Eighteen years ago, the Beijinger was founded as a print-only magazine that aimed to bridge the gap between foreign residents and local Chinese by bringing the best the city has to offer, in the English language.
A lot has happened since then: we’ve branched into sister brands, launched a website, grown our social media, and in 2018 went 100 percent digital with the release of our final print edition.
But one thing we never did was launch a Chinese edition. Why? Well, quite simply, English has always been “our thing.”
That all began to change in the post-Olympics era, and today a large and growing portion of our readership are native Chinese speakers. Attend one of our signature food festivals – Burger, Pizza, and Hot & Spicy – and you’ll notice the vast majority of attendees are local Chinese.
On the cusp of our 2019 Beijing Pizza Festival, the time is right to launch a Chinese language account to honor our loyal readers, and to bring the Beijinger flavor to an even larger audience. China’s new consumers consistently prove themselves world-savvy and on the lookout for the best, most up-to-date news, reviews, and information on the capital. As with the original Beijinger, that’s exactly what we will deliver.
The Beijinger Chinese will not simply be translations of our English content (though that will be one part of the content mix) but will retain the voice and style of the Beijinger‘s English version written specifically with the Chinese audience in mind.
It will also be our first “digital native” product and be distributed via WeChat and other social media channels only.
At the helm of this new and exciting venture is none other than Tracy Wang, an intrepid writer who many of you will remember from her excellent craft beer and streetside eatery articles on this very blog. We’re thrilled to welcome her back into the Beijinger fold.
We hope you will join us in ushering in a new era of the Beijinger later this month by following our WeChat below or our official Facebook page here. The Beijinger中文版欢迎你!
Now for the Chinese…
18年前，the Beijinger 杂志创刊，起初只是一本英文纸质读物，给生活在北京的外国人分享当地的美食、精彩活动等相关资讯，丰富他们在北京的生活。
从那以后我们的规模不断壮大：拥有了自己的姊妹品牌，建立了网站，也逐步扩展到各个主流社交媒体。2018年，随着最后一本纸质杂志的停刊，the Beijinger 华丽转型，成为电子杂志，专注线上内容，活跃在各大社媒。
这几年，我们的读者群出现了一个新趋势：越来越多母语为中文的读者关注我们。在我们举办的标志性美食节—汉堡节、披萨节和辣节上，我们惊喜地看到很多中国读者的身影，他们来自各个年龄段，但是高度认可我们的活动，现场玩得倍儿嗨！
为了更好地服务我们的中国读者，我们一直磨拳擦掌，想要推出 the Beijinger 的中文版，并不断地为实现这个想法筹谋规划。
为什么迟迟未发？因为我们的编辑团队大部分是外国友人，看家本领为英语。中文版需要的大将，一要能胜任繁重的中文编辑工作，二要有趣，视角敏锐，随时捕捉八方新鲜事儿，后者尤为难得。
喜大普奔！就在上个月，the Beijinger 曾经最出色的作者之一 Tracy Wang 主动请缨，为我们的宏伟计划吹来一阵东风。她将在十月中下旬正式回归，为我们的中文版这艘大船掌舵。
当然，我们的中文版不会只是照搬英文内容，除了部分精选的英文文章编译之外，我们会为中文读者量身定做，推出丰富有趣的原创。唯一雷打不动的是，我们坚持沿袭 the Beijinger 的核心宗旨：读者至上！
The Beijinger 中文版将会是我们第一个完全线上运营的平台，届时会推出其他社交媒体账号如微博等，精彩同步。
扫描下面的二维码关注 the Beijinger 中文版的官方微信，搓手期待它的精彩内容吧！
READ: Check Out the Jam-Packed Entertainment for This Year’s Beijing Pizza Fest
Images: Uni You
