phbs
An Encounter with Jing Yidan: Don't be Afraid to Try New Things
2015-06-16 16:08:56
phbs phbs phbs
After bidding farewell to CCTV, award-winning journalist Jing Yidan wrote her memoirs, titled Encounter (《我遇到你》) and recently published by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House (长江文艺出版社). On May 15, the book launch “An Encounter with Jing Yidan" was held at Shenzhen's Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS).

 
Jing was born in Harbin, the capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. In 1986, she graduated with a master's degree from the Beijing Broadcasting University (now known as the Communication University of China,中国传媒大学) and then worked as a teacher there. After joining China Central Television in 1988, she went on to win the Golden Microphone Award(金话筒奖), the highest honor for TV and radio personalities in China. Since then, she has been regarded as a leading figure in many popular news programs, such as “Topics in Focus” and “Eastern Times.”
 
Encounter shares Jing’s 27-year experience at CCTV and her views on hotspot issues in Chinese society. She also devoted one chapter to anecdotes about her CCTV-host colleagues, such as Bai Yansong(白岩松), Cui Yongyuan (崔永元)and Shui Junyi(水均益), all household names. “In the company of vibrant youth and innovation at CCTV it was like a marathon, and I was the person who was motivated to move forward. Without these colleagues, I couldn’t have been at the forefront of journalism for such a long time. They always pushed me forward, not allowing me to be lazy,” Jing said.
 
During the book launch at PHBS, Jing shared that there are many must-dos when you’re still young. She specified this point with her own life experience: As a 28-year-old graduate student, she had to take a three-year long probation; as a teacher in her 30s, she changed her role and joined CCTV; she then founded the “Dan Topic” at the age of 38, and joined the “Topics In Focus” at 40. She believes that her life experience well demonstrates that age is the last thing to worry about.
 
“How can a female reporter appropriately handle the reporter's firmness and female’s flexibility?” asked Du Chengwei, a student in the PKU Finance News Graduate Program.
 
“It has nothing to do with gender, but greatly depends on personality.” Jing said. “CCTV has many ‘killer women’, who are very strong and sharp.” Jing hosted TV programs and news features, usually interviews. She also made business trips, climbed mountains and stayed up all night to finish preparing her stories. She said she did not feel any different from or inferior to her male counterparts. As for retirement, Jing said, " I will continue to devote myself to research, teaching and education as I often did before.”
 
Professor Xuhong(徐泓), a well-known reporter and educator in China, now the director of the PKU Finance News Graduate Program, expressed her gratitude to Jing for her sharing with the students. In addition, PHBS Dean Hai also invited Jing to offer courses about journalism and communication for PKU students in the future. 

By Tung