Looking East for inspiration

A Chinese-American media mogul offers suggestions for domestic TV producers to give their programs pizzazz. Sun Li reports.

Pioneering TV icon Yue-sai Kan suggests Chinese TV producers go beyond "tired cliches" and dig out fresh goodies to enable their programs to lead the pack. She attributes groundbreaking angles to the success of her first TV production, Looking East (1978) - a series introducing Asian cultures to American audiences that propelled her to fame.

"At that time, no other TV programs opened a window into Asia for American viewers," Kan says.