Bell Atlantic, World Journal publish first Chinese Yellow Pages

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.