World Overview
After returning to Taiwan, Li became executive producer of the Public Television Service program World Overview. It was a memorable period for him.
During his tenure of over three years, he visited more than 40 countries, stayed in "six-star" luxury hotