Bai Yansong meets book fans in Hohhot

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2016-12-13

Chinese news anchor, Bai Yansong, met with book fans at Xinhua Bookstore in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Dec 10.

Bai Yansong meets readers while publicizing his new book Bai Says at Xinhua Bookstore in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Dec 10. [Photo/northnews.cn]

During the event, Bai made a speech and answered several readers’ questions concerning his book, Bai Says. He also expressed his opinions on some current social issues, and lastly the organizers held a book autographing occasion for readers.

The event was part of the 11th Grasslands Reading Month, and the reader meeting was organized by the Hohhot Xinhua Bookstore and local reading associations.

As his seventh published book, Bai Says is a collection of dialogic essays that Bai Yansong has written in recent years, covering multiple fields like politics, education, reform, reading and music, with the aim of sharing his outlook and values.

A child from the Inner Mongolia Youth Journalism Association asks a question of Bai Yansong, who is promoting his new book Bai Says at Xinhua Bookstore in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Dec 10. [Photo/northnews.cn]

The book’s Chinese name indicates a pun, meaning literally what Bai has talked about and implying to waste one's breath or beat a dead horse. In his opinion, however, even if people speak in vain, everyone, especially journalists, need to always argue and debate the key social issues of the day and enable public opinion to be heard.

As a Mongolian ethnic, Bai was born at the Hailar district in Hulunbuir League in 1968. Studying in the Department of Journalism at the Communication University of China, Bai was assigned to work for China Broadcast Newspaper attached to China National Radio after graduation in 1989, and pioneered a career on a news program called Oriental Time (also known as Eastern Time) at China Central Television Station.

Since then, Bai has devoted himself to journalism for over 20 years, through participation in TV programs including China Newsweek, News 1+1, the Spring Festival Gala and Touching China, as well as anchoring several high-profile events like the Hong Kong Handover in 1997, the 50th anniversary of National Day in 1999, the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games and the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

In 2001, Bai published his first book –– Bitter Sweet (also named as Painful While Happy) –– and later wrote three books commenting on the Taiwan question, Japan and the United States respectively. He then released another two books, Are You Happy and Walking between Love and Hatred.

During his career as a news anchor, Bai has become extremely popular and respected among people from all walks of life due to his perceptive insight into Chinese society alongside his humorous style of commentary, thus standing out against the more stiff and formal reporting style of much of the Chinese press.

Bai Yansong autographs his new book Bai Says at Xinhua Bookstore in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Dec 10. [Photo/northnews.cn]