Singapore, 5 January 2004 - Lianhe Zaobao is going pop!

From January 7, the Chinese flagship daily of the Singapore Press Holdings will introduce two new pages in its Wednesday edition of zbNOW, its lifestyle section.

Named POPCORN, the new centre-spread pages are targeted at teenagers. Like the fun snack popcorn which is popular with many youngsters, the pages will feature topics of concern and interest to teens. The stories will be written in an easy to read and lighter style, headlines will be bolder and punchier and there will be more colour and snazzier pictures.

The extra pages are part of the repackaged Wednesday's edition of zbNOW.

Said Mr Lim Jim Koon, Editor of Lianhe Zaobao: "Popcorn is a tidbit with mass appeal, often associated with fun, entertainment and relaxation. It is light, tasty and addictive. Our POPCORN pages aim to capture all these aspects to make them easily digestible to the young readers.

"Through our POPCORN pages, we want to encourage more teenagers to learn and improve their Chinese language

“By serving up content that appeals to them, we hope to enthuse them to read the Chinese newspaper more frequently. We believe that this will not only improve their command of the language, but will also give them a better understanding of developments around the world."

Here are some highlights of the regular segments in POPCORN:

• POP Song, which will give the lyrics of the latest chart-toppers to
  stimulate reader reactions and discussions.
• POP Stage, which will carry interesting pictures, with whacky
  captions sent in by students
• POP Vendor, featuring the trendiest fashion, food, gadgets, etc,
  which teenagers go after
• POP Conference, which gives updates on the latest entertainment
  andcelebrity news filed by Lianhe Zaobao student correspondents.
• POP Personality, which covers interviews with interesting young
  people.
• POP Job, a career guide on where to get part-time jobs for students
• POP Collection, a platform for students and celebrities to showcase
  their unusual collectibles
• POP Question, a forum for young readers to write in to celebrities,
  well-known figures, principals, teachers and even politicians on any issue.
  The Lianhe Zaobao editorial team will try to get answers to their
  questions.
• POP Case, a compilation of interesting past criminal cases, with
  analysis from lawyers. This will equip teenagers with common legal
  knowledge and could also be used by teachers as discussion material.
• NEWS Tonic, where major news will be packaged in a simpler way, with
  explanatory notes and questions to help students better understand the
  issue. Chinese language teachers could use this as a meaningful teaching
  tool to engage students in lively discussions and help connect them with
  the real world.

POPCORN will also include tips on how the correct use of Chinese words and phrases, in the Language Tidbits segment.

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings

About SPH:
Main board listed Singapore Press Holdings Limited is the leading news and information provider, offering quality content for print, Internet, TV and radio. It publishes 14 newspapers in the four official languages and six lifestyle periodicals. Everyday, 2.78 million individuals, or 90 per cent of people above 15 years old, read one of the SPH publications while the online editions of its six main dailies enjoy some 120 million pageviews a month. SPH has ventured into the broadcast medium and operates two popular free-to-air TV channels, Channel U in Chinese and Channel i in English. It also operates two entertainment radio channels, UFM 100.3 FM in Chinese and WKRZ 91.3 FM in English, under a joint venture company UnionWorks with NTUC Media.

For more information about SPH, please log on to www.sph.com.sg

About Lianhe Zaobao:
The flagship Chinese newspaper of SPH, Lianhe Zaobao is the highest
circulating Chinese daily in Singapore. It is an influential newspaper
giving valuable insights into local and foreign news, and is regarded as an
important source of political and economic news on East Asia, especially
China. Lianhe Zaobao has a circulation of 190,637 copies on weekdays and
198,679 copies on weekends. It became an integrated news medium delivering
content for print, TV and Internet with the debut of Chinese News TV on
Channel U in May 2001. It won the prestigious IFRA Publish Asia Award for
best in print (gold) in 2003. Lianhe Zaobao was launched in March 16,1983
with the merger of Nanyang Siang Pau (launched in 1923) and Sin Chew Jit
Poh (launched in 1929).

Visit http://www.zaobao.com/ for more information.