REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEOUL -- Chinese entertainers have much to learn from South Korea's star training system, an official with the Chinese state-run CCTV network said Friday.
"South Korea has produced many globally renowned stars through its world-class training programs, but there aren't many professional programs for aspiring talents besides universities in China," Wang Lei, a manager at CCTV Entertainment Media, which is a production company owned by CCTV, told Yonhap News Agency in an interview.
The Chinese training system has focused more on preserving old traditions rather than starting new trends, while the opposite has been true in South Korea, he stressed.
Lei was in South Korea to receive the Broadcasting Production award on Thursday on behalf of his company at the inaugural Rookie Asia Awards organized by the Korea China Content Producer Association.
He was also here to sign a memorandum of understanding with the association to co-host Audition Fair Rookie Asia, a multi-disciplinary audition program scheduled to launch in August. The program, dubbed a "marketplace for entertainment talents from all over the world," would produce winners who will debut in a country of their interest.
Lei's first South Korean TV experience was "Dae Jang Geum," a 2003 period drama starring actress Lee Young-ae. It was the first long-running series he had watched in years, and it surprised him that the 54-part show would rivet Asia and become a classic soap in the region.
Having watched the latest South Korean hit "Descendants of the Sun," Lei also said he admires the varied ways in which South Koreans portray characters and emotions on TV.
"South Korean producers are great at depicting nuances and subtle changes in characters' emotions," he said. "The Chinese express themselves with larger brush strokes, but we can learn from the intricate ways Koreans paint emotions."
Lei orchestrated the largest millennium event in China called "New Millennium" in 2000. He hosted various exhibitions across the country in celebration of the 2004 Beijing Olympics and was behind "Xingguang Dadao," the popular CCTV talent show that started in 2004 and remained the most-watched entertainment show in China for more than five years.
Lei said he hopes the increasing exchange between South Korean and Chinese entertainment professionals would gradually transfer South Korean expertise to China.
"Chinese President Xi Jinping recently announced an initiative to promote Chinese culture to the world," he said. "We at CCTV thus plan to promote the superior qualities of our culture, but we also hope for greater exchange with South Korean professionals down the road."
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