New Metro welcomed by myriad readers

By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-17 07:15

Many Beijing residents and visitors showed capital interest in China Daily's Metro section during its launch Wednesday. (Website for the Beijing section: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/)

Readers said the social coverage presented in the four-page color broadsheet pullout section is engaging and useful, and that they looked forward to more.

"It introduces Beijing's news, history and culture to both foreigners and Chinese in a stylish way," said Beijinger Han Fei Fei, who works for a South Korean company in the capital.

He added that Metro offers an appealing cultural fusion in its presentation of Beijing, because it is put together by both Chinese and foreign journalists.

A team comprising about 300 China Daily staffers and university students found most reader feedback to be very positive when they hit newsstands Wednesday to introduce the new pullout to readers.

They told the team that the Metro's travel, entertainment, employment and investment news are useful, while they welcomed its profiles featuring native and foreign residents.

Briton Tony Goodwin, who has traveled to Beijing about eight times a year for the past decade as CEO of job-placement firm Antal International, said travelers comprise one demographic for which Metro is ideal.

"I don't speak any Mandarin, so it's difficult for me to know where to go and what's what," Goodwin said. "With Metro you can immediately find out where you are on the map."

Because of this, he plans to read Metro every day he spends in the capital, he said.

He pointed out that visitors to foreign countries always look to equivalent publications "to take the temperature of what's going on in the city", and that Metro "fits into China Daily so well, I didn't even know it was new."

He was especially pleased to learn about the Moscow Restaurant from Wednesday's edition. Even though the restaurant was built in 1954 and is one of Beijing's oldest foreign eateries, he had not heard of it before reading Metro.

"If I'd known it was there before, I would have gone," Goodwin said. "Now, I will."

In addition to travelers, many expatriates in Beijing said China Daily's Metro offered a lot that no other English-language publication covering the capital could.

American Lisa O, who has lived in Beijing for 10 years, and her Australian friend Leigh Hartingdon, a three-month resident, were delighted to discover where they could buy vegemite spread from Wednesday's edition. "That's the most useful thing I've read in weeks," Hartingdon said.

The American said she also found the updates about car plates, weather, airfares and exchange rates helpful.

And she was interested in Metro's profile features and its SWEET AND SOUR vignette, "because it's about foreigners' real experiences in Beijing".

Even though he does not understand English, newspaper vender Zheng Yucheng said he was also excited about Metro's inclusion in China Daily.

"It will certainly help my business, because foreigners living in Beijing will want to read this section focused on helping them find out where they can have fun, eat out and enjoy cultural activities," the 62-year-old said.

China Daily plans to collect more readership feedback to shape the expansion of its Metro se