Yue-Sai has connected East and West with charm, intelligence and grace.
——New York Times
After her move to New York City she formed 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.
In 1984, PBS invited Yue-Sai to host the first live broadcast of a television program from China on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The program was a co-production of American TV station PBS and China's CCTV network.
The program brought Kan to prominence in China and led the Chinese government to offer her a new television series, One World, which was produced and hosted by Yue-Sai and aired on China’s national television network CCTV. The twice-per-week program, which exposed Chinese viewers to cultures around the world, was the first-ever television series hosted by a Chinese American on national Chinese TV. With a weekly viewership of 300 million, “One World” gave many Chinese their first glimpse of the outside world. Her broadcast captivated the entire nation and made her a household name. At that time with broadcasts in both China and the USA, she was the most watched woman in the world. The bilingual scripts and video were used as teaching materials in schools across China and her easy television style influenced a generation of TV journalists in China.
In the United States, Yue-Sai's other TV credits include the ABC documentary "China Walls and Bridges", which received a coveted Emmy award in 1989, and "Journey through a Changing China", which was syndicated across the country, was so powerful that it was publicly lauded in the United States Congressional Record, which called Yue-Sai a “citizen ambassador”. Her popular series "Mini Dragons" and "Doing Business in Asia", which Yue-Sai produced and hosted was broadcast on PBS, and fed the West's growing hunger for information on the East. A corporate version of the series was created and thousands of copies were sold to corporations and university business schools throughout the World for many years.
Yue-Sai has continued to produce a variety of television shows aimed at raising the Chinese consciousness about the latest international lifestyle trends, including segments for the popular TV program "Half of the Sky" and more recently "Yue-Sai's World" and “Yue-Sai’s Expo” on which she interviews various North American and European celebrities and politicians. Yue-Sai Kan has filmed in more than 25 counties, created thousands of programs, and been seen all over the globe. Her 2006 TV series "Yue-Sai's World" introduced interesting stories from Western cultures, various celebrities and other phenomena to Chinese viewers. Usher, Catherine Deneuve, and Suze Orman were some of the guests on her 30-minute weekly show. "I know there are lots of programs around but they don't have depth. This will be a solid lifestyle program. I have a big team in the United States currently producing it," she said. Throughout her TV career, Yue-Sai has filmed in more than 25 countries.
Since 2006, Yue-Sai Kan has been serving as Chairman of the Invitation Committee of the Shanghai International Film Festival. She single-handedly secured the attendance of many A-list stars, including Halle Berry, Catherine Deneuve, Liam Neeson, Andie MacDowell just to name a few. Her involvement has uplifted the status of the Festival to a true international level.