With China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), printed media targeting foreign readers are making their publications more reader-friendly.

China Today, a 50-year-old multilingual monthly magazine, plans to make the magazine more popular among overseas readers who want more information about China, said Huang Zu'an, president and editor-in-chief of the magazine.

Founded by Soong Ching Ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, the pioneer of modern China's democratic revolution, the magazine was known as China Reconstructs in 1952. The magazine's aim was to tell the world "the real situation in China and break the stranglehold of Western hegemony."

The magazine focuses on the lives of the Chinese people by portraying current problems in the country's development, and how people strive to solve them, usually through the use of many facts and pictures.

"We have received many letters from overseas readers who particularly like our reports that do not highly praise the government," said Huang.

Taking advantage of China's recent entry into the WTO, the magazine looked at its 50-year history and decided to make a new start.

In the next three to five years, they plan to add more stories about foreigners living in China and cover more China-related events in foreign countries.

"We need more overseas experts to join us and help us produce a more interesting and reader-friendly magazine," Huang said.

It will also expand its distribution channels by seeking cooperation with more local distribution companies.

Printed in Chinese, English, Spanish, French and Arabic, the magazine will continue its tradition of providing facts and pictures of China, editors said.

Foreign readers can visit the magazine on the Internet at www.chinatoday.com.cn. The website is written in English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Arabic and German.

(China Daily January 17, 2002)