Wang Jiyan

Wang Jiyan, from Haicheng, Liaoning, born in Ulanhot, Inner Mongolia, is a Chinese media professional and the first professor of television studies in China. He graduated from Beijing Broadcasting Institute (now Communication University of China), majoring in television news photography, and later held positions such as Head of the Television Department and Vice President of the institute. He helped establish Phoenix Television, initially serving as Executive Vice President and Director of the Chinese Channel, and later as Executive Director of Phoenix Television. He is currently Vice Chairman and President of the Phoenix Institute Council, Executive Director of the Phoenix Charity Foundation, and a Standing Committee Member of the 11th CPPCC Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Biography

Family and Early Life

Wang Jiyan was born in February 1949 in Ulanhot, Inner Mongolia, into a revolutionary family with roots in Haicheng, Liaoning. His father, Wang Duo, was a hero in the anti-Japanese war and worked for the Inner Mongolia Regional Committee of the Communist Party. His mother, Zhou Ji, also from a revolutionary family, was born in Fengtian (now Shenyang) and served as Director of the Personnel Bureau of the Inner Mongolia People's Government. During the Cultural Revolution, both parents were politically persecuted. Before the age of six, he grew up in Hailar. He attended Hohhot No. 2 Middle School and then joined the rural "Down to the Countryside Movement" for four years. Afterward, he worked as a journalist for two years at the Hohhot Daily. Veteran journalists at the paper praised him as a "mature youngster".

Broadcasting Institute Period

In 1974, the Beijing Broadcasting Institute sent examiners to recruit students in Inner Mongolia. Though Wang wanted to join the journalism department, he was offered only a broadcasting major. After a poor pronunciation test at the Inner Mongolia People's Broadcasting Station, the broadcasting department rejected him. However, because the examiner saw potential in him, he was given a spot in the television news photography major. Wang later commented, "If the broadcasting teachers had irresponsibly accepted me, the institute would have had one more unqualified broadcaster and one less competent television professional".

He joined the Beijing Broadcasting Institute the same year and remained there to teach after graduation. He served as Head of the Television Department and Vice President of the institute, also holding qualifications as a postgraduate supervisor. His student Zhang Xiaohai later directed the 1999 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

Phoenix Television Period

In early 1994, Wang approached Yu Tonghao (former Director of Pearl River Economic Radio) to discuss starting a TV station with Liu Changle in Hong Kong or Macau. In 1995, he began helping establish Phoenix TV. When the station was launched on March 31, 1996, Wang served as Executive Vice President and Director of the Chinese Channel. On January 30, 2013, he was elected as a Standing Committee Member of the 11th CPPCC of Inner Mongolia.

On February 17, 2014, Phoenix TV's board reshuffled, and Wang became Vice Chairman and President of the Phoenix Institute Council and Executive Director of the Phoenix Charity Foundation. He stepped down as Executive Vice President and Director of the Chinese Channel. He continued as Executive Director of Phoenix TV. On June 22, 2021, Wang resigned as Executive Director of Phoenix TV.

On November 14, 2015, he served as a judge on Beijing TV's program *The Inheritor*.

Works

Wang Jiyan authored the books *The Art of Television Production*, *The Art of TV Reporting*, and the photography collection *Wisdom and Heart — Approaching Master Hsing Yun*. He also participated in documentaries such as *The Silk Road*, *A Tiny World*, *Nation on Horseback*, and *Ethnicities in Poetry and Painting*. He organized and planned TV programs like *Jin Yong on Huashan*, and *Huashan's One-Armed Porter*.