Yang Weiguang, Trailblazer of China’s TV Industry
CCTV was now leading the Chinese media, setting new records and drawing attention from the public as well as top leaders. But Yang was somber about the station’s prospects: Chinese TV was still in the cradle, and would have to catch up with developed countries in the coming years.
Pressing on
On November 18, 1991, CCTV aired a documentary Looking to the Great Wall, which was praised by critics for its innovative style. The production team trekked along the ancient defense system from the east to the west, reflecting on its history, delving into the present and interviewing locals. The show had a true-to-life ambience, thanks to its unplanned encounters and unedited episodes in the course of production. The Great Wall, an icon of Chinese civilization, had never been examined in such a down-to-earth manner. The documentary ushered in a trend of realism in Chinese TV.
The production of Looking to the Great Wall in 1989 spanned several milestones of world history, including the upheavals in Eastern Europe, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the halting progression of China’s reforms. In the face of drastic transitions, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping instructed the Chinese government to be practical and realistic, and avoid indulging in ineffectual debates. This became the tone of the new documentary.
It was Yang’s 56th birthday when Looking to the Great Wall debuted in 1991. One month later he was promoted to president of CCTV.
Early the following year Deng Xiao-ping toured the southern provinces, underscoring China’s resolve to continue the reforms. He told the nation to be more courageous in experimenting and to seize every opportunity to develop itself, in particular the economy.
At that time CCTV was unable to make ends meet with its annual revenue of RMB 270 million and relied on government funding. During the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, NBC sent a reporting team of over 1,800 members. Yang’s CCTV reporting team had only 28 members. They couldn’t even afford to rent a studio, so they shared one with Hong Kong’s TVB. Despite its shoestring budget CCTV still achieved 250 hours of broadcasting, surpassing NBC and second only to Spain’s TVE network. Yang resolved to have his own studio for the next Olympics.
Yang could sense the opportunity of a lifetime approaching. In the same year Yang visited media institutions abroad. After learning about CNN’s 24-hour broadcasts, and that ABC and CBS both begin news broadcasts at 6 a.m., Yang realized that the huge potential of the Chinese market was still untapped.
In China the morning was still a “wasteland” for TV broadcasting. In autumn of 1992, the 14th CPC National Congress was convened, admitting the legal status of the market economy. At the same time CCTV was preparing its first morning broadcast. Short of funds and workers, the preparation work group hired a group of temporary employees. Yang implemented an unprecedented special policy. A time ration was set aside for commercials, and the producer assumed sole responsibility for profits or losses and equal pay for equal work, thereby ensuring the commitment of temporary workers. In that way, China’s first producer system came into being.
In 1993 China began broadcasting the morning program Oriental Horizon, with content including interviews with eminent figures, short documentaries about daily life and investigations into social problems. The rich content and bold style reversed CCTV’s old image as aloof and rigid. Chinese people started to wake up to the opening song of Oriental Horizon every morning. The “wasteland” of broadcasting became a new treasure house.
Yang paid most attention to Focus, a 15-minute off-shoot of Oriental Horizon. It investigated hot issues revealing social problems and the shortcomings of government politics, totally breaking the stereotype of only reporting the bright side. In less than a year Focus became an independent program, renamed Topics in Focus, which continues to this day to broadcast daily at prime time.
Topics in Focus has become a blockbuster with a continuous audience rating of around 30 percent. Zhu Rongji, then premier of China, praised the program as the people’s mouthpiece and a mirror of government behavior, acclaiming its function of social supervision and vanguard role in pushing forward reforms.
Media reported that there were two long queues at the gate of the CCTV compound. One was of people hoping to intercede on behalf of corrupt officials exposed on camera. The other was full of ordinary people who came to reflect social problems they observed or experienced. At broadcast time, Yang always left his office in order to avoid phone calls from those “buying leniency.”
At the end of 1993, CCTV broadcast Mao Zedong, the first documentary series about China’s highest state leader since 1949. The documentary didn’t shy away from the “cultural revolution” and had ratings of 29.8 percent, surpassing other TV series of the same period. Critics applauded the show for depicting Mao as a man, not a god.
