ENTERTAINMENT ENVOY:

Yang Lan, TV Host & Olympics' Goodwill Ambassador

By Laurie Underwood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OLYMPIC VIP: Yang Lan
CEIBS ALUMNI: CEO Programme 2004
DAY JOB: Founder of Sun Media; Host of "Yang Lan One-on-One" TV Talkshow;
BASED IN: Shanghai, Beijing
CONTRIBUTION TO GAMES: Official Olympic Games Goodwill Ambassador

Monte Carlo, September 23, 1993. On that date 15 years ago, this exotic European city was the gathering point for a small group of Chinese journalists flown over to report on one of the most important international news stories in China's recent history in terms of international image - the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on which city would host the 2000 Olympic Games.

Among the Chinese broadcast journalists in the Monacan capital was a 25-year-old TV reporter named Yang Lan, who was making her first trip to Europe. As assistant to renowned broadcast sports announcer Song Shixiong, Yang was given the daunting task of translating the IOCs decision live as millions of her compatriots tuned in back home. If the IOC were to choose Beijing, she would be delivering a glorious message to her nation. If not, she would be delivering a devastatingly disappointing message.

As the days, then hours ticked by until the official announcement deadline approached, Yang Lan grew increasingly uneasy. She had left Beijing full of optimism for China's chances of victory, a mood she remembers in this way: "We were very excited about the possibility of winning. I was asked to prepare the celebration banquet after we won the bid - that's how optimistic we were."

But her mood changed after arriving in Europe, she says. "As soon as I arrived in Monte Carlo, I noticed the gap between the perception of China from the inside and the outside." At that still-early stage in China's opening up to the West, Yang says, Chinese officials were generally "not that accustomed to communicating with the West." For that reason, misunderstandings easily arose from both sides. When Yang finally faced the cameras to announce that the IOC had chosen Sydney rather than Beijing as the host city for the next Olympiad, she made a name for herself by maintaining her composure and grace despite the extreme difficulty of her task.

Fast-forward to Paris on July 13, 2001 - when the IOC again announced a winning Olympic host city for the 2008 Olympics - and China's newly developed international PR prowess is clear. During that summer, Yang Lan was once again invited to announce the results of the IOC's decision on a host city; and this time she was able to deliver a victorious message that Beijing would host the 29th Olympiad.

BETTER HARDWARE, SOFTWARE

For viewers, it may have looked like a smooth win for China's capital city. Behind the scenes, however, Yang Lan says Beijing officials underwent a significant shift in their PR skills during the eight years following the defeat in Monte Carlo. "In 1994, there were stereotypes and prejudices from both China and the West," she says. "But in 2001, Beijing was much better prepared both in terms of hardware and software. By that time, China had impressed the world both with its economic development as well as its social progress."

By 2001, attitudes had changed on both the Eastern and Western sides, Yang says. On one hand, Beijing was "much more open to the outside world"; on the other, the international community was "much more welcoming to Beijing." For example, during the bidding process, Beijing Mayor Liu Qi delivered his final presentation in English, a gesture that clearly showed China's eagerness to reach out to the international community. "From the Western point of view and the Chinese point of view, everything was changed so much by 2001. That is why we won the bidding."

Yang knows first-hand how official thinking evolved between 1994 and 2001 - she herself was tapped to represent China in several roles during the second bidding process. After joining the Olympics' "cultural programme team," she prepared presentations designed to show the IOC how Beijing planned to handle specific events including the Olympic torch relay, Games youth camp, and closing ceremonies.

Since Beijing won the bid in 2001, Yang Lan has remained influential in promoting the Games worldwide in the run-up to the August 2008 launch date. One of the most important projects she has overseen is a TV series called Olympic Songfest, which Yang describes as "a program to promote Olympic music and song." The series includes several concerts filmed in China and abroad. The first concert in the series - Barcelona-Beijing - was held in Barcelona, Spain on February 27 and aired across China on April 16, 23 and 30(see box "Barcelona-Beijing Olympic Songfest"). The musical extravaganza, which featured more than a dozen top-name artists from both Spain and China, was a display of "sisterly connection" between Barcelona and Beijing as fellow Olympic host cities.



