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At 7 P.M.on November 19, 2007, the Hilton Restaurant on the 54th street, Av. 6, Manhattan, New York, USA, being the spot of the grand 35th International Awards ceremony---one of the highest awards of international television, became the focus of dozens of television cameras. TV stars, directors, producers, publishers and political figures, experts and scholars, totalling 1000, from every corner of the world and dozens of famous TV companies were convened.
At the presentation ceremony of Ammy Awards, some new appearances of Chineses with black hairs and yellow skin, among numerous blondes, were distinctive. Two days ago, they were occupied in International Ammy TV festival occassions, cocktail lounges and seminars, engaging in vigorous communications with the mainstream western media. Their appearances were tantamount to announce: Hey, International Ammy Awards, we Chineses are coming!
After several votes, two Chinese actors entered the nomination of best actors. They were mainland actor Guo Jiaming starring My Own Reich, and Hongkong actor Ouyang Zhenhua featuring Dicey Business. It¡¯s rare that two of the five nominators of best actors were Chineses. The telecine Little Train presented by the film channel of CCTV also won the nomination of the best telecine.
After vigorous general elections, Chinese actors and their works failed to win awards. But their presentations made it possible for people from different countries to know more about Chinese TV works. Just as Zheng Xu, director of Little Train, put it: ¡°the result doesn¡¯t matter, what matters is that we come and make Chinese TV programs and works known to the westerners. This is what this Ammy awards imports!¡±
Bruce Paris, president of international academy of television arts and sciences, when interviewed, said: ¡°Chinese TV works and actors have done a great job in the presentation of Ammy Awards. Each program presents us with the knowledge of its national history, culture and social life. I hope in the near future more and more Chinese TV works would be presented at this international Ammy awards as the world is eager to know more about China.¡±
Beauty Media, the Formerly Ugly Duckling, Now Grows up to be a White Swan
At the 35th international Ammy awards ceremony, an elegant Chinese female, among other Chinese actors and directors, with a graceful carriage caught the presents¡¯ attention. She was quite occupied in the council of Ammerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, program review and seminars, cocktail lounges, engaging in vigorous contact and cooperation talks with international TV producers and publishers. She was none other than Ms. Li Yan, president of Guangzhou Beauty Culture Communication Co., Ltd and one of judges of international Ammy awards held in 2006. As a president of Chinese audio-visual enterprise, Ms. Li Yan is the first Chinese to be invited to be one of judges of international Ammy awards.
Then, why did Ammy Awards favor Chinese ¡°Beauty Media¡±? Here is Ms. Li Yan¡¯s answer: ¡°Partly because Ammy Awards pays attention to the increasing development of Chinese TV market, but for the greater part, it¡¯s because of internatinal recognition of Beauty Media¡¯s vigorous effort and achievement in developing overseas market.¡±
Established as a private enterprise in 1994, Beauty Media is nationally well-known. Under the leadership of Ms. Li Yan, Beauty Media has now grown up from an ugly duckling to be a white swan. 14 years¡¯s painstaking effort has made it throughly remould itself from an audio-visual shop. So far, it has become a flagship of media enterprises assembling a great many of undertakings of audio-visual launch, Chinese language and kungfu promotion, original animation and its byproducts, new media network, overseas cultural communication and show biz into a whole.
So far, Beauty Media has developed nearly 9,000 catalogs of audio-visual products, over 10 production and distribution bases in over 10 cities at home, and a sales and service network consisting of nearly 1,000 agencies within China.
While undertaking herself to develop domestic markets, Ms. Li Yan never stops to have the international one, especially American one on the other side of the Pacific Ocean in her mind. She said: ¡°It¡¯s incumbent on Beauty Media to introduce Chinese 5,000 years¡¯ profound history and culture and refined cultural products to the whole world.¡±
Beauty Media Made Its First Appearance in America and Fortunately Became Attached to Ammy Awards
¡°I was toppled three times and rehabilitated three times before I made it to American market¡±, said Ms. Li Yan emotionally when talking about the experiences of carving out a way through American market at the beginning of the 1990s when she stepped upon the new land of America where she was cheated and suffered loss when trying to find local business partners. ¡°I came close to the edge of giving up but actually managed to carry on without lying under such and such a frustration¡±, said Ms. Li Yan to the reporter. At that difficult time, Ms. Li Yan and her fellows accommodated themselves in a hotel where they were at home with the both the manager and servants who were forward to help them, playing a role of being their ¡°secretaries¡±.
