在阿拉伯联合酋长国迪拜市，有一家在华人社会中影响颇大的华文报纸《华人时报周刊》。这是一份为当地华人服务的综合性报纸，每周四出版，每期共有36个版面，其创办人之一就是浙商应波涛、应涌潮兄弟。哥哥应波涛今年36岁，弟弟应涌潮35岁。兄弟俩浓浓的眉毛、坚定的眼神，长得出奇的相像。
　　
　　生意人办起了报纸
　　
　　虽然《华人时报周刊》是份四开黑白小报，但内容相当丰富，既有中国国内消息和国家的大政方针，也有中国国内的地方新闻和迪拜当地新闻和经济信息，还有商业旅游、政策法规等方面内容，此外，还有一些版面刊登对时局的分析文章，也有旅游广告、餐饮广告、房地产广告、物流广告等。
　　创办华人报纸，对应波涛兄弟俩来说实在是很偶然的一个创举。兄弟俩在国内高中毕业后，都在上海搞过多年的建筑，自2000年下半年开始，兄弟俩才在阿联酋的迪拜开了一家贸易公司，名为阿联酋迪拜快乐城市贸易有限公司，哥哥在迪拜管营销，弟弟在中国义乌管进货发货。后来他们的生意越做越大，经营的商品从小百货、箱包等扩大到五金、工艺品、饰品等方面，并把生意做到了阿联酋、科威特、肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚等中东、非洲国家，2006年，公司的贸易额超过了600万美元。
　　做外贸生意的兄弟俩怎么会想到要去办一家报纸呢？此事要从三四年前说起，起因是应波涛与宁波的一位老板一起在迪拜经营房地产，无意中他向这位老板说起在阿联酋的华人英语水平不好，往往看不懂本地报纸，他说他想办一份给本地华人看的华文报。不想这位老板听了很感兴趣，可谓“英雄所见略同”，于是他们两人就马上着手准备办报。
　　
　　办报之初困难重重
　　
　　2004年10月份《华人时报周刊》正式创刊，投资约合90多万元人民币。那时在阿联酋全国的华人约10万人，其中住在迪拜的就有5万人。他们办报的宗旨很明确，就是为当地华人服务。但对应波涛他们来说，办报的确是个外行，而且在当地华人中报纸编排专业人员也比较难招收，后来招了两三位华人但很不稳定，加之另一位合作伙伴工作又忙，无暇顾及报业发展，于是应波涛只好自己摸索着办报，自己摸索着修改文章，编排版面，联系广告，既当文字编辑又搞版面编排，半年多时间他几乎天天呆在报社里。此外，根据当地的法律法规，办一份外文报纸相当困难，这主要是在执照的审批上，当局要求每期报纸发行之前必须翻译成英文和阿拉伯文送新闻部审核，并且在内容上还得不涉及穆斯林的方方面面。
　　
　　当时迪拜有华人媒体9家，其中报纸5家，除了《华人时报周刊》为综合性报纸外，其他4家都是专业性很强的报纸，竞争比较激烈。为了迅速站稳脚跟，《华人时报周刊》一出版就发动十多人送报，只要是做生意的华人，每家每户都送到门口，住在饭店的华人就送客房。因为定位准确，发行工作做得好，报纸创办两个多月后便开始赢利，每个月有近20万元人民币的纯收入，其中每期广告收入也达4万元人民币，发行量达到了1万多份。2006年6月中旬，我国驻迪拜领事馆新领事召开华人媒体座谈会，《华人时报周刊》在会上受到了领事的特别关注。
　　浙商办报在经营上有独到之处。除了抓发行，应波涛对于报社内部的管理也有独到的一套。他们把发行、广告落实到人，在完成核定的收入后，超额部分给予较大比例的奖励，因而大大激发了报社员工的积极性。
　　
　　办报为服务华人
　　
　　报社的编辑部位于迪拜的闹市区，是华人聚集的地方，中心的地理位置，使报社能够更好地为当地华人提供服务。如刚刚到达迪拜的华人想了解市场行情，或者想找个地方旅游，他们往往会从《华人时报周刊》上获得信息，如果还想进一步了解，只要打电话到报社，报社负责接待的人会耐心地告知相关信息；当华人遇到麻烦时，也往往会想到《华人时报周刊》，此外，有的华人在生意中被外国人骗了想打官司，有的工资没着落想讨回工资，报社负责接待的工作人员总是热心地帮助联系领事馆或律师，凡没钱打官司的还帮助支付律师费用。
　　服务华人是《华人时报周刊》办报的宗旨，报社尽自己的努力，千方百计地为华人排忧解难，因而许多华人在报纸的帮助下，事业得到了很好的发展，祖籍宁波的华人朱继红，在迪拜做了多年生意，后来办起了一家房地产企业，名为迪拜市泰安房地产公司，《华人时报周刊》创办时，该公司才刚刚起步，只是做一些房屋的中介服务。《华人时报周刊》创办后，报纸的最后一版成为该公司定期的宣传版面，通过报纸不到三年时间的宣传，这家公司便迅速成为当地华人中著名的房地产企业，今年1至3月份的业务量达到8亿迪拉姆(当地的货币单位，1迪拉姆约合2.25元人民币)。
　　谈到今后的发展思路时，兄弟俩说他们要精心办好这份《华人时报周刊》，准备创办报纸的电子版，还将办彩版，并且将向报业集团方向发展，向整个阿拉伯地区发行。
　　
　　A Chinese Weekly in UAE
　　By Zheng Yuliang
　　
　　
　　Maybe it is no big news that a Chinese weekly is published every Thursday in Dubai. But it is a big deal for three publishers from Zhejiang. The tabloid-format Chinese Times Weekly may look quite simple and unadorned in white and black, but it is a goldmine of information. The 36-page tabloid serves the local Chinese community with important economic and political news from China, business information and regulations in the Arabic country as well as advertisements on local tourism, restaurants, real estates, and logistics.
　　The three publishers were from Zhejiang and the two of them are brothers: the 36-year-old Ying Botao and the 35-year-old Ying Yongchao. The brothers were engaged in construction business in Shanghai for years before they started a trade company in Dubai in the second half of 2000. In this brotherly partnership, the elder brother managed sales in UAE whereas the younger brother handled the source in Yiwu, China’s largest marketplace of household commodities. The trading company has boomed and the business volume exceeded 6 million US dollars in 2006.
　　
　　It was by no accident that the brothers wanted to publish a newspaper although the genesis looks quite coincidental in retrospect. One day, in a conversation between Ying Botao and his real estate partner from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, the topic of English language proficiency among Chinese business people in UAE came up. Ying mentioned that he had wanted to publish a Chinese business newspaper to serve the local Chinese business community. The partner was all for the idea. So Ying talked with his brother in China and the trio decided to put some money together and have a go at their latest journalism enterprise.
　　With an investment of about 900,000 RMB, the two brothers began to try their hands at the newspaper. The Chinese population in UAE is about 100,000, about half of which reside in the capital. The competition among the Chinese media in Dubai was fierce when the Ying brothers decided to step in and grab a market share. There were altogether eight Chinese media before the new weekly was released: the four of them were newspapers. The brothers knew almost nothing about publishing a newspaper. What was more, it was hard to find qualified editors and technicians. Three regular staffers were hired. The other partner did not help very much as he was busily engaged in other businesses. Nor could the younger brother help very much as he was handling the trade business in China. So Ying Botao acted as the editor in chief. He wrote and modified stories, studied and designed pages, solicited ads, and went through all the red tape for the permission to publish a foreign-language newspaper in Dubai. One of the requirements the weekly must satisfy was that the contents for each issue must be translated into English and Arabic and approved by the government before the newspaper goes to press. For more than half a year, Ying spent almost everyday at the newspaper office.
　　Competition was fierce. But Ying did quite well in organization and promotion. He assembled a delivery team of more than 10 people. They delivered the newspaper to subscribers?houses and to hotel rooms where some Chinese merchants stayed. Due to the right market positioning and strong promotion as well as an effective incentive system that encouraged the staff people to sell more ads space and enlist more readers, the business was a success. Two months after the launch, the weekly began to see profit. Very soon, the net profit amounted to nearly 200,000 yuan a month and the circulation climbed to 10,000.
　　Serving the local Chinese community well is the aim of the weekly. The editorial office is located in the downtown of Dubai where the Chinese population congregates. For the Chinese who have just arrived in Dubai, they buy the weekly as their survival guide. The weekly also provides information to Chinese visitors through a help hotline. When some Chinese individuals find themselves in trouble in Dubai, they often seek help and information from the newspaper where staff members are eager to help by making phone calls, contacting the Chinese Consulate, finding lawyers, etc. The help and information have served the Chinese community well. Some have made a fortune through the ads of the weekly.
　　The two brothers are now thinking of initiating an online edition in 2008. The white-and-black weekly will go color soon. The ambitious brothers are even thinking to set up a publishing group to sell the newspaper to all the neighboring Arabic countries.
　　(Translated by David)