Yue-Sai Kan ( 靳羽西) Interview (October 6, 1987)
Yue-Sai Kan (Chinese: 靳羽西; pinyin: Jìn Yǔxī) is an American, international television host and producer, successful entrepreneur, fashion icon, bestselling author and humanitarian. People magazine called her "the most famous woman in China" and Time magazine proclaimed her "the Queen of the Middle Kingdom."
Early life
Yue-Sai was born in Guilin, China and grew up in Hong Kong. Her father Kan Wing-Lin was a revered traditional Chinese painter and calligrapher. In 1968, while studying as a piano major at Brigham Young University in Hawaii, Yue-Sai entered the Narcissus Flower Beauty Pageant sponsored by the local Chinese Chamber of Commerce. She became the second runner-up, and as part of her duties traveled around the world. The life-changing experience marked the beginning of her career in fashion, beauty, communication and cultural exchange.
Work in Television
Kan with her production crew were filming One World in Beijing
In 1972, Kan moved to New York City. Soon after she formed Yue-Sai Kan Productions and created her first major TV production, a weekly series called "Looking East". The program was the first of its kind to introduce Asian cultures and customs to a growing and receptive American audience. It garnered critical acclaim and won dozens of awards. As described by the New York Times: "Few people are able to bridge the East and West, but Yue-Sai Kan can, and does it with beauty, intelligence and grace." The series stayed on the air for 12 years, the last 2 years on the Discovery Channel. Based on this and other work Kan is credited as the first TV journalist to connect the East and West.
In 1984, PBS invited Kan to host the first live broadcast from China on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The inaugural US-China joint telecast opened the door for many collaborations between the two countries' television industries. Two years later the bilingual television series "One World" produced and hosted by Kan aired on China's national television network CCTV, with a weekly viewership of 300 million, giving many Chinese their first glimpse of the outside world. Her broadcast captivated the entire nation and made her a household name in China. It inspired millions of young people to learn English and travel abroad. At that time with broadcasts in both China and the US, Kan was the most watched woman in the world. The bilingual scripts and videos of "One World" were used as teaching materials in schools across China and her easy hosting style influenced a generation of TV journalists in China.
Kan's other US TV credits include narrating the ABC documentary "China: Walls and Bridges", which received a Daytime Emmy Award.[1] "Journey through a Changing China" was syndicated across the country and was so powerful that it was publicly lauded in the US Congressional Record, which called Kan a "citizen ambassador". The popular series "Mini Dragons" and "Doing Business in Asia", which Kan produced and hosted, were broadcast on PBS, fed the West's growing hunger for information of the East. A corporate version of the series was created and thousands of copies were sold to corporations and university business schools throughout the world for many years. Kan has continued to produce a variety of television shows aimed at raising the Chinese consciousness about the latest international lifestyle trends, including segments for the popular CCTV program "Half of the Sky" and more recently "Yue-Sai's World" and "Yue-Sai's Expo". Kan has filmed in more than 25 countries, created thousands of programs, and been viewed all over the globe.
Entrepreneur
Kan designed and produced a line of Asian female dolls, known as the Yue-Sai WaWa ("doll" in Chinese).
In 1992, Kan successfully transformed herself from a TV personality to an entrepreneur by creating the Yue-Sai cosmetics brand which became China's leading cosmetics company, eventually selling products in more than 800 outlets through 23 regional companies in China's major markets. The company encouraged Chinese women to be proud of their image, and was an early entrant to the cosmetics industry in China. More than 90% of the Chinese population today recognizes the brand, which was purchased by L'Oréal in 2004.
In 2008, Kan created a new East-meets-West lifestyle retail brand, the House of Yue-Sai, selling a variety of fine home furnishings, bedding, tableware, lighting, decorative accessories and unique gifts, and jewelry. Kan has also designed and produced a line of Asian female dolls, known as the Yue-Sai WaWa ("doll" in Chinese). Seeing that dolls sold in China had blue eyes and blond hair, Kan created dolls with distinctive Asian features, accessories and educational facts to help Asian children develop confidence, knowledge and pride in their heritage as well as educate children of all heritages about Asian cultures.
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