Beauty can be soft power like sport says China's Oprah

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Beauty can be soft power like sport says China's Oprah

By Businesswoman Yue-Sai Kan promoting beauty around globe (ANSA.IT) 17:00, November 13, 2013

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Moscow, November 8 - Beauty contests, like sporting events, can be a tool for exerting a form of "soft power" in China, says a leading Chinese-American entrepreneur. During an interview in Moscow, where she is attending the Miss Universe pageant, Yue-Sai Kan said that China's Communist past has made it difficult for the country to now recognize and value physical beauty. "The problem is that China still lacks a culture of beauty, granted to (individuals) in Italian or Latin America, although we have beautiful girls," said Yue-Sai, who is one of the richest and most influential Chinese women to represent her country in the world.

A television producer and presenter, she has been dubbed the "Chinese Oprah". "We are just starting to learn it," adds Yue-Sai, who is escorting Miss China to the Miss Universe pageant, held this year for the first time in Russia.

The failure to acknowledge the value of beauty may be linked very slightly to China's Communist history, although Russia has some similarities with its Communist development and still values women's beauty, she said.

"Look at what the Russians have done with their beautiful women in the world...even though they were Communists".

Yue-Sai is perhaps best known for developing cosmetics lines for Chinese women since 1992, founding her own company that was purchased by L'Oreal. But she has also published seven best-selling books about beauty and style for men and women and has focused on teaching a kind of "international" style that is not necessarily western in focus. Still, she said that she loves Italy and keeps a close eye on Italian style, which she said blends well in China, where people are becoming very excited about the Milan Expo in 2015.

"For us, luxury is Italian".

Yue-Sai has also lived through some embarrassments: she recalls once advising a Miss China to appear in a short dress during an evening-wear event.

But she said that doesn't detract from the importance of recognizing the power of beauty.

Russia has done so - particularly, with this year's focus on hosting Miss Universe, which she describes as "the Olympics of Beauty" and that will be watched by one billion viewers worldwide.

"This is something the Russian government has strongly backed, and took the project very seriously," she said, adding the President Vladimir Putin is expected to be watching closely.

China could learn from this, she said.

"It is publicity that is so vast, and an important weapon of soft power for Beijing, just like sport or film," she added.

The daughter of Chinese parents who emigrated to the United States in the 1970s, Yue-Sai grew up with a foot in both cultures and recognizes the image problem China still struggles to overcome. Born in 1949, Yue-Sai today splits her time between New York and Shanghai. In 2012, Forbes magazine named her as one of its 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia, calling her the "Queen of the Middle Kingdom".

She says that only with "money, success and economic influence," have the Chinese people begun to develop genuine self-confidence.

"Now, they are trying to hone their own power".