New World Department Store China Limited (“NWDS” or the “Company”; Hong Kong stock code: 825), one of the largest owners and operators of department stores in the PRC, is pleased to announce that the 20 contestants of “The 1st NWDS Spokesperson” Contest - Northern Region Semi-Final have been selected. After the Northeastern Region Semi-Final was completed in Shenyang on 9 September, another round of vigorous competition will be unveiled in the Northern Region in October, contestants are all striving to enter the final contest that will be held in May next year.

NWDS is going to co-host the Northern Region Semi-Final with Luxury Shopping Guide Publishing House, the renowned media in the region. The preliminary contest received overwhelming responses with approximately 4,300 applicants from Beijing, Tianjin and Lanzhou submitted their applications. After meticulous selection process, elected applicants then attended the interview with talent performance, self introduction and interaction with interviewers to showcase their unique characteristics. Judges evaluated these selected candidates in aspects of appearance, body shape, conversation, character, style, special talent and fashion sense. After rounds of interviews, 10 male and 10 female contestants have been chosen.

The Northern Region Semi-Final will be held for 2 consecutive days from 31 October to 1 November 2009 in Beijing New World Department Store. There will be in-store customer voting and on-line polling for the contest. In-store customer voting will commence from 10 October to 29 October 2009 at the designated polling station at the five stores of NWDS in the Northern Region*. VIP members cast their vote with purchase at store during the polling period can enjoy double bonus points of their purchase while platinum VIP members can receive triple bonus points. Besides, the general public can also vote for their favorite contestants through the polling website platform at Sohu (http://women.sohu.com/s2009/nwds) during the period between 10 October and 29 October 2009. In-store customer voting and public online polling will account for 20% of the total rating of the Semi-Final respectively. On the days of Northern Region Semi-Final, there will be notary to monitor the counting of votes in order to enhance fairness of the contest.   

The 20 contestants will receive a series of training between 24 October to 30 October 2009. Key trainings include talent show training instructed by instructor from famous music studio, while other trainings comprise personal image creation, etiquette and catwalk training etc, fully equipping contestants for challenges of the talent show, Q&A session and fashion show during the contest as well as demonstrating their personalized style that tie in with the theme of “New Character”.

Mr. Adrian Cheng, Executive Director of NWDS, the Chief of this rebranding programme, is excited that the Northern Region Semi-Final attracted huge number of quality applicants, “Shortly after the Northeastern Region Semi-Final was successfully held, the contest now comes to the Northern Region with even greater responses from the general public. Each of the 20 contestants of the Northern Region Semi-Final has his/her own personality and presented a trendy and chic style, truly capable of delivering our new image of ‘Enriching Lives Enhancing Characters’. I am sure the contestants will endeavor their best during the semi-final. The overwhelming responses during the application and promotion period reflect that our Chinese customers are keen on pursuing high-quality living as well as trendy and personalized style. This also best reveals that our rebranding program has gained large exposure as well as arousing intense discussion among the public with high recognition, further proving the development of rebranding program is on the right track which can cater for the market needs and has won positive recognition from the community.”

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