Pakistan’s first-ever Chinese newspaper ‘Huashang’ garners ‘huge’ readership

ISLAMABAD: The first-ever Chinese newspaper in Pakistan, ‘Huashang’, was recently launched with Chinese nationals as its main target audience.

According to BBC Urdu, the weekly newspaper published its 21st edition this week.

The newspaper’s headquarters is located in Islamabad and it claims to have a readership of 60,000 readers. The newspaper has been publishing in Pakistan for almost two years now.

For those not able to get the hang of newspaper title ‘Huashang’, it’s this way: ‘Hua’ means flower and ‘Shang’ means business, therefore, the literal meaning of Huashang is ‘business of flower’, or ‘pure business’.

The Facebook description of the paper reads:” In response to the Chinese “One Belt One Road” initiative, Pakistan has launched the first Chinese language (along with an English version) newspaper “Huashang Weekly” to better promote enterprise-depth cooperation between China and Pakistan under the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”.”

The newspaper is also published in English language simultaneously and the editorial board wants to change the weekly paper to daily.

The paper’s chief editor, Rama, says the weekly’s focus is on business transactions between Pakistan and China but its editorial policy also includes giving importance to tourism and cultural ties of the two countries.

Rama further said that for her it was easier to get settled in Pakistani society than she had initially expected.