Kan Ki

Lore & Background

Kan was born in Guilin, China and grew up in Hong Kong. Her father, Kan Wing-Lin, was a traditional Chinese painter and calligrapher. In 1966, aged 19, while studying as a piano major at Brigham Young University–Hawaii in Hawaii, Yue-Sai entered the Narcissus Flower Beauty Pageant sponsored by the local Chinese Chamber of Commerce. She became the second runner-up, and as part of her duties traveled internationally. In 1972, Kan moved to New York City. Soon after, she formed Yue-Sai Kan Productions and created her first major TV production, a weekly series called "Looking East". The program was the first of its kind to introduce Asian cultures and customs to a growing and receptive American audience. It garnered critical acclaim and won awards. As described in The New York Times: "Few people are able to bridge the East and West, but Yue-Sai Kan can, and does it with beauty, intelligence and grace." The series stayed on the air for 12 years, the last 2 years on the Discovery Channel. Based on this and other work, Kan is credited as the first TV journalist to connect the East and West.

Reader's Guide

In 1992, Kan transformed herself from a TV personality to an entrepreneur by creating the Yue-Sai cosmetics brand which became China's leading cosmetics company, eventually selling products in more than 800 outlets through 23 regional companies in China's major markets. The company encouraged Chinese women to be proud of their image, and was an early entrant to the cosmetics industry in China. More than 90% of the Chinese population today recognizes the brand, which was purchased by L'Oréal in 2004. Forbes reported that Kan "is changing the face of the Middle Kingdom, one lipstick at a time". Kan stayed on as the Honorary Vice Chairman of L'Oreal China. In 2008, Kan created a new East-meets-West lifestyle retail brand, the House of Yue-Sai, selling a variety of fine home furnishings, bedding, tableware, lighting, decorative accessories, unique gifts and jewelry. Kan has also designed and produced a line of Asian female dolls, known as the Yue-Sai WaWa ("doll" in Chinese). Seeing that dolls sold in China had blue eyes and blond hair, Kan created dolls with distinctive Asian features, accessories and educational facts to help Asian children develop confidence, knowledge and pride in their heritage as well as educate children of all heritages about Asian cultures. Kan is the author of eleven books, including best-sellers in China offering advice about television production, beauty, and etiquette. Her first publication Yue-Sai's Guide to Asian Beauty teaches basic makeup and personal styling techniques. Encouraged by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, Kan introduced international social standards to China with her book Etiquette for the Modern Chinese (2000). The subsequent rewrites The Chinese Gentleman and The Complete Chinese Woman served as virtual training manuals for volunteers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Exquisite Spaces, 25 Top Interior Designers of the World (2009) is a coffee table book featuring design philosophies and tips from world-class designers. Life is a Competition (2013) and 99 Ways to Live a Charmed Life (2014) targeted young Chinese looking for advice in career, relationships and all-round development. Kan's memoir, The Most Famous Woman in China, an English-language account of her career, was published in August 2024. Kan's papers, dating from 1983 to 2021, are held by the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

Did You Know?

• Kan was the only living American to be featured on a government-issued Chinese postage stamp, issued in 2002.
• In 1984, she hosted the first live broadcast from China on PBS, covering the 35th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
• Her bilingual series 'One World' on CCTV-1 had a weekly viewership of 300 million.
• Kan was named the first and only Global Chinese 'Say Yes for Children' ambassador by UNICEF in 2002.