在阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長(zhǎng)國(guó)迪拜市，有一家在華人社會(huì)中影響頗大的華文報(bào)紙《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》。這是一份為當(dāng)?shù)厝A人服務(wù)的綜合性報(bào)紙，每周四出版，每期共有36個(gè)版面，其創(chuàng)辦人之一就是浙商應(yīng)波濤、應(yīng)涌潮兄弟。哥哥應(yīng)波濤今年36歲，弟弟應(yīng)涌潮35歲。兄弟倆濃濃的眉毛、堅(jiān)定的眼神，長(zhǎng)得出奇的相像。

生意人辦起了報(bào)紙

雖然《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》是份四開黑白小報(bào)，但內(nèi)容相當(dāng)豐富，既有中國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)消息和國(guó)家的大政方針，也有中國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)的地方新聞和迪拜當(dāng)?shù)匦侣労徒?jīng)濟(jì)信息，還有商業(yè)旅游、政策法規(guī)等方面內(nèi)容，此外，還有一些版面刊登對(duì)時(shí)局的分析文章，也有旅游廣告、餐飲廣告、房地產(chǎn)廣告、物流廣告等。

創(chuàng)辦華人報(bào)紙，對(duì)應(yīng)波濤兄弟倆來(lái)說(shuō)實(shí)在是很偶然的一個(gè)創(chuàng)舉。兄弟倆在國(guó)內(nèi)高中畢業(yè)后，都在上海搞過(guò)多年的建筑，自2000年下半年開始，兄弟倆才在阿聯(lián)酋的迪拜開了一家貿(mào)易公司，名為阿聯(lián)酋迪拜快樂(lè)城市貿(mào)易有限公司，哥哥在迪拜管營(yíng)銷，弟弟在中國(guó)義烏管進(jìn)貨發(fā)貨。后來(lái)他們的生意越做越大，經(jīng)營(yíng)的商品從小百貨、箱包等擴(kuò)大到五金、工藝品、飾品等方面，并把生意做到了阿聯(lián)酋、科威特、肯尼亞、坦桑尼亞等中東、非洲國(guó)家，2006年，公司的貿(mào)易額超過(guò)了600萬(wàn)美元。

做外貿(mào)生意的兄弟倆怎么會(huì)想到要去辦一家報(bào)紙呢？此事要從三四年前說(shuō)起，起因是應(yīng)波濤與寧波的一位老板一起在迪拜經(jīng)營(yíng)房地產(chǎn)，無(wú)意中他向這位老板說(shuō)起在阿聯(lián)酋的華人英語(yǔ)水平不好，往往看不懂本地報(bào)紙，他說(shuō)他想辦一份給本地華人看的華文報(bào)。不想這位老板聽了很感興趣，可謂“英雄所見略同”，于是他們兩人就馬上著手準(zhǔn)備辦報(bào)。

辦報(bào)之初困難重重

2004年10月份《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》正式創(chuàng)刊，投資約合90多萬(wàn)元人民幣。那時(shí)在阿聯(lián)酋全國(guó)的華人約10萬(wàn)人，其中住在迪拜的就有5萬(wàn)人。他們辦報(bào)的宗旨很明確，就是為當(dāng)?shù)厝A人服務(wù)。但對(duì)應(yīng)波濤他們來(lái)說(shuō)，辦報(bào)的確是個(gè)外行，而且在當(dāng)?shù)厝A人中報(bào)紙編排專業(yè)人員也比較難招收，后來(lái)招了兩三位華人但很不穩(wěn)定，加之另一位合作伙伴工作又忙，無(wú)暇顧及報(bào)業(yè)發(fā)展，于是應(yīng)波濤只好自己摸索著辦報(bào)，自己摸索著修改文章，編排版面，聯(lián)系廣告，既當(dāng)文字編輯又搞版面編排，半年多時(shí)間他幾乎天天呆在報(bào)社里。此外，根據(jù)當(dāng)?shù)氐姆煞ㄒ?guī)，辦一份外文報(bào)紙相當(dāng)困難，這主要是在執(zhí)照的審批上，當(dāng)局要求每期報(bào)紙發(fā)行之前必須翻譯成英文和阿拉伯文送新聞部審核，并且在內(nèi)容上還得不涉及穆斯林的方方面面。

