Looking relaxed and well-rested from having the last few months off, Stephen Chan arrived at the dinner dressed casually, smiling and happily greeting the waiting reporters. Asked about his feelings on leaving TVB, he stated: “In the 30 years that I’ve been working, 18 of those years were for TVB, so of course I will have sentimental feelings, but at the same time, I also feel excited about embracing a new way of life – the feelings are a little bit contradictory, but definitely not sad. There are many colleagues and people I’ve collaborated with whom I will miss dearly – even though at times, our opinions on issues differed, but our ultimate goal was the same.”
In early March, Stephen will participate in Pastor Lam Yi Lok’s stand-up comedy show, where he will perform 3 hymns, then after that he is planning to continue his studying abroad in Europe -- after that is completed, then he will consider future career direction.
Ever since the news of Stephen Chan’s resignation became public, there have been endless rumors of various media companies trying to recruit him to join their companies – in fact, he has admitted himself that throughout this time, he has received invitations from various organizations. Facing the departure of one of his GMs, deputy chairman Norman Leung expressed that Stephen will definitely be missed: “He was one of my most capable workers – his departure will definitely be TVB’s loss, however we respect his decision. Stephen did tell me that within the next 2 years, he won’t accept any job offers from other multi-media companies and I respect his promise.” Mr. Leung also expressed that he has not found a replacement for Stephen’s GM position yet.
Excerpts from his lecture at Hong Kong Baptist University and interview with Eileen Cha
What are Stephen Chan’s feelings towards leaving TVB? Working at the company for 18 years, does he have any experiences and lessons he can share with others? Stephen did not say very much at the farewell dinner day before yesterday – however, earlier on, during a lecture at Hong Kong Baptist University as well as an interview with radio host (and one of our [ND Daily’s] columnists] Eileen Cha, he had actually said a lot…..
.--- While introducing TVB’s history to students at HK Baptist University, Stephen Chan took the opportunity to show his ‘fondness’ toward his ‘maternal home’:
“Let’s pretend that I make a salary of $6 – if another television station were to pay me $10 but TVB only pays me $6.50, I would still choose to stay at TVB.”
.--- When a student asked him how he maintains his youthful appearance, Stephen went into a discourse about life principles (a discourse that appeared to have ‘hidden meaning’):
“In addition to the basic tenants of rising and going to bed early as well as not drinking or smoking, the most important thing is to maintain a pleasant state of mind when faced with other people’s idle gossip about you. In fact, there is no harm in taking the ‘ostrich approach’ [TN: meaning ‘bury one’s head in the sand’] – no need to take things too much to heart.”
.--- During the lecture at the university as well as his subsequent interview with Eileen Cha, Stephen expressed that he regretted hosting the program《Be My Guest》:
“If at that time I had thought things through more clearly, I would not have chosen to host the 159 episode 《Be My Guest》…. I never thought that the exposure in front of the camera would cause me to completely lose my privacy.”
.--- In addition to providing an ‘explanation’ for his decisions, Stephen also shared his experience working at TVB with the students at the university:
“Earlier, due to the dispute with the Big 5 record companies, the ratings for 《Jade Solid Gold》were very low. At one point, we were thinking about giving up on the program, but then we had to consider that it’s necessary for a television station to have a music program – it was sort of like ‘chicken ribs’ [TN: meaning ‘something of little worth or value that one is reluctant to give up’]. We already did not have too much funding invested in sports-related programs, so we definitely couldn’t give up music programs too!”
.--- During his interview with Eileen Cha, Stephen was asked whether going through the whole corruption scandal experience has caused him to be more ‘fearful’, to which he ‘firmly’ responded:
“Facing this world alone by myself, there isn’t much to be afraid of! The only thing I’m ‘scared’ of is cockroaches, especially flying cockroaches…truly very scared!”
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