Yuxi's World
"Although I speak it now, my Chinese is still lousy, you know. There was a time when I couldn't speak it at all. I had to learn how," said Kan, looking very much the star she still is in a pink and black outfit, her hair different from the style she once made famous here.
It is odd admission that Yue-sai Kan aka Jin Yuxi once did not speak Chinese and is therefore not as thoroughly Chinese as you might imagine her to be. This while bearing in mind her incredible story and the effect it has had on the Chinese people, at the very heart of the country's modernisation process during the last two decades.
"You must understand; the fame was immediate. There had been no one like me in China up to that time," said Kan.
The moment of which she speaks and the tidal wave of national support that has followed her ever since began in 1984, when Kan famously hosted the first live broadcast from China to the West, a joint cooperation between the United States' Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and China Central Television (CCTV), the national broadcaster, in China. The occasion was the 35th anniversary celebrations of the People's Republic of China on National Day on October 1, for which Kan provided live commentary.
"In those days, China was like walking through mars, a completely new terrain for anyone who hadn't experienced it. It was an incredible place and CCTV was so proud of their achievement with the broadcast. It had been a complete success. I was also immensely proud," said Kan.
Following the broadcast, the Chinese Government approached Kan in 1985 and proposed the idea of "One World."
"As part of its opening-up policy, the idea of the series was to bring the world to the Chinese people," said Kan.
The series was to be in the documentary style, taking a look at western countries and was specifically packaged for a people who had never before "seen beyond their own walls." The twice-a-week broadcast was the first television series ever hosted by a Chinese-American on national Chinese TV; it catapulted Kan to stardom, Chinese style. The CCTV series had people glued to their TV sets, despite the fact that back then China was very poor and TV sets were few and far between.
The fame was hard won. Kan's story begins in Guilin, where she was born in 1949 on the day the People's Republic was founded. The eldest of four sisters, her parents were a hardworking Southern Chinese, her father a celebrated traditional Chinese painter, and her mother a homemaker, farmer and part-time entrepreneur.
The family moved from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, where, after a second-level education, Kan studied music. In 1972, Kan joined her sister in New York City, and in 1978, she began to produce and host "Looking East," a documentary series about Asian culture seen through the eyes of a Chinese-American on PBS. The novel, entertaining and educational show aired on PBS for 12 years. Then came the Tian'anmen broadcast in 1984 and the instantaneous fame of "One World" in 1985.
"Everyone needs to find their own destiny and I found mine," said Kan of the show's success.
Kan's love affair with China matured, and in 1989, China requested her help. To maintain and strengthen foreign investment in the country, it was suggested that she establish a business in China. The government knew that Kan's celebrity could help change China's media image at home and abroad. In 1992, Yue-Sai Kan Cosmetics Limited was born. It was an instant success.
"I built factories. I made a real solid business; it was not just a PR stunt," said Kan.
Her hairstyle-a "bob" known as the "Yue-sai"-her clothes and her cosmetics were copied and used by millions of women across China. Her bilingual TV shows stimulated the people's interest in learning to speak English. She was a celebrity.
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