Yue-Sai Kan: The remarkable life of ‘The Most Famous Woman in China’

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Though not a household name in the West, Yue-Sai Kan is a cultural icon in Asia.

A groundbreaking broadcaster, cosmetics magnate, philanthropist and author with 10 books to her credit, she was once dubbed “the most famous woman in China” by People Magazine.

Now, with her 11th book, the talkative powerhouse is reaching out to a wider audience. Taking its title from the nickname given her by People, The Most Famous Woman in China is the first book she has written in English as well as Mandarin.

Because much of her audience already knows her story, the English version is different, at least in the beginning.

“I start with what was one of the most important days of my life, the day my television show premiered in China on CCTV (China Central Television),” Kan said. “That was quite a day. It changed my life. But I’m sure that the show changed the life of many, many, many Chinese, of a few generations of Chinese.”

The show was One World. Beginning in 1986, the bilingual program brought glimpses of the outside world to, reportedly, 300 million to 400 million Chinese viewers.

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But it wasn’t the first cross-cultural show she hosted. Kan grew up in Hong Kong before, at age 16, moving to Hawaii to attend university. She later moved to New York and, in 1972, began hosting Looking East, a series that introduced American audiences to Asian cultures, customs and perspectives. It ran for 12 years, first on PBS and then on Discovery.

“I remember Mike Wallace said to me, ‘Don’t do that show about Asia. Nobody wants to know about Asia.’ But of course, he didn’t know that one day Asia could be the fastest growing part of the world.”

When she went to China to make One World, she encountered a broadcast system that didn’t quite know what to do with her. She even had to write her own contract.

“The producers asked me, ‘Is this how you look on TV in America?’ ” Kan says. “I said yes. They told me, ‘Then do it your way.’ That changed everything.”

For many in the country, One World wasn’t only the first time they were seeing other cultures, but it was also the first time they had seen a woman on screen wearing red lipstick, jewelry and anything other than muted tones.

Her hairstyle (the “inside cut”) and red lipstick (now branded as “Yue-Sai Red”) were copied across the country.

In 1992, Kan founded her own cosmetics line, Yue-Sai Cosmetics. Twelve years later she sold the successful line to L’Oréal.

Her new memoir charts her extraordinary path from teenage immigrant to global TV personality to beauty-brand founder. But the main reason for writing it, she says, is the unique perspective she gained from having had a front-row seat for the growth of China.

When she first arrived in the country in 1984, she recalled: “China was really, really poor. The airport was dingy, ugly, the road going to city was unpaved. I saw this guy on the side of the street and he had this oven to bake sweet potato. And I love sweet potato, the smell of sweet potato. I said to the driver, I need to stop, I want to get some. And I asked him, ‘How many would you like?’ And you know what he said? He said, ‘During the Cultural Revolution, I was eating it every single day. It’s OK if I don’t ever eat it again.’ ”

These days, Kan splits her time between New York, Shanghai and Hawaii. She’s coming to Vancouver as part of a North American book tour that includes a private event at the Vancouver Club on July 28. Her sister has an apartment in Richmond, and Kan has visited once before.

“Richmond reminds me of Hong Kong,” she says. “The restaurants, the supermarkets — everything.”