Yang Lan, a well-known journalist, outspoken anchorwoman and a pioneering entrepreneur is dubbed as "the Oprah of China," and known as chairwoman of a multiplatform business empire.

Her rise to stardom in China has drawn parallel to Oprah Winfrey’s success in the US. It’s easy to see why: Yang is a self-made entrepreneur and the most powerful woman in the Chinese mainland media. As chair of Sun Media Investment Holdings, a business empire she built with her husband, Yang is a pioneer of open communication.
Despite the claim that they tend to be self-centered or even spoiled and selfish, at the high-profile platform of TED forum, Yanlan, who considered herself as one of the milllions of very fortunate Chinese to witness and participate in the historic transformation of China that has made so many changes in the past twenty to thirty years,? offers her unique insight into the next generation of young Chinese citizens & netizens,— describing them as urban, connected (via microblogs), motivated and alert to social and political injustice

She suggests in her speech, delivered with an excellent and eloquent mastery of English and presented with grace, ease and poise, that “the traditional media [in China] is still heavily controlled by the government; social media offers an opening to let the steam out a little bit. But because you don’t have many other openings, the heat coming out of this opening is sometimes very strong, active and even violent”. From my perspective, apparently, the desire and thirst for the freedom of public speech, open and transparent exchange of information are highlighted in her motivating and passionate speech.

Besides, she uses a variety of examples of how microblogging is changing China. She says the public’s reaction shows a general distrust in government, which lacked transparency in the past. She explains how the younger generation, which calls itself a tribe of ants, is different. Most of this generation is well educated with a literacy rate better than 99% and 80% of city Chinese go to college. All these show her more empathic understanding and intimate relationship with the younger generation and therefore her comments and messages in the speech could be better related to, identified with the young audience and proves more influential and effective.

She also indicates and emphasizes that social justice and government accountability is what these young people care most about, and the power of microblogging gets the word out — any accusation of corruption or backdoor dealings between authority or business arouses a social outcry and unrest. It will naturally strike a deep chord in the hearts of the general public.

I am most impressed and, at the same time, inspired by the concluding remarks, showing her faith in the youth and future of China: “Our Younger generation is going to transform this country while at the same time being transformed themselves.” It sounds not only encouraging and uplifting, but also thought-provoking, self-reflecting and soul-searching.

Hopefully with concerted efforts and joint commitment from both ordinary people and official government, this transformation is turning for the better and stronger, and each of us is and will be involved and therefore obliged to do our part to make a difference and make our motherland a better place to live and flourish for ourselves and the future generations.

【拓展閱讀】楊瀾接受TED邀請做演講 傳奇女人從微博看中國>>>