NanyangSin-Chew Lianhe Zaobao, commonly abbreviated as Lianhe Zaobao, is the largest Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper with a daily circulation of about 200,000. Published by Singapore Press Holdings, it was formed on 16 March 1983 as a result of a merger between Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh, two of Singapore's oldest Chinese newspapers. The paper establishes itself as a serious broadsheet with extensive local news coverage while international news tend to be largely centered on the East Asia region, especially China. Zaobao has an extensive East Asian correspondent network spanning Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo. It is SPH's flagship Chinese daily, the only Chinese-language morning daily in Singapore. As with all Chinese-language publications currently based in Singapore, it uses simplified Chinese characters. The newspaper is establishing a regional presence for itself, with subscriptions for its print edition from Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong as well as organisations such as the United Nations. Its regionalisation drive was given a shot in the arm especially when the online version of the paper Zaobao.com was launched in August 1995 under the name of "Lianhe Zaobao Online". Today it serves as a news portal drawing news not just from the Lianhe Zaobao, but also from other Chinese newspapers in the region, numbering as much as 100 sources in total. From 8 September 2016, the portal also presents news from two other Singapore Press Holdings Chinese-language newspapers, Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min Daily News. Lianhe Zaobao is the only Chinese-language overseas newspaper which can be purchased in major cities of mainland China.
Format
The paper is published daily by SPH and usually hits newsstands and homes by 5 am local time. Zaobao is currently published in four segments. The first comprises breaking news and local news under ZaobaoSINGAPORE, followed by a sports section. The second comprises ZaobaoChina, the daily editorial, commentaries, letters to the press, other international news from the ASEAN, followed by a finance section ZaobaoBUSINESS. A supplementary lifestyle, arts and entertainment segment is named zbNOW. A minor segment comprises obituaries and classified advertising. The Sunday edition is titled zbSunday, with a tabloid-format lifestyle supplement pull-out zbWeekly.
