Ｈｅｒ Ｎａｍｅ ｉｓ Ｒｅｄ Ｐｅｏｎｙ ｉｎ Ｓｕｍｍｅｒ

Ouyang Xiadan was honored as “Excellent Television Presenter” on August 30， 2008 at the Golden Eagle Festival， a national gala to honor outstanding television artists and workers. She was the only one from CCTV that won the national kudos. Those who know her think it only natural that she was selected for the honor.

Born in Guilin， a picturesque city in southern China’s Yunnan Province， she grew up to be a girl who loved detective stories， played the volleyball， and starred at school dramas. When Beijing Broadcasting Institute， the predecessor of today’s China Media University， came to town to recruit talents， Ouyang Xiadan， whose given name refers to a peony in summer， decided to try her luck. She was the only one picked by the institute out of thousands of applicants in Guilin. After four years of professional training at the institute， she faced two choices: to go back to the hometown and work at a television studio or proceed to study a postgraduate course at the institute. She chose the latter.

But fate seemed to be playing with her. Just as she had put her signature to a contract with the institute for the postgraduate study， Shanghai Television offered her an enticing job. It was a very dramatic moment in her life. She toyed with the idea of tearing up the contract and going to Shanghai. And on the other hand， recruiters from Shanghai TV were divided on the young graduate: some suspected her look would not appeal to picky audiences in the metropolis whereas some argued the high-quality girl would bring new elements to the television’s news programs. The director of Shanghai Television had the final say and decided to recruit Ouyang Xiadan. So she paid the damages for breaching the contract and came to Shanghai.

Shanghai was not a rose garden. In the first month， Ouyang Xiadan was assigned some utterly unimportant paperwork in the administrative office. Then one day， a department director came over to see her. “Are you the new girl? We lack a presenter for the upcoming Global Chinese New Singers Competition. Come to try your luck.” She was a success. Shortly afterwards， the news department asked her to fill a temporary vacancy and host the Shanghai Morning News.

It turned out that Li Peihong， the previous newscaster， had to take a leave because something had been wrong with her voice. Her presentation style was to reorganize news in her own words and make presentation in a chatting style. Ouyang Xiadan tried this style. Years later， she remarks that her sensitivity to the value of news stories and verbal ability to relate news stories in her own words developed and matured during this period. And she remembered her first appearance at the morning news. She got up at 4 am and did her own makeup before she went through all the news items. The moment before she was to appear on the screen， she was so nervous that she felt as if she did not know how to walk. But she managed to carry out the first assignment successfully.

Audience soon noticed the new style and the new presenter. Although Ouyang Xiadan still felt that she needed to let her voice and body relax more， audiences thought highly of her. A reader wrote to a local newspaper and commented on her style: “I think this news presenter is quite interesting. She leans slightly forward， showing a desire to present news， to communicate with people.I like the style because she puts her heart and soul into it.”

Peers across the country also noticed her unique style. A news presenter at Hunan Television commented in an interview that Ouyang Xiadan even made news on conferences sound interesting. She was indeed unique. Her amiable and unpretentious style made her very popular with audiences. And she became a news presenter for the evening news. After four years， she was regarded as the best new-generation news presenter in Shanghai.

In October 2003， she faced choices again: to continue working in Shanghai and enjoying her success or switch to CCTV and start anew. She had a good job in Shanghai and she had bought a house. She hesitated for two month. She made up her mind after calling her teacher at the alma mater in Beijing. The teacher advised， “Stay in Shanghai if you want a life of ease. Come to Beijing if you desire to challenge yourself and find your potentialities.” Ouyang Xiadan decided she would like challenges.

Life in Beijing was a big challenge indeed. Living in an old-style house without heating in the first few months， she followed a very strict timetable. She would get up at 4.30 am and arrive at CCTV at 5. After preparations， she would begin to go through all the news stories from 6 to 6:45. If stories did not read well， she would make changes as she saw necessary. Her program would last from 7 to 9 in the morning. Afterwards she would go home to get some sleep. The afternoon was her sports time. In the evening， she would meet with her colleagues for discussion and watch CCTV Network Business New at 9:00. She must retire to bed at 10 pm.

She has well adjusted to this work schedule since then and her morning business news program has become one of the best news programs at CCTV. In 2005， she was honored as one of the top ten new presenters， something regarded as a miracle for morning news programs at CCTV.

Ouyang Xiadan is 30 in 2008. Her mother worried and urged her to find her true love. Ouyang Xiadan defines her love this way: someone whom she would miss and wish to see when he is not around， someone who would make her heart throb and quicken. She planned to find such a man in 2008， but before she set out in her search， she was assigned to preside at a news program about the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

She partnered with Bai Yansong， another big name at CCTV news talk shows. In order to do the program well， Ouyang Xiadan familiarized herself with sports. Of course， the two talked about their guideline for the program. Instead of focusing on gold medals China would win， they would emphasize the Olympic spirit as athletes understood it and adopt a new attitude about sports and people. The program was a success and became a must for many people during the Olympic Games.

When asked about her plan to find her sweetheart， Ouyang Xiadan laughed. “I planned to find him， but now I’ve made a breakthrough in my news presenting.” □