Bell Atlantic, World Journal Publish First Chinese Yellow Pages

Bell Atlantic, World Journal publish first Chinese Yellow Pages

Shopping now easier for New York City's Chinese Community

November 10, 1997

MIDDLETON, Mass. -- Shopping is now easier for New York City's

Chinese residents thanks to two leading publishing companies.

Bell Atlantic, the world's largest publisher of Yellow Pages

directories with more than 100 years of experience, and World Journal,

publisher of the largest daily Chinese-language newspaper in North

America, today began distributing their first-ever Chinese-language

New York City Yellow Pages directory for the Chinese community.

More than 100,000 New York-area Chinese businesses and residents will

receive the inaugural edition of the directory in the next few weeks.

"The creation of this shopping guide extends Bell Atlantic's

commitment to make it easier for multi-cultural buyers to find what

they need and for merchants to reach all members of New York's diverse

community in their preferred language," said Barry Wynkoop, Vice

President - Marketing, National Accounts and Customer Relations for

Bell Atlantic Directory Services. "Working together with World Journal

enabled us to provide Chinese consumers in New York City with the most

comprehensive shopping directory to date."

The increase in New York City's Chinese population sparked the

creation of the new directory. Bell Atlantic conducted extensive

market research in the New York City area and found that Chinese

consumers prefer to use in-language resources to learn about products

and services available at local businesses. Responding to this need,

Bell Atlantic and World Journal developed a Chinese-language directory

that will make shopping easier for Chinese consumers.

"Our company is proud of the success we achieved on this project,"

said Howard Lee, President of World Journal. "With the combined

publishing experience and expertise of Bell Atlantic and World

Journal, we produced a shopping guide that will be a valuable and

easy-to-use resource for Chinese businesses and consumers."

In addition to the shopping directory, the book includes more than 90

special Inside Interest Pages that contain information important to

Chinese residents in the New York City area.

Based on the success of this product for New York City, World Journal

and Bell Atlantic plan to explore other market opportunities both

inside and outside of the Bell Atlantic footprint.

The Chinese-language Yellow Pages is one of several in-language

products that Bell Atlantic offers consumers. Bell Atlantic also

publishes fully bilingual English-Spanish community directories in

Harlem, Jackson Heights and Washington Heights/Inwood in New York City

and a fully bilingual Yellow Pages directory for the Bronx.

Bell Atlantic also has a full-service center for residence customers

located in the heart of New York's Chinatown at 11-12 Chatham Square.

There are bilingual Chinese-English-speaking representatives available

to assist customers and answer questions six days a week. Since 1993,

Bell Atlantic has provided Chinese residential customers an

in-language customer service call center called Chinatone. By dialing

the number 890-1590 (a free call from anywhere within New York state),

in-bound callers may speak to one of 35 Cantonese and

Mandarin-speaking representatives to ask billing questions or order

phone services or additional lines.

The new Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications,

information and entertainment industry. With 40 million telephone

access lines and 5.8 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell

Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice

and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's

largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies

are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global

communications markets, with operations and investments in 21

countries.

Established in 1976, World Journal has five major printing facilities

in North America (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto,

Vancouver), with offices in most major cities in the United States.

Published daily with a circulation of 230,000, World Journal is the

leading Chinese newspaper in North America. World Journal also has

affiliates such as the WJ Bookstore and World TV, to better serve the

Chinese community in the United States. World Journal's parent

company, The United Daily News (UDN) in Taipei, publishes daily

newspapers including four in Taiwan, one in France, one in Thailand,

as well as several international periodicals. UDN's publications are

the most popular among Chinese people around the world.