Olympics, we will offer four to five daily highlights at the top of site to help spectators focus on the most exciting events. Under a cooperation deal with China’s Central Television, we’ll offer an “on air” link to guide visitors to watch live broadcasts from CCTV.com.
Since 12 Olympic football matches will be held in Shanghai, our mini-site focuses on giving expats lots of useful information about the games and the stadium.
The information consists of Olympic events, venues and events in Shanghai. It also includes a guide for tourists with multi-media videos. Shanghai Daily also is set to cooperate with China Central TV Station to incorporate video clips of Olympic events on our site.
The mini-site highlights Shanghai specialties and boasts another window into the city. It offers some detailed local information that we have been painstakingly accumulating at our Live in Shanghai guide site.
Visitors coming to Shanghai can check out several sightseeing tours that set off from Shanghai Stadium and other handy tourism information that will hopefully make your stay here more enjoyable.
Moreover, the site will also launch some Olympic polls to collect public opinion on hot topics.
What makes Sunday special
Date:2008-07-17
On July 6, the first edition of Shanghai Daily Sunday was published, opening a new era to the Chinese mainland - an era when there is at last an English language newspaper available on Sundays. The paper's online department interviewed Sunday Editor Wu Zheng to find out more about Shanghai Daily's Sunday, its origins, the reaction to the first editions and its future.
Q: Why did Shanghai Daily introduce Sunday?
A: Reading a Sunday paper is a long-time tradition for many of our readers. They missed it here, because there was no local Sunday paper available here. We are glad to produce this new product to meet the demands of our readers.
Q: Shanghai Daily began in 1999 but Sunday was not published until almost 10 years later. Why?
A: As I mentioned, our target readers are expats. With the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai's Expo, an increasing number of foreigners are coming to China or visiting China. They want to learn more about what's happening here. We felt that the right window of opportunity had opened. We identified a gap in the market and we are attempting to fill and satisfy that gap. Moreover our newspaper has the experience and capability of doing this effectively.
Q: What has been the feedback on the new Sunday edition?
A: Many readers tell us they really enjoy it. They get useful information on lifestyle and reports on the major events that occur on Saturdays. An overseas friend sent me a delightful e-mail recently. He said he was sorry that his office subscribed to Shanghai Daily because now he misses the new Sunday edition and has to wait until Monday to read it. He decided to switch the subscription to his home address.
Q: What trends will Sunday possibly take?
A: Our immediate aim is to expand the number of pages and make it more interesting. We will add more stories and sections to make it as good a Sunday newspaper as it can be.
Q: Have you considered making students some of your target readers for Sunday?
A: Yes, but our immediate target readers are expats. We have another special newspaper titled Campus, which is aimed at students.
Find friends on ShanghaiDaily.com
Date:2008-06-26
Nothing helps you settle into a new town more than finding a group of like minded people to hang out with. To help you with the task of getting together a new social network in Shanghai , we have opened a personals portal where you can meet friends, language partners, pen pals or that special someone.
Powered by Worldfriends, Shanghai Daily `Friends' offers you an access to more than a million profiles of international and Chinese people looking to connect with others. Visit now to start building your new social network.
Multi-city weather forecast back on ShanghaiDaily.com
Date:2008-06-24
Users of ShanghaiDaily.com may notice that during the past month the weather panel on the Website has lost most of its functions including city selection, extended forecast and 10-day forecast. This was caused by a data format change by Weather.com, the data provider of ShanghaiDaily.com.
Since Weather.com's new data had been proved inapplicable on ShanghaiDaily.com, the production team of ShanghaiDaily.com strived to search for new source data and finally succeeded in applying data from Yahoo.com.
Again users can view forecasts for various cities while the extended forecast and 10-day forecast functions are still unusable and are under investigation.
Former glories shining brightly
Date:2008-06-20
Recently two shiny bronze plates were placed on walls along Shaanxi Road N., just a few minutes' walk from the Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Tower home of the Shanghai Daily. The Jing'an District erected the plates to mark two historical residences and remind passers-by of the glory of the architecture and the history of the homes and their former owners.
One of the buildings is the former residence of Rong Zongjing, the "King of Cotton" in the Republic of China era.
The 1918 house is a stunning white mansion hidden behind an encircling wall adorned with flowers. It is now rented by the media company Star, so visitors are not allowed to enter the house.
The many suited foreigners who walk in and out of the house without glancing at the bronze plate might never realize that their office building was once home for one of the country's most influential families.
Rong's younger brother Rong Desheng was once known as the "King of Flour" - he established the country's biggest flour factory with Rong Zongjing.
Rong Desheng's son Rong Yiren was the Vice President of the People's Republic of China, and also the president of the Citic Group.
To north of the house and opposite Nanjing Road, stands one of the most upmarket shopping malls and office complexes, Citic Square, which was built by Rong Zhijian, son of Rong Yiren.
