ShaBihong: Passionate Every Day
By Reporter Yuan Liying
ShaBihong is China's first journalist whohas ever worked all along with police in anti-human trafficking operations on the frontline and caught international attention. She is a versatile TV professional simultaneously serving as a writer, director, hostess and producer.
ShaBihong: Impression
To be honest, I originally did not know quite much about ShaBihong. Before my interview with her, I only knew that she was a director and hostess of CCTV. In her thirties, Sha gave birth to a daughter, but her face and figure remained excellent thanks to good care, which quite attracted me. I thought that maybe I could learn some beauty secrets from her. I got to know after the interview that the reasons why she looked younger than her peers were she always treated life and work with strong passion and dealt with her family and children with tenderness and love. During the two hours of the interview in Sha’s house, symphony music was flowing slowly from the speaker all along, creating a relaxed and cozy atmosphere throughout our conversation.
Appearance is Just a Sign to Please People
As a television director, ShaBihong can easily make the programs well with years of experience and expertise. But in order to pursue her ideal and to make the programs better, she gave up her comfortable life.
In April 2000, Sha served as the chief director, screenwriter and interviewer for the 11-episode large documentary Social Care-Warnings from China’s Cracking Down on Human Trafficking, whichwas invested by the Ministry of Public Security. Over eight months of crackdown upon the crime side by side with the police, she travelled to remote, isolated places with poor traffic and living conditions. Moreover, with a tight schedule of shooting, she had to devote herself to work immediately upon the coming of any task, no matter when it was in the daytime or at night, and she often worked around the clock for several days. After a few months, ShaBihong’s appearance was totally changed, with skin of her face peeled by sun once and again. Then, for each outdoor shooting, Sha always took a variety of ways to block the sun, because the skin could not withstand sun shine any more. Talking about that matter, Sha said: "I could complete my editing work just at home, without going to the front-line for interview. That may help me escape from long and tough journeys or sufferings brought by wind and sun, but in this way I would not get real thoughts or feelings, and the program would not be watchable."
ShaBihong’s character does not allow her to give up the pursuit in her career just to take good care of the appearance. Even if a person does not do anything, time will certainly take his youth away. Appearance is not important for a person, and what matters the things that one finds are left when he looks back at an older age. Sha likes to compare life to a river, and she often said: "As the stream of life is ceaselessly flowing forward, you will see a wide variety of landscapes and get a variety of harvests. But, in retrospect, what can I leave behind to the world? Abilities of each person are different, but everyone will be successful as long as he makes effort. We will also age and dye as well if we do not leave anything to the world. Actually, there is no need to be concerned about your look, and a good appearance is just a sign to please others. Believe that you are the most beautiful, and that is enough. Do not worry day by day about your growing age. In fact, wrinkles for people of a certain age are also a beautiful thing. Anything that goes against the law of nature is impossible. Therefore I abandoned the comfortable life and devoted all myself to work. I’ve spent a lot of effort and time on my work, but my mental world is substantially full. Because of that, I look younger than people of the same age, and that would be one of my secrets of keeping young."
Speaking of her younger appearance, ShaBihong told a story. At an evening party two years ago, a boy in the twenties took a fancy to Sha, and had a very nice talk with her. Then, the boy sent a bouquet of flowers to her every day to express his fiery infatuation. Sha told him repeatedly that she was already over thirty of age and much elder than him. But the boy did not believe it and kept on sending flowers and cards as usual. Later, after Sha told the details of her realities as a wife and mother, the young man eventually left very reluctantly.
Women Should Keep a Young Heart
ShaBihong is already over thirty, but still full of vitality. Whether at work or in life, she always maintains a young mind. With a young heart, people will not grow old.
As television work is highly intensive, only with a healthy body and strong physical conditions can one maintain good mentality. To keep healthy, exercise and diet are important, and adequate sleep should be ensured as long as possible. Sha never worries about getting fat through eating. Her mother is a doctor, so she knows a lot of medical knowledge and pays much attention to health care. As long as time permits, she would make her own beauty-nourishing soup. When in the twenties, Sha studied in Germany in pursuit of love. Her life experience in that period left her with an indelible mark. She still maintains the western style of daily meals presently. Her breakfast is always made up of two eggs, a slice of bread, two pieces of ham and some fruit; her lunch is basically fish and beef; and the dinner is mainly fish and meat, in addition to some vegetable; staple rarely appears on her table, and she said that as a carnivore in general, she is inseparable from meat for meal. If there is no meat in the meal, she would feel as if she didn’t eat enough.
To ShaBihong, sports are not merely mechanical exercise. She said that she views working as the best sport, because the job as a television director carries highly intensive and large workload. After giving birth, Sha gained more than thirty kilos of weight, but after returning to work, she recovered her figure within a very short period of time. Sha always regards working pressure as a good way to lose weight, so she never considers work as a burden or just deals with it at will. She thinks that a woman in the working state is vibrant and beautiful.
In her leisure time, ShaBihong often does some exercises, such as jogging, swimming, ballet, and she even does some dumbbell exercise before going to bed in the evening. In doing so, she aims to ensure adequate strength and energy. Sha said that, in addition to increase fitness, sports also release people’s emotion and feelings that cannot be expressed. Long-term lack of release will cause people to become ill.
Love Everything that You Have
If you love your mother, please show your love to mothers in West China and help them relieve poverty;
If you love your child, please show your love to children in West China and help them return to school with your finance;
If you're concerned about your sisters, please show your love to sisters in West China and help them illuminate the road to work in cities...
Those are some lines from the large documentary made by ShaBihong, Social Care.Sha is a person with a huge pool of love, and this affection is reflected in her love for work, for friends, for family, and for all things around.
Sha believes that it’s far from enough for a host to have only a pretty face, he or she should also have a good spirit, zeal, and should love everything around and the life you have—that is the most important. With zeal, you can be enthusiastic about all things beside you and keep sound mentality despite weighty work assignments and tiredness. Someone may wear very beautiful make-up, but her face shows no vitality and she lacks an energetic temperament as that of spring. Therefore vitality is important for a woman. A person's face will gradually age, but he/she can maintain his/her vitality at any time.
Speaking of what the word “beautiful mother” means, ShaBihong had her unique insights: “I never thought that a woman must be a mother, but a woman who has become a mother is happy and her children will bring her richer experience. In my eyes, a woman is the same as a man: she is a person, and she must first be true to herself.” The word "beautiful mother" has a broad meaning: only in the face of a child can a woman be a mother, but the child will activate her nature as a gentle, kind, careful and strong mother. When a woman comes back onto her road of life, she becomes a personal entity.”
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Charming Mother
March 2003
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