Silvia Hsieh Talks About China on Rai 3

At 32, Silvia is expecting her third child, something she had planned for this stage of her life. Married to a soccer player on the Bologna and Italian National teams, Alessandro Diamanti, Silvia Hsieh is originally from Taiwan and came to Italy when she was only 3 years old. She graduated from Bocconi in Business Economics in 2004 "after I had started the program in Economics of Public Administration, but later decided to change programs," she remembers. Then she embarked on a successful TV career for music shows (Top of the Pops is the most popular) on Mediaset channels before taking a break to spend time with her family.

But now she's back. Starting on Sunday 11 November, at 10:15am on Rai 3, and rerun Mondays on Rai Scuola at 6:30pm, she is the host of Scatole cinesi, a program with 8 episodes to get to know today's China, avoiding stereotypes and sensationalism. "Before choosing Bocconi, which was my only option in Italy," says Silvia, "I applied to Harvard. Once I passed the test, I also did an interview, but there was some red tape necessary to enroll that led me to give up. At Bocconi I had already passed the test and so I moved to Milan." Despite her thesis entitled "Investing in the New Era of China" being somewhat prophetic, her degree was not utilized right away because she chose another path. "Even though after I graduated I received a lot of job offers from Italian companies in China because of my language skills."

Her TV career started when Silvia was still attending university, in 2001, with the role of correspondent in the program Mosquito on Rete4. The big change came a few years later, "when I was asked to host Top of the Pops, an Italia1 music show, along with Daniele Bossari, where I worked from 2003 to 2006." Silvia also made a few more appearances on MTV and Rete4, but she dedicated most of her time during the following years to her family more than her career, while now is the time when she's also thinking about her professional future. Whether or not it's in television, she might get the opportunity to dust off her degree: "I can see two paths for my future, one in television, where I would like to find a position as anchorwoman, or I could become an entrepreneur, because I would like to create something of my own rather than work for a company."

Scatole cinesi is a great opportunity to begin working again in business, making something different compared to her previous experiences, but it also entails a large commitment: "It's an important show, which requires specific training for each episode. The project began around one year ago," continues Silvia. "I auditioned, did several interviews with the producers and then I was chosen. I still have ties with China, where some of my relatives live and my brother works at an Italian company with offices in Shanghai. The show," she says, "revolves around several key words such as 'School,' 'Tourism,' and 'Power,' which act as a common thread during each episode." There are several important names in Italian journalism supporting Silvia Hsieh who know a lot about China, such as Paolo Longo from RAI, Marco Del Corona, from Corriere della Sera, and Federico Rampini, from Repubblica. "Together we try to get to know this great country and people of all ages and different cultural levels, with simple but complete shows. For me it's a great opportunity but also a big challenge. And I love putting myself out there."