Li Yong, a TV 'King' in China
By JIM YARDLEY (New York Times)
Updated: 2006-01-21 15:00

The third floor of the fashionable coffee shop is empty, so when Li Yong reaches the top of the staircase and steps onto the landing, his entrance is greeted with silence. But Mr. Li, a popular television host known for his flamboyant style, makes an entrance, nonetheless.

“I don’t talk in slogans. I don’t distinguish the stage from life. My habits and flaws come out on the stage", said Li Yong. [New York Times]

He is dressed in a black leather jacket with studded metal shoulders matched by studded leather pants. His white boots are faux alligator skin. His fingernails shimmer with translucent white polish. His famously flowing mane of brown hair is streaked with gold highlights. He is not your typical Beijing coffee shop patron.

"I've just come from a fitting," he offered by way of explanation as he dropped into a large red chair, seeming a bit tired.

In recent days, Mr. Li, 37, has juggled rehearsals, fittings and other demands as he prepares for the annual Spring Festival Gala, the four-hour-plus variety show to be broadcast next Saturday. The program, perennially one of the world's most-watched shows, falls on the eve of the Lunar New Year holiday, when Chinese families get together to eat dumplings and, not always gleefully, watch the gala.

There are more than 500 hosts and hostesses on CCTV," he said. "Each of them wants to be part of the gala. I'm very honored to be chosen."

Known for his theatrical gestures, his exuberant style and his slightly unorthodox looks, Mr. Li is considered one of the most popular and bankable stars among a stable of more subdued personalities at China Central Television, or CCTV, the central government's television network. One study publicized by state media - though not independently verified - declared that Mr. Li was the most valuable host in China, with a projected annual value of $50.8 million to CCTV.

Mr Li uses a trademark punching gesture on one game show while on another he has taken to flicking away question cards in Lettermanesque fashion. He sometimes speaks with bits of slang even though censors forbid hosts from using the Hong Kong or Taiwanese accents that are popular with Chinese youth.

"I don't talk in slogans," he said. "I don't distinguish the stage from life. My habits and flaws come out on the stage."

His big break came in 1998 when he was host of a game show called "Lucky 52." He had never imagined himself a television celebrity, growing up in the remote western region of Xinjiang. His parents had moved there to heed the "patriotic call" from the party to develop the west. Mr. Li said his fondest childhood wish was to get away. "I just wanted to get away from parents and family, have an independent life and do as I pleased," he recalled.

His chance came when he enrolled at the Communication University of China in Beijing. He graduated in the early 1990's, when the competition for jobs was less fierce than it has become, and was assigned a job at CCTV. He worked on the news side as a reporter and producer, but it was his shift to entertainment that made him famous.

He said his style on "Lucky 52" - his sweeping hair, his stylized attire and his loose on-air demeanor - was so unorthodox that scholars invited him to attend a conference to discuss whether he should be encouraged or if the show should be canceled. But these days, many commentators have come to see his style as far preferable to that of hosts who seem to be stiffly reciting memorized lines.

"The concept of hosting has changed," said Wang Xiaofang, a prominent journalist who covers the entertainment industry. "Now the audience expects to see brains, technique and charm."

Mr. Li is still the host of "Lucky 52," as well as two other programs. He said he had sometimes studied British game shows but did not actually watch much television. He lives in one of the fashionable apartment developments in downtown Beijing with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter. His wife, a college sweetheart, is a CCTV producer who is often credited in helping her husband's rise.

The foibles of China's television and movie stars feed the growing corps of paparazzi, but Mr. Li and other CCTV stars are expected to keep a relatively low profile. He reportedly bristled over articles about his Porsche. He was also once scolded in the news media after he was photographed smoking in public, a habit shared by most men in China.

This will be the fifth consecutive year that Mr. Li has been a host for the Spring Festival Gala. When it started in 1983, the show attracted almost every person with a television set. But with growing competition and changing public tastes, it has steadily lost viewers, even though it still is believed to have an audience of a few hundred million people. Often, the show is playing in Chinese households, even if no one is watching.

Producers, eager to attract younger viewers, have signed up popular singers in recent years. But Mr. Li emphasized that the show also had political, social and cultural "responsibilities," given that it is expected to announce the government's theme for the year. For 2006, it is harmony, a reflection of President Hu Jintao's call for a "harmonious society."

Mr. Li said his role on the program was that of a tailor, stitching one performance to another. By comparison, "on my own programs, I am a king," he said, laughing at his own joke.

He said he had tried out a new gesture to match his trademark punch - blowing kisses.