Avid reader who uses China Daily at work

Zhang Xinhong, 49, a leading light in China's public relations industry, says he has established a strong relationship with China Daily over the last three decades.

"If I do not read it for a couple days, I would find it harder to write a report in English," Zhang says. "One of the motivating factors for reading the paper is that I always learned something new, something exciting."

Back in 1981, when the paper was just established, Zhang was a freshman at Shandong University majoring in English.

"In the 1980s, we used foreign textbooks introduced in the 1970s. They were so outdated," Zhang says. "Although we also read English classics, the paper was the only channel for learning modern English."

At that time, only one copy of China Daily was available daily for dozens of students at the college. The students had to divide the paper to share it with more people.

"When I really liked a story, I copied it word for word in my notebook," Zhang says. Since the paper was passed around so many times, the print text became smudged and illegible or difficult to read.

Those days have passed. Zhang now has plenty of China Daily copies. Some are piled up on his desk and, of course, all his favorite stories are on hand. As vice-president of the Across China International Group, a public relations company based in Beijing, Zhang discovered a number of ways to utilize China Daily at work; on occasions, to even test employees.

"To test a candidate's level of English, I sometimes pick up a random story from China Daily and ask them to read it or translate it into Chinese," Zhang says. "The paper is like a touchstone, because a reader will not be able to understand the stories without a knowledge of English and current events."

After graduating from college, Zhang initially taught English and worked as a professional interpreter. For 15 years, he worked in global public relations companies like Hill & Knowlton Inc before establishing his own business.

"It is good to provide your clients with a vision. For instance, if an English-speaking CEO wants information, showing him China Daily is definitely better than showing him a story written in Chinese," Zhang says.

Zhang has recommended the newspaper to a number of foreign-funded companies in China, which, in his words, made him not only a reader but also a promoter.

"Compared to the 1980s, there are more human interest stories and articles of social concern," Zhang says.

Usually, Zhang scans through the front page, sports and business stories. Sometimes he also finds a surprise in the Life section.

"The Sunday edition once ran a story on how to play mahjong, which was very interesting both for non-Chinese speakers and Chinese. It was interesting to see something that I am familiar with covered in a different language."

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page2)