Special gifts are given to our foreign experts for their hard work throughout the year.

The winners of the singing contest are awarded by Peter Zhang, editor-in-chief of Shanghai Daily, and Miao Guoqin, party secretary of Wenhui-Xinmin Group.

Photographer Zhang Suoqing won a thrilling super prize in the lucky draw.

SHANGHAI Daily staff members, their family and friends, celebrated Christmas with musical performances and lucky draws at the Sheraton Hongqiao Hotel last Saturday.

A Shanghai Daily tradition, the annual Christmas Party is an event for colleagues to meet in a festive atmosphere, to celebrate the year's achievements and to prepare for next year's progress.

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Shanghai Daily's "Best Story" and "Best Page" Awards for November were announced yesterday.

As nominated reports were all very "strong," it was really a hard decision, according to Shanghai Daily Deputy Editor-in-Chief Wu Zheng.

The Best Story of the Month was shared by two package reports of the Metro and Business sections to encourage their quick response and in-depth reporting on the "Shanghai business school dorm fire" story on November 15 and the "20th International Business Leaders' Advisory Council" package on November 2.

As more departments joined the competition of Best Story of the Month, "the cake is now smaller and smaller," said J.J Jiang, our managing deputy editor-in-chief.

Yang Jian's "Expo worker" was the nominee for the Translation Department. The Metro's "City gas pipe explosion" story and Opinion's "Public intellectuals and vigorous debates are desperately needed" were also given serious consideration for the top prize.

The heated competition and high quality reporting pushed the judges to consider increasing the number of prizes to encourage reporters.

The Best Page of the Month went to the Sunday's City Scene on November 18 as it provided more concrete ways to express the content of the column.

Are you eager to stay trendy without burning a hole in your pocket this party season? Have you felt dazzled by those bold sales streamers fluttering in the streets? Now you can equip yourself with the hottest sales information by clicking the sales box on the front page of ShanghaiDaily.com before going out to shop till you drop.

ShanghaiDaily.com now selects useful sales information of either famous brands or major department stores citywide to serve as your ultimate shopping guide for the Christmas season.

The "Hot Sales" box, which debuted online on December 12, is on the right side of the font page of ShanghaiDaily.com.

It is between "Live in Shanghai" (http://live.shanghaidaily.com/), and the "Block of the Week" boxes.

You can check the latest sales information including brand names, sales venue and time in the box with discounts shown in a red circle. By clicking either of these items, you’ll enter the sales/shopping page of Live in Shanghai to get hold of detailed information. The address both in English and Chinese, phone number and business hours of a sales venue and details about the special sales are included. You can also choose the date on the calendar on the sales/shopping page to find out about sales so you can plan ahead.

We hope the section helps improve your shopping experience in Shanghai.

Metro department's Lu Feiran sings with expressiveness.

Chen Jie, Michelle Qiao and Emma Liu, the judges, give professional opinions on singers' performances.

Shanghai Daily staff rejoiced in wonderful music and applause at the preliminary round of this year's Christmas singing contest this afternoon. Twelve candidates competed for seven slots at the final competition, which will be the key part of Shanghai Daily's grand Christmas Party on December 20.

The singers have displayed enormous talents and a variety of vocal styles. Some of them appeared in duets, such as the business department's Jin Jing and Fu Chenghao, who had practiced with great efforts in a Karaoke Bar last night and contributed a fresh and well-expressed overture for the contest.

Some of the singers either failed to provide accompaniment recordings or submitted discs unable to be played. However, some unaccompanied performances were still outstanding, like our new colleague Ding Yining's rendering of Faye Wang's "Eyes On Me," which sounded particularly touching.

The online department's Zhu Moqing, aka Lao Zhu, brought something new again this year. The third movement of Antonio Vivaldi's Bassoon Concerto in E minor, RV 484, was presented in his arrangement which converted the solo bassoon to his solo voice, a tribute to the great vocalist Bobby McFerrin.

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Christmas is coming and members of the Shanghai Daily newsroom already decorated a Christmas tree.

Thanks to four lovely ladies – Gu Yan (center), Yan Jingjing (left), Li Jianing (right) and Meng Ting - we have a "heavy" Christmas tree this year.

Our foreign writers and polisher from the Features Department have kindly shared their plans for Christmas day.

Nancy:
I will spend the holiday with my friends and have a dinner. I am expecting the coming Christmas party for the newspaper to be fun. There will be a singing competition at the party and I am happy to just sit back and enjoy the show.

Vicky:
I have to work on Christmas Eve, but I will drop by Sam's house after work and spend the evening with his family.

Sam:
My parents and sister will come to Shanghai from Australia on Christmas Eve. I will show them around and bring them to the Bund and have a dinner there. We will also go to a midnight church service here as it is a tradition in our country. I will take some time off work and have Christmas Eve in Shanghai. I will have a bit of an "open house" in my apartment. Friends will drop by and we will have some food and drink.

Aubrey:
I don't have any special plans on that day. When I see children playing happily on the street, I will tell them there is no such thing as Santa Clause. I can not attend Shanghai Daily's Christmas Party because I will go to Hong Kong for a high school reunion.

Deputy editor-in-chief Christine Zhu appears confident and stern in front of a determined and aggressive opponent.

A Shanghai Daily team lost to Wenhui Daily in the Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group's annual table tennis tournament this afternoon.

Wenhui Daily fielded a veteran team that overwhelmed Shanghai Daily.

Foreign expert Nick Taylor lost the first match by a considerable margin, but he did display great potential with a marvelous stroke.

Deputy editor-in-chief Christine Zhu lost to a determined and aggressive opponent in a women's match.

Zhu's loss sealed victory for Wenhui Daily in the best two out of three match competition.

Shanghai Daily's Wang Xi never got a chance to play even though he is said to be an experienced player.

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Shanghai Daily PSP News Digest is edited for university and high school students with articles of interest to English learners. Content is generated by Campus of Shanghaidaily.com [campus.shanghaidaily.com]. Readers can finish the articles in about 15 minutes, perfect for subway commutes or breaks between classes.

From Monday to Friday, Shanghai Daily PSP News Digest is downloadable through the Internet. You can download the TXT files of the Digest to your PSP or other portable electronic devices (software or plug-ins supporting). Every issue includes a News Summary, Buzzword, Today in History and Ancient Wisdom (Friday only) that are designed to boost the English reading skills of students. We also provide weekly PSP wallpapers.

Beyond the limitations of monitor size, it offers a convenient and efficient reading experience.

Shanghai Daily always pays attention to education in our newspaper and considers students future readers. It is part of our strategy to provide you with 24-hour multimedia news updates along with our print edition and portal Website.

Shanghai Daily's business editor Leo Zhang is now a dad and couldn't be happier about the birth of his first child.

His wife Chen Haiyan gave birth to a boy at 3:20pm yesterday in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of the Medical Center of Fudan University. The baby arrived about two weeks earlier than the due date.

The boy weighed 2.8 kilograms, the proud papa told us on the phone.

The proud parents have named the boy Zhang Zichen (张梓忱).

"The word 'zi(梓)' stands for his birth in the Year of the Mouse, which also pronounced as 'zi'," Leo explained. "The word 'chen(忱)' echoes his mother's surname 'Chen(陈)'."

"He looks more like his mother than me right now," Leo said. "But I'm sure his face will change and maybe someday he will look more like me."

Leo added: "I have tried to feed and change my son... It is only the first step in a long journey," Leo said.

Shanghai Daily congratulates the new parents.

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