The reporter asked why chose Los Angeles as the breakthrough of developing overseas markets? Ms. Li Yan replied that Los Angeles isn¡¯t only the cultural center of America and the cradle of Hollywood where television and entertainment industry are highly developed, but also an internationally important distribution center of cultural products. If we succeed in carving out a way here for Chinese cultural products, then we would occuy a strategic place in developing overseas markets and it¡¯d be much easier for us to enter the American mainstream market.
Ms. Li Yan spares no pains to introduce best Chinese cultural video products to America by jointly investing with People¡¯s Sports Audio-visual Publishing House in shooting a series of Wushu teaching programs presenting Chinese wushu in 1995. Now that Beauty Media has produced over 1,000 hours of Chinese&English programs popular among kungfu fans at home and abroad. Even American soldiers stationed in Iraq put Chinese wushu teaching discs on their shopping carts on the network.
Since 1998, Beauty Media is active in participating in numerous international or national film and television programs fairs like NEPE in America, Cannes Festivals in France, BCWW in north Korea, Kongkong film festivals, Shanghai and Beijing film and television fairs, etc, where it avails itself of the fairs to promote and introduce refined Chinese audio-visual products. ¡°It's due to the fact that we¡¯re vigorous in contact and communication in numerous occasions organized by international Ammy Awards that Chinese Beauty Media is known and accepted by Ammy Awards as one of its council members and that we¡¯re invited to be one of its judges¡±, said Ms. Li Yan. Last year, she was acknowledged as one of the judges. This year, Mr. Sun Taiquan, artistic director of Beauty Media, was invited to be one of the judges of the final of this year¡¯s Ammy Awards. It¡¯s quite unusual for a private audio-visual enterprise to have the honor of being the judge of international Ammy Awards in two successive years.
¡ñ The More ¡°Beauty Media¡± Enterprises Achieve Noteworthyly Overseas, the Better
As far as Ms. Li Yan is concerned, Ammy Awards is not only a kind of honor, but also an ideal platform to introduce Chinese film and television products. Every year when the presentation ceremony of awards is held, Ms. Li Yan spares no effort to participate in such and such an occasion with an aim to seek cooperation by contacting and communicating with international TV producers and distributors. Her efforts pay off, as producers of America and Germany propose to cooperate with her sincerely.
Constant attention to international large film and television fairs every year has now seen Beauty Media¡¯s successful copyright transaction on its classical programs like Chinese Acrobatics and Presentation Project of Chinese Wushu with America, Middle East, North Korea, Britain, Japan, Ukraine and Russia. In 2006, Beauty Media exported over 10 million RMB¡¯s worthy of Chinese audio-visual products to the occident southeast Asia, Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan.
¡°We¡¯re intending to build in Los Angeles, America a Chinese center of culture and entertainment integrating theater, cinema, audio-visual shop and library. This center is supposed to specialize in Chinese performances, films, audio-visual products and books.¡±, said Ms. Li Yan. It¡¯s her idea that this center should break through the traditional mode of selling best Chinese cultural products among Chinese immigrants, and serves as a platform for introducing Chinese culture and promoting it to American mainstream markets.
For a long time, Chinese cultural products maintains an adverse balance of trade, having a sharp contrast with the favorable balance of other merchandise trade. To illustrate, China has over 100 thousand catalogs of audio-visual products, but few of them has a main channel of being sold overseas. Beauty Media
Ms. Li Yan said: ¡°We¡¯re hoping more and more enterprises like Beauty Media abound and achieve noteworthyly overseas. In due course, I¡¯m convinced there will be more Chinese appearances standing on the stage of international Ammy awards!¡±
Ammy Awards, reputed to be the Academy Award in television circle, stands for the highest honor of international television. It consists of two parts---American Ammy Awards and International Ammy Awards. The former was first established in 1948 by American academy of television arts and sciences with its headquarters in Los Angeles. It¡¯s held every year to award those enterprises, groups and individuals contributing remarkably to the development of TV programs and new technology. The latter was founded by the international academy of television arts and sciences, one of the biggest international radio and television organizations, with its headquarters in New York. Since 1969, the sponsor of this academy has been paying attention to the most excellent TV programs produced outside America.
Article by correspondent Zhao Chuandong
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