Yang Lan Promotes Chinese Culture

By Xu Zhongyou

My first ever interview with Yang Lan occurred on the afternoon of May 25, 2004. That afternoon, she attended a promotion ceremony held at World Trade Center in Hangzhou, a ceremony designed to promote 2006 World Leisure Expo in Hangzhou.

At the ceremony, Yang officially became an image ambassador for the Expo. At the interview afterwards, Yang mentioned her ancestral roots in Zhejiang. She was born in Beijing in 1968. Her mother is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. She visited Hangzhou during her primary school days and was deeply impressed by the beauty of the West Lake. Yang Lan later appeared in many events to promote the 2006 World Leisure Expo to the world.

Yang rose to national celebrity in 1990 when, still a junior student in English major at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, she was chosen to host the Zhengda Variety Show, one of the most popular CCTV program in the 1990s. She worked with Jiang Kun first and then with Zhao Zhongxiang. The Saturday show with an audience of more than 200 million was hugely successful because it opened a window on the world and allowed audiences to see the exotic things from overseas. Charismatic Yang and her partners Jiang and Zhao played a key part in the success.

During this time, Yang also emceed some other key CCTV events and these shows made her more popular. She quit the show after 200 appearances within about four years and went to study a graduate course at Columbia University, USA.

1997 was her big year. Her biography was released and more than 500,000 copies were sold. She attended a UN round table meeting for global media at the invitation of a deputy secretary of UN in April. She started a talk show at Shanghai Orient Television. The show focused on cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world. In July, she joined Phoenix Satellite Television in Hong Kong and started her Yang Lan One on One, a talk show with celebrities. More than 200 world celebrities appeared at the show, including Prince Charles, Henry Kissinger, Kofi Annan, Louis Cha, Long Yongtu, and Huang Yongyu. She attended 1997 World Television Forum in November.

When asked to comment on the similarity between her and Mike Wallace, the famous host of 60 Minutes at CBS, Yang was very modest. She said she was not Wallace of China. Wallaces style was a little bit bulldozing but she preferred a soft strategy. Yang compares her style as drilling a tiny hole and gets the oil out later. She uses soft questions to get hard answers. The success of such a style depends on the hosts experience and cultural qualities.

During her two years at Phoenix, all her shows were a huge success.Two year later, Yang and her husband Wu purchased a media company in Hong Kong for a price of 40 million Hong Kong dollars and started their own media business on August 8, 2000. Today, Sun TV is a public company with 31 magazines, 3 newspapers, 10 television and radio channels, 3 internet portals, and businesses of sports, education, entertainment and trade in nine countries and regions. She is one of the richest women in China. Her shows at her own media company focus on Chinese history and culture and carry on her interviews with celebrities.

Yang Lan is a high-profile social activist. In 2001, she was an image ambassador for Beijings bid to host 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She was one of the key speakers in Moscow in Beijings presentation to the International Olympic Committee. She played a key part in winning the bid. Now Yang Lan works as an ambassador for China Charity Federation and for Blood Donation. She works for a number of charity organizations.

She has received many honors for the contributions she has made to promoting Chinese culture overseas and promoting charity. In 1999, she was chosen by Asia Weekly as one of the 20 social and cultural leaders of Asia; in 2000, she was named 12 Chinese representatives who stood for pushing China forward and reshaping Chinas image; in 2001, she was named as one of the ten Chinese women with international influence; in 2002 she was honored as one of influential Chinese women; in 2003, she was chosen to work as a member of CPPCC; in 2005, she was a member on the international advisors board at Columbia University; in 2007, she ranked first of the 50 most beautiful Chinese.□