當(dāng)時(shí)迪拜有華人媒體9家，其中報(bào)紙5家，除了《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》為綜合性報(bào)紙外，其他4家都是專業(yè)性很強(qiáng)的報(bào)紙，競(jìng)爭(zhēng)比較激烈。為了迅速站穩(wěn)腳跟，《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》一出版就發(fā)動(dòng)十多人送報(bào)，只要是做生意的華人，每家每戶都送到門口，住在飯店的華人就送客房。因?yàn)槎ㄎ粶?zhǔn)確，發(fā)行工作做得好，報(bào)紙創(chuàng)辦兩個(gè)多月后便開始贏利，每個(gè)月有近20萬(wàn)元人民幣的純收入，其中每期廣告收入也達(dá)4萬(wàn)元人民幣，發(fā)行量達(dá)到了1萬(wàn)多份。2006年6月中旬，我國(guó)駐迪拜領(lǐng)事館新領(lǐng)事召開華人媒體座談會(huì)，《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》在會(huì)上受到了領(lǐng)事的特別關(guān)注。

浙商辦報(bào)在經(jīng)營(yíng)上有獨(dú)到之處。除了抓發(fā)行，應(yīng)波濤對(duì)于報(bào)社內(nèi)部的管理也有獨(dú)到的一套。他們把發(fā)行、廣告落實(shí)到人，在完成核定的收入后，超額部分給予較大比例的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)，因而大大激發(fā)了報(bào)社員工的積極性。

辦報(bào)為服務(wù)華人

報(bào)社的編輯部位于迪拜的鬧市區(qū)，是華人聚集的地方，中心的地理位置，使報(bào)社能夠更好地為當(dāng)?shù)厝A人提供服務(wù)。如剛剛到達(dá)迪拜的華人想了解市場(chǎng)行情，或者想找個(gè)地方旅游，他們往往會(huì)從《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》上獲得信息，如果還想進(jìn)一步了解，只要打電話到報(bào)社，報(bào)社負(fù)責(zé)接待的人會(huì)耐心地告知相關(guān)信息；當(dāng)華人遇到麻煩時(shí)，也往往會(huì)想到《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》，此外，有的華人在生意中被外國(guó)人騙了想打官司，有的工資沒著落想討回工資，報(bào)社負(fù)責(zé)接待的工作人員總是熱心地幫助聯(lián)系領(lǐng)事館或律師，凡沒錢打官司的還幫助支付律師費(fèi)用。

服務(wù)華人是《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》辦報(bào)的宗旨，報(bào)社盡自己的努力，千方百計(jì)地為華人排憂解難，因而許多華人在報(bào)紙的幫助下，事業(yè)得到了很好的發(fā)展，祖籍寧波的華人朱繼紅，在迪拜做了多年生意，后來(lái)辦起了一家房地產(chǎn)企業(yè)，名為迪拜市泰安房地產(chǎn)公司，《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》創(chuàng)辦時(shí)，該公司才剛剛起步，只是做一些房屋的中介服務(wù)。《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》創(chuàng)辦后，報(bào)紙的最后一版成為該公司定期的宣傳版面，通過(guò)報(bào)紙不到三年時(shí)間的宣傳，這家公司便迅速成為當(dāng)?shù)厝A人中著名的房地產(chǎn)企業(yè)，今年1至3月份的業(yè)務(wù)量達(dá)到8億迪拉姆(當(dāng)?shù)氐呢泿艈挝唬?迪拉姆約合2.25元人民幣)。

談到今后的發(fā)展思路時(shí)，兄弟倆說(shuō)他們要精心辦好這份《華人時(shí)報(bào)周刊》，準(zhǔn)備創(chuàng)辦報(bào)紙的電子版，還將辦彩版，并且將向報(bào)業(yè)集團(tuán)方向發(fā)展，向整個(gè)阿拉伯地區(qū)發(fā)行。

A Chinese Weekly in UAE

By Zheng Yuliang

Maybe it is no big news that a Chinese weekly is published every Thursday in Dubai. But it is a big deal for three publishers from Zhejiang. The tabloid-format Chinese Times Weekly may look quite simple and unadorned in white and black， but it is a goldmine of information. The 36-page tabloid serves the local Chinese community with important economic and political news from China， business information and regulations in the Arabic country as well as advertisements on local tourism， restaurants， real estates， and logistics.

The three publishers were from Zhejiang and the two of them are brothers: the 36-year-old Ying Botao and the 35-year-old Ying Yongchao. The brothers were engaged in construction business in Shanghai for years before they started a trade company in Dubai in the second half of 2000. In this brotherly partnership， the elder brother managed sales in UAE whereas the younger brother handled the source in Yiwu， China’s largest marketplace of household commodities. The trading company has boomed and the business volume exceeded 6 million US dollars in 2006.

It was by no accident that the brothers wanted to publish a newspaper although the genesis looks quite coincidental in retrospect. One day， in a conversation between Ying Botao and his real estate partner from Ningbo， Zhejiang Province， the topic of English language proficiency among Chinese business people in UAE came up. Ying mentioned that he had wanted to publish a Chinese business newspaper to serve the local Chinese business community. The partner was all for the idea. So Ying talked with his brother in China and the trio decided to put some money together and have a go at their latest journalism enterprise.

With an investment of about 900，000 RMB， the two brothers began to try their hands at the newspaper. The Chinese population in UAE is about 100，000， about half of which reside in the capital. The competition among the Chinese media in Dubai was fierce when the Ying brothers decided to step in and grab a market share. There were altogether eight Chinese media before the new weekly was released: the four of them were newspapers. The brothers knew almost nothing about publishing a newspaper. What was more， it was hard to find qualified editors and technicians. Three regular staffers were hired. The other partner did not help very much as he was busily engaged in other businesses. Nor could the younger brother help very much as he was handling the trade business in China. So Ying Botao acted as the editor in chief. He wrote and modified stories， studied and designed pages， solicited ads， and went through all the red tape for the permission to publish a foreign-language newspaper in Dubai. One of the requirements the weekly must satisfy was that the contents for each issue must be translated into English and Arabic and approved by the government before the newspaper goes to press. For more than half a year， Ying spent almost everyday at the newspaper office.

Competition was fierce. But Ying did quite well in organization and promotion. He assembled a delivery team of more than 10 people. They delivered the newspaper to subscribers?houses and to hotel rooms where some Chinese merchants stayed. Due to the right market positioning and strong promotion as well as an effective incentive system that encouraged the staff people to sell more ads space and enlist more readers， the business was a success. Two months after the launch， the weekly began to see profit. Very soon， the net profit amounted to nearly 200，000 yuan a month and the circulation climbed to 10，000.

Serving the local Chinese community well is the aim of the weekly. The editorial office is located in the downtown of Dubai where the Chinese population congregates. For the Chinese who have just arrived in Dubai， they buy the weekly as their survival guide. The weekly also provides information to Chinese visitors through a help hotline. When some Chinese individuals find themselves in trouble in Dubai， they often seek help and information from the newspaper where staff members are eager to help by making phone calls， contacting the Chinese Consulate， finding lawyers， etc. The help and information have served the Chinese community well. Some have made a fortune through the ads of the weekly.

The two brothers are now thinking of initiating an online edition in 2008. The white-and-black weekly will go color soon. The ambitious brothers are even thinking to set up a publishing group to sell the newspaper to all the neighboring Arabic countries.

(Translated by David)