By Xu Zhongyou

The latest honor Dong Qing received came on July, 10, 2009. She was one of the 80 television anchor people and artists honored at the Sixth National Awards Ceremony for Best Television Workers held in Jiaxing, a regional center city in northern Zhejiang.

Anchor people come and go at CCTV. Dong Qing is the latest phenomenon of the CCTV galaxy of star emcees. And from the way she works, she is going to stay as the phenomenal emcee for a long time to come.

She started her career as a television anchorperson in Hangzhou, the capital city of eastern Chinas coastal Zhejiang Province.

She was born in Shanghai and grew up under the care of her grandparents while her parents worked in Zhejiang. She was a performance star in kindergarten. Her father is a graduate of journalism from Fudan University and her mother teaches in a middle school. The parents hoped their daughter would grow up to be a scholar. Under their guidance, she read Chinese classics in primary school. In the middle school years, she read some foreign literary masterpieces. After graduation from Jiaxing Number One Senior School, she chose Zhejiang Performing Arts Academy despite the objection of her parents. Years later, she notes that the three years she spent in the leafy school compound on Shuguang Road against the leafy hills were very happy.

After graduation, she joined Zhejiang Drama Troupe. In 1994, she joined the newly established Zhejiang Cable Television as an emcee. She rapidly rose to fame in Zhejiang. About a year later, she learned from her parents that Shanghai was recruiting television emcees for its newly reorganized Oriental Television network. Dong Qing sent a tape of her emceeing a gala show. Six months later, she was hired, one of the only two winners from about 800 candidates from all over the country.

Shanghai became a new departure point of her career. But as a new face at the metropolitan television network, she did not at first have much opportunity at a place where star emcees dominated. As a beginner she did some small jobs here and there. But she learned fast. She got to fit into the large picture and hosted a few big shows. In order to be a better emcee, she enrolled herself into a part-time college course at Shanghai Drama Theater. In 1998 she graduated. She was put into a regular program called Time Together On Saturday. She was noticed by the audience and the rating of the show rose rapidly.

Her breakthrough at the television network came in February, 2000 when she emceed a millennium concert televised alive in both Shanghai and Sidney. Her adequate knowledge of classic music and her fluent English opened the door to success. The televised show was a huge success and the audiences in Shanghai and Sidney liked her very much.

Rapidly she became the star hostess of dozens of big shows in Shanghai and a great many honors and awards sought her out. At this time, her career as a television emcee was eight years old.

In May, 2002, Dong Qing came upon another opportunity. This time, the director of a program at CCTV, Chinas largest television network, offered her a job. She hesitated. She had already put her roots down in Shanghai. Would she uproot herself and start afresh in Beijing?

She would and she did. The beginning was like history repeated. She found herself in a rented small apartment without a large walk-in cabinet for all her dresses. And she even did not know where to find a trustworthy hair saloon to do her hair or a good boutique to buy dresses for her appearances in shows. And she needed to fit into the large picture at CCTV. Despite all the difficulties, she faced the challenge bravely and put all her heart into work. Her criteria were simple: she wanted her colleagues to trust her and she wanted her audiences to like her. Her hard work and criteria helped her get her first foothold. Her colleagues realized she was a winning ticket to shows and audiences fell for her. She was much sought after. In two years, she hosted more than 130 shows. She was recognized more broadly. In 2004, she became the emcee for Zhengda Variety Show, which started in 1990 and is one of CCTVs longest running shows. Since 2005, she has appeared in the CCTVs Spring Festival gala. Nowadays, she is one of the most high-profile emcees at CCTV.

She hasnt been able to visit Hangzhou as frequently as she wishes since she started working in Beijing. But she manages to sneak to Hangzhou whenever she is back in Shanghai to do her postgraduate course. What she likes most about Hangzhou is the West Lake and the Hangzhou cuisine. After all, she spent five years in Hangzhou and started her career here.