Yue-Sai Kan

Yue-Sai Kan
photo by Fadil Berisha
Native name	靳羽西
Born	Guilin, Guangxi, China
Nationality	American
Other names	Queen of the Middle Kingdom
Alma mater	Brigham Young University in Hawaii
Occupation	TV personality, Entrepreneur, Bestselling Author, Director of Miss Universe China
Relatives	Kan Wing-Lin

Yue-Sai Kan (Chinese: ; pinyin: Jìn Yǔxī; b. Guilin (桂林), Guangxi (广西), China) is a Chinese American television host and producer, entrepreneur, bestselling author and humanitarian. People magazine named her "the most famous woman in China" and Time magazine proclaimed her "the Queen of the Middle Kingdom."

Kan was born in Guilin (桂林), in China's southern province of Guangxi (广西), and grew up in Hong Kong. She is the oldest of four sisters, and her father Kan Wing-Lin was a revered traditional Chinese painter and calligrapher. She moved to Hawaii where she studied for a degree in music at Brigham Young University in Hawaii. While studying as a piano major, Yue-Sai entered the Narcissus Flower Beauty Pageant sponsored by the local Chinese Chamber of Commerce, became the second runner-up, and as part of her duties traveled around the World. The training and life-changing experience marked the beginning of her career in fashion and beauty. She went to New York in 1972, becoming involved in public relations and television production work.

In New York City she founded Yue-Sai Kan Productions and created her first major TV production, a weekly series called "Looking East". The program was the first of its kind to introduce Asian cultures and customs to a growing and receptive American audience. The series garnered critical acclaim and won dozens of awards. As described by the New York Times: "Few people are able to bridge the East and West, but Yue-Sai Kan can, and does it with beauty, intelligence and grace." The series stayed on the air for 12 years, the last 2 years on the Discovery Channel. Based on this and other work Yue-Sai is credited as the first TV journalist to connect the East and West.