CROSS CULTURAL CONCERT - Yang Lan hosted the first Olympic Songfest event in Spain this February. The resulting concert, starring performers representing the Olympic cities of both Barcelona and Beijing - airs in China in late April.



During the Beijing Games, she will serve as an Olympics torch relay member - a task that has her physically training in preparation.

WHIRLWIND SCHEDULE 

Chinese audiences know Yang Lan as much more than an Olympics promoter. During the past decade, she has become one of China's best known and most respected broadcast journalists. Beginning her career as a TV announcer on China's national CCTV station in the 1990s, she bravely quit her job despite fast-growing success to enroll in Columbia University where she received a master degree in international affairs in 1996. After returning to China upon graduation, became a talk show hostess for Phoenix TV then went on to found Sun Media Investment Holdings with her husband in 1999. The company suffered some initial setbacks and required-revamping (see story, page 44, to see how Yang's participation in the CEIBS CEO Programme helped her turn her company around) but now successfully reaches 200 million viewers monthly via its broadcast TV programming, interactive online entertainment, and print media.

This year, she is leveraging her role as Olympics Goodwill Ambassador to enhance one of her most popular programmes - her interview series entitled Yang Lan One on One. The show, on which Yang has interviewed more than 400 Chinese and international guests since its launch in 2000, will this year focus on The Games. Yang will dedicate 50 episodes to interviewing international and Chinese athletes and other key figures in the Games. In addition, this Spring, she is also preparing an in-depth TV programme that will explain the background, history, and behind-the-scenes work of the Olympics. Overall, one-third of Yang's time is now being spent on Olympics-related work.

The other two-thirds of Yang's professional life focus on providing Chinese audiences with information and entertainment via Sun Media's diverse media channels. Her popular TV show entitled "Her Village" has developed such a strong following among Chinese women that Yang will launch a related website later this year. In addition, she is also preparing to conduct a large-scale survey on the working and personal lives of Chinese women - a survey that she believes will serve as a reliable and valuable measure of the current status of women in China. "I take a lot of personal interest in the survey because it will provide a valuable record of the transformation of modern Chinese women," says Yang.

Among her philanthropic projects, her Sun Culture Foundation will this year sponsor a three-year programme developed with Harvard and Beijing University to provide management training for the top executives of Chinese charity and non-profit organizations. The programme is designed to help socially responsible organizations increase their effectiveness.

LEGACY OF GAMES

Despite the progress made in improving China's image internationally in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics, Yang stresses that the nation's work is not finished yet. She says stereotypes and misunderstandings still exist on both sides. The most common misunderstanding about China internationally is about "the complexity of the situation in China," says Yang. "It is very, very easy to pick out specific issues and criticize China for them, whether it is environmental pollution or China's human rights record, but the average citizen in the West may not be putting these issues into context."

For example, viewers outside China may see only news reports of specific instances, without realizing that overall improvements have been made. As a member of the Chinese government's National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) advisory group, Yang has directly witnessed a new willingness within the Chinese government to allow citizens to express concerns and suggest improvements. "Every year, we have more freedom to voice criticisms against certain policies and against certain types of behavior of the government," she says. "If people consider the complexity of leading a country of 1.3 billion people and think about how difficult it is to manage the whole system, they will appreciate what this country has achieved. That does not mean we should ignore issues that should be addressed. I just mean that this a good chance for the world to gain a more balanced and proportioned image of China."

Asked to describe the ideal impression the Olympic Games could leave on worldwide audiences this summer, Yang had this response: "I think the best possible outcome is multifaceted. First, the athletes have to feel happy about all the services provided and the management, because they are the most important figures during the Games. The Games are for them." Secondly, Yang hopes the Games will "leave a good legacy to the Chinese people in terms of their understanding of the world, their manners and public behavior." She commends Beijing's efforts to clean up the city in terms of banning smoking and spitting in public areas. She also praised the city's efforts to create a Green Olympics, including new city planning regulations that meet environmental standards. In addition, she hopes the Olympics will help promote healthy lifestyles. "I hope more Chinese, not just the athletes but average Chinese, will spend some time exercising. Not many Chinese are so fond of exercising." Finally, she expressed a broader and more ambitious goal: "On the highest level, I hope the Games will allow both China and the outside world to develop a more balanced view of each other."