Zhou Bichang sounds the siren on the retired "Kiev" aircraft carrier in Tianjin port on July 12, 2009. [sina.com.cn]

Record label Gold Typhoon is giving as much hype as the hope it places on pop singer Zhou Bichang.

"Time", the singer's first album under the label, was released Sunday at a grand launch ceremony on the retired "Kiev" aircraft carrier in Tianjin port.

The ceremony opened with a gigantic poster featuring Zhou rolling down the exterior wall of the carrier. Gun salutes were fired, and the singer entered the captain's cabin and sounded the siren.

"Welcome pop queen Zhou Bichang," read the slogan on the poster.

Talent, popularity, morality and ability are the key words for a "pop queen", and Zhou is endowed with those qualities, sources with the Gold Typhoon said.

The ceremony cost about 800,000 yuan, or nearly 120,000 U.S. dollars, according to a company press release on Sina.com.

Pre-orders of the album on the Chinese mainland exceeded 80,000 within a week, the report said.

In Taiwan, where the album was released last week, "Time" has reached second place on the local G Music Billboard Chart.

(CRI July 14, 2009)