Cui Yongyuan

Cui Yongyuan
Born	(1963-02-20) 20 February 1963 Tianjin, China
Other names	Xiao Cui (小崔, literally meaning "Cui Junior")
Alma mater	Communications University of China
Occupation(s)	Chinese TV Celebrity, Talkshow Host, Chinese internet celebrity
Notable credit(s)	Tell It Like It Is Talk to Xiaocui Thank the Heavens and the Earth you are here
Website	www.weibo.com/cuiyongyuan (Weibo)

Cui Yongyuan (Chinese: 崔永元; pinyin: Cuī Yǒngyuán, born February 20, 1963) is a Chinese television host and producer. He is known for his affable and natural sense of humour, pioneering a brand of relaxed and unscripted presentation style that marked a departure from the rigid and staid nature of many Chinese talk shows.

Cui rose to fame hosting the show Tell It Like It Is on China Central Television from 1996 to 2002. After a battle with depression, Cui returned to CCTV to host Talk with Xiaocui. From 2012 to 2013 Cui hosted the show Thank the Heavens and the Earth that you are here. He left CCTV in 2013 to work at his alma mater, the Communication University of China.

Biography

Cui was born on February 20, 1963 in the Beichen District of Tianjin. His father was in the military. The family moved to Beijing when Cui was three years old, and he attended primary and high school in Beijing. Cui graduated from the Communication University of China in 1985, then began working for China Central Television as a reporter shortly thereafter. Starting in 1993, Cui became involved in the planning for the Oriental Horizon (东方时空) program.

The show Tell It Like It Is (实话实说) began in 1996, and was conceptualized as a Sunday supplement to Oriental Horizon, with Cui as host. The first show aired on April 26, 1996. Soon after Tell it like it is gained a following in its own right, in large part due to Cui's personality. Cui's brand of television spurred a host of copycat shows in other networks attempting to emulate Cui's natural and humorous presentation style in a Chinese TV world that is full of staid and scripted presentation.

With the success of Tell it like it is, Cui became a national celebrity. He was invited to host the 2000 edition of the CCTV New Year's Gala. Beginning in 2001 Cui was diagnosed with clinical depression. He reported severe trouble falling asleep. He left Tell it like it is abruptly in 2002.

After a battle with depression, Cui returned to CCTV to host Talk with Xiaocui (小崔说事). Cui was named as one of the Top Ten Best Hosts of CCTV for 2005. In addition, during the 2007 National People's Congress he hosted a talk show where he met with regional Chinese leaders to discuss everyday issues of concern to the people, the first of its kind in the PRC.

Cui has made several appearances at the CCTV New Year's Gala. He appeared twice in skits featuring Zhao Benshan and Song Dandan entitled Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow in 1999 and again in 2006. He also danced and sang with Taiwan actress and My Fair Princess star Ruby Lin in 2000.

He left CCTV in 2013. The reason behind his leaving was speculated upon by the public, but there does not seem to be a consensus. Many believed that his depression played a major role in his decision; others believed there might be a fallout between him and the leadership due to his integrity. He was hired by Communication University of China soon afterwards. His role at the University is under debate. Cui presented himself as "Professor" of CUC, but it was later pointed out by Fang Shimin and others that he does not possess a Teaching License and therefore cannot legally be hired as a professor. Later documents from CUC revealed that his official title is "Senior Editor".

He has since organized a charity project called "add a dish for the kids", where he helped improving menu of school cafeterias in poorer areas of the country. He also started a project called "Mouth-to- Mouth History". After he joined CUC, he opened a personal museum under his name, displaying his personal collections of movie props, and served as a dual-purpose study room for the students.

anti-GMO campaign and controversies

In November 2013, Cui Yongyuan embarked upon a two-week journey to the United States to film a documentary on genetically modified foods. In the documentary Cui aimed to explore the debate on whether genetically modified food is safe to eat.

Fallout with Fang Shimin (Fang Zhouzi)

The documentary was widely viewed in China and was criticized by anti-pseudoscience crusader Fang Zhouzi as being unscientific and misleading. Cui and Fang then exchanged a series of increasingly personal comments on a public micro-blogging platform, attacking each other. After the heated and widely publicized exchange, Fang sued Cui in a Beijing court demanding compensation of 670,000 yuan, alleging defamation. Chinese-language media has cited fallout from the conflict as a reason Cui has decided to leave television for a position to work at the Communications University of China, his alma mater.

Weibo battle against Chinese Agricultural University

In late November 2015, Cui engaged in a cursing battle on the Chinese micro-blogging platform Weibo against the students of Chinese Agriculture University (CAU). The incident started from a messaging debate between him and a scientific blogger with the name "Snowy Spirit"(飞雪之灵) on the topic of GMO foods. The latter accused Cui of misleading the public with false information, and demanded that Cui release some of the raw materials used in the 2013 documentary. Cui called the latter "fatso", and publicly released Snowy's personal information (real name, gender, institute, mentor, photos, etc) in his post, calling on his 8-million-plus followers to "clean the garbage". This action stirred outrage among the GMO supporters and scientific researchers and many retweeted and commented on the post, demanding an apology. Not willing to concede, Cui started to post as many personal information as he can gather in later posts of more than a dozen students, claiming all of them to be "disgusting", "morally corrupted" and "garbage". Since some of the prominent figures attacked by Cui all came from CAU (and Cui also mentioned he is going against CAU garbage "at this time only"), more and more CAU students start to join the battle and the topic soon is trending at number 1 under social category. Without issuing any form of apology, Cui and his followers demanded that the students lacks morality, and should be the one to apologize. Cui continued to post "evidence" of the corruption of CAU's Chancellor-Ke Bingsheng, alleging that Ke is unfairly raised tuition for students under foreign collaboration programs and owns more than a dozen vehicles, also claiming that Ke is soon to be taken down by the anti-corruption committee from the government. Ke replied in a letter to students that he has nothing to hide, and asked the students to focus on research and ignore the online smearing.

Political and Social Presence

In January 2015, Cui signed on with Shanghai-based Dragon Television to host the program "Eyes on Dongfang" (东方眼). At the 2015 National People's Congress, Cui bantered with Central Commission for Discipline Inspection chief Wang Qishan, remarking "I don't think I did anything wrong, but I'm still pretty nervous when I see you," ostensibly a reference to Wang's work in the anti-corruption campaign. Cui also shot a mobile phone video with Wang.