I am from Beijing. I was born in Beijing
and I was brought up there
You know, I studied English language and literature
and I studied law
thinking I would become a lawyer
I moved to Hong Kong right after university
I wanted to see the world and meet people
and a friend of mine said
"Why don't you become a journalist?"
By chance, somebody introduced me
to this magazine, so I became the editor
and then when Vogue finally came to China
and wanted to launch Vogue in China
so they asked me
I think in some way
you appreciate fashion, but you are not
totally in fashion, sometimes it gives you
a more clear perspective
Running a Vogue magazine is more
than loving some dresses
We operate a big Vogue edition in China
We are one of the biggest in the world
Since I had a child, my daughter
then my view on modern women has changed slightly
I am not going to have another one
so I want to spend
every minute possible with her
And I had to think about
what kind of a woman
I would like my daughter to become
And suddenly it became
much clearer in my mind
that if I want my daughter to become
such a kind of a woman
then I want my readers
to become that kind of woman
The clothes is a reflection of who you see yourself
and how you want to live your life
At the moment, the Western fashion
is so dominant that the local industry
the Chinese designers, they're struggling
to find a space for themselves
In some way, I feel that at Vogue in China
we have the responsibility to help
the Chinese designers and artists
and find that voice
In the 20s and the 30s in China
especially in big cities like Shanghai
and Beijing, the women in China were
wearing fashion as people in New York
and Paris were, but then it stopped
And people were not encouraged
to wear anything nice
Our generation, when we grew up
we did not have nice things
So, of course, then later on
I said, "Come on, Grandma
where are all your things?"
She said, "I flushed them down the toilet"
Because at the time, you know
the Red Guards they were raiding
the houses, checking your things
and you know, to see if you were...
those things were a bad sign
We're only a magazine, but we do
what we can to help create that voice
out of China, too, so that it's not just me―
Vogue talking, and I hope there are
more people from China in the business
who can have a voice and represent the country