Finding their own voices

For 25-year-old Pang Zheng from Hunan province, a cherished childhood memory is dining with her parents while watching News and Science, a program on Hunan Satellite TV that verifies and interprets phenomena through experiments and data.

Inspired by its presenters, Pang decided to pursue the same path. In 2018, she enrolled in the broadcasting and hosting major at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, determined to one day appear on-screen as a professional TV host. Her journey seemed firmly on track when she interned at Hunan Satellite TV and even recorded several episodes for News and Science, the very show she grew up watching.

In 2022, she topped the postgraduate program entrance exams at her university. A career as a TV host seemed within reach.

But her life was soon upended when her father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Her mother left her job to care for him full-time.

Pang, then a postgraduate student, chose to shoulder the responsibility of supporting her family as the breadwinner.

She turned to the booming e-commerce sector, taking up part-time livestreaming work to sell products online.

"I accepted every job I could fit into my schedule," Pang recalls, often working until 3 am.

While this work supported her family, it also made her feel that her dream of becoming a TV host was "slipping further away".

As months passed, she grew increasingly unsure about her future — whether she could still enter the television industry, or if she was even suited for the job anymore.

A turning point arrived in July with the recruitment call for the reality show Exciting Offer 7, which gathers aspiring young hosts to compete for a position at Dragon TV through an intensive internship.

"I saw it as a now-or-never moment to chase my dream," Pang says.