Shen Xing is regarded among China's most beautiful television hostesses. Her good looks have lured some people to switch channels from sports to her popular program on cuisine.
Shen, who works with the Phoenix Television, has little need to worry about appearances, however. Being labeled early in her career as a "vain flower vase", Shen struggled a long time to prove she's more than just a pretty face.
Her much-lauded autobiography, Liang Sheng Hua (Double Life of Two Flowers), covers her six years learning to cook at a restaurant near Hong Kong's landmark Victoria Harbor and her acting in the blockbuster film Call For Love.
Shen said she still feels frustrated when people ask such questions as "are you really cooking" or "are you the real writer of your biography?"
Before the 2010 Global Chinese Grand Spring Festival Concert held by Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, METRO had an exclusive interview with her at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Shen's most familiar place in the capital.
METRO: To most Chinese audiences, you are the perfect choice for the TV show Beauty's Private Menu. Have you ever felt tired of or bored with cooking alone day by day?
A: Never. It's my sixth year hosting Phoenix TV's cuisine show. Cooking is like a natural talent for me and I really enjoy the atmosphere and environment when preparing and cooking a new dish. Wherever I have been, there is always the same boring question, "Are all the dishes really cooked by you?" The answer is definitely sure.
METRO: How about showing us some evidence?
A: Just look at the scars on my hands. Women always extremely cherish their hands, said to be the most important part of the body as they reveal a woman's genuine age. It's really difficult for cooks to take care of their hands.
When I visited Melbourne, Australia several years ago, local Chinese people invited me to a very popular barbecue restaurant. They introduced me as an experienced chef to a young and shy Burmese chef.
It was very funny. His first request was to ask me politely, "Could I take a look at your hand?"
Hands, especially the tiny and different scars caused by knife cuts or hot oil, maybe are the best way of communication for chefs.
METRO: When did you discover your interest in cuisine?
A: When I was a high school student in my hometown Zhuhai, teenagers were enthusiastic about part-time jobs during vacation. Luckily, my father decided to be a general boss. He paid me 800 yuan per month to hire me to do my family's entire housework, including cooking.
To act professional I bought a cuisine book, 100 Home Cooking Dishes, and soon I found I had cooking talent.
METRO: How did you land the job as host of Beauty's Private Menu?
A: Actually, it was accidental. I have worked as an entertainment show host at Phoenix Television since 2004. At a program-designing discussion meeting in 2005, someone suggested audiences would like relaxing shows such as ones teaching how to cook.
Then a colleague suddenly pointed at me and shouted "She can cook!"
I frequently brought food cooked by myself to the office. Most of my colleagues have tasted what I cooked. The decision was quickly made.
Traditionally, TV cuisine shows are mostly hosted by middle-aged women or professional chefs. My boss wanted to do something extremely fresh. We designed a show to showcase all of Phoenix's pretty female hosts in the kitchen.
In the primary program, my job is to cook and host. And another host tastes, judges and makes funny comments.
METRO: But why are you the only one on the show now?
A: It's a long story. Pretty women are always busy, even accounting for their main jobs of hosting news programs.
International situations change around the clock. Big news breaks each day. Beauties are dispatched to battlefields to host live TV in turns. Gradually, I became the only one left in the kitchen.
METRO: Besides the cuisine program, you also host shows such as the 2010 Global Chinese Grand Spring Festival Concert. How do you reconcile those two roles, as cook and concert host?
A: There is no difference. The two roles for me are interlinked. Cooking for a grand banquet is like conducting a grand concert. Preparing for a banquet, you should arrange the list of appetizer, entre, jardinire and dessert.
Some are more important, and some have to stay in a comparatively lower position to reserve the most attractive flavor for the entre. For a concert, it's the same principle.
For the 2010 Global Chinese Grand Spring Festival Concert, Chen Zuohuang, the first artistic director and principal conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra, will conduct the concert. His job is something like a chief cook.
METRO: If a conductor is like a cook, does it mean the stage is something like a kitchen?
A: Maybe. Then this kitchen, the National Center for the Performing Arts, should be my most familiar place in Beijing.
It's my third time to host this concert with a global Chinese audience as it will be broadcast live around the world.
Eve though the center hadn't totally finished its inside decorations, my program production team came here to shoot some scenes. At that time, the center looked like an airport terminal. It was totally empty and gigantic.
A good theater likes a well-cooked soup, which means you should spend time to stuff it and trigger its particular flavor.
When many world-renowned musicians come to perform, the music permeates every corner. It makes the center gradually ripe and attractive.
