52 years ago, a groundbreaking American television show hosted by the young Chinese-American journalist Yue-Sai Kan, “Looking East,” broke new ground by attempting to bring the cultures of East and West closer together. A dozen years later, Kan’s “One World” exhibition, which was broadcast on China’s state-run CCTV, made her a well-known figure and fashion icon in a country moving away from Maoism and toward “openness. “Soon after, Kan founded “Yue-Sai Cosmetics”, which he acquired through Loreal in 2004.
Kan’s notable and continuing influence among Chinese Americans was on display Tuesday at the China in America Institute in New York, where a crowd of about 300 people, mostly young women, attended a ceremony introducing his latest book, “The Most Famous Woman in China. ” ”. Array” I spoke with Emmy-winning TV host Kan on Monday about her first book in English, her 11th overall, and her second autobiography. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.
Flannery: Your most recent ebook has a title. Why did you decide on it?
Kan: Although I’m a family member in China, it’s not the same in the United States. My editor advised me to look for anything provocative and effective to generate interest, and that’s anything anyone has said, not me!He won many awards. Time magazine nicknamed me the “Queen of the Middle Kingdom,” but we ignored it, thinking the Middle Kingdom looked like a science fiction movie. People magazine called me “the most famous woman in China,” and that’s what I used to do. But the key is the subtitle: “and how he did it. “How I did it is genuine history.
Flannery: You now have two autobiographies, one in Chinese and one in English. What are the differences between the two?
Kan: Other readers. The Chinese edition was written in such a way that it started from the day I was born until about 4 years ago. The English edition begins with one of the most ordinary days of my life, the night when CCTV presented my TV series “One World”. . The TV series replaced the trajectory of my life and had a wonderful effect on China. Also, no one in China did television like me: I wore makeup and fancy clothes. CCTV didn’t have the cash to pay me, so I asked for advertising time.
At that time, Chinese citizens knew nothing about the world, and the outside world knew nothing about China. The government sought with all its might to make people more informed about the outside world. What was the fastest way to teach such a giant population? Them on television. Growing up in Hong Kong and my parents were Cantonese, I only spoke Cantonese and had to learn Mandarin very quickly. This series may never be made again because times have changed. But when it happened, the effect was dramatic. For example, my hairstyle called “Yue-Sai Cut” has been copied by many women. The government even issued two postage stamps with my face on them.
Flannery: This brings us to the cosmetics sector. How did you get to this?
Kan: The only other people who used cosmetics at that time were considered unscrupulous or on stage. But all those years I was looking for information on how to do makeup because of my television show. From my TV experience, I was convinced that China was truly committed to “opening the door,” and I was sure that one day Chinese women would be like women around the world dressed in makeup, too. I made the decision to dedicate myself to the cosmetics sector because no cosmetics in the world was made for me. It wasn’t like I had dreamed of doing it my whole life. I have black hair, black eyes, yellow-based skin, a moon-shaped face, a flat nose, and very small eyes. My makeup desires and techniques are completely different from those of blue-eyed blonde girls. But within five years I was number one in every single cosmetic category. My motto was “the most productive the world can offer Asian women. ” This illustrates how, for the Chinese market, it will have to be designed according to Chinese wishes if necessary to achieve lasting success.
A significant replacement after “One World” at this time was how Chinese women perceived themselves. The explanation why I say this is because before they never thought they could replace something. For example, if they thought their eyes were too small, they would do it. Don’t think about an eye pencil to draw your eyeliner. It is possible that they simply did not shrink or enlarge their lips because they did not know how to individualize themselves. They all wore the same color and almost the same clothes and hair. Being different was not the norm.
Flannery: Let’s talk about United States-China relations. You write at the end of your book: “I feel that the progress made in our nation’s economic development over the past 40 years has all but disappeared. I feel that we want to reconstruct accept as true from the back up. What happened?
Kan: I think it is basically due to China’s economic expansion. Once China joined the WTO, the economy grew. I give a lot of credit to the United States for encouraging China to open up. But I also give a lot of credit to the Chinese themselves for making this imaginable and for being able to be so flexible in their policies and for allowing other people to start a business, be an entrepreneur, and believe that “being rich is glorious. ” It was government policy that made this imaginable. But the other Chinese are working hard to achieve such success.
Flannery: So how do you piece together what’s true between the two?
Kan: First of all, I think some politicians in the (US) government really don’t have a clue about China. I don’t need to call it ignorance: it’s more the result of misinformation about China than anything else. The United States remains committed to the concept that China is a massive aggressor. But if we look at Chinese history over the last 2,000 years, has there really been an imperial state? What China is being competitive about is the economy. Yes, China today has more production capacity. But unlike the United States, it does not build military bases around the world. They basically build a lot of airports, roads and infrastructure. Also, I don’t know any Chinese who are really enthusiastic about the war; I know other Chinese who are very hungry for cash, and the Chinese, at least, are very smart about making money. There are around 150 countries with which China is the largest trading partner. The Chinese deserve to protect their economic interests, but not try to build vassal states.
Flannery: What’s the way out?
Kan: I strive to create social networks that educate and correct misinformation. I am very concerned about the China Institute, which has nothing to do with the CCP (Communist Party) and has existed for a hundred years. It was founded by American and Chinese academics to promote exchanges. I am redoubling my efforts to promote the building of bridges and perception between people. The more we culturally perceive each other, the better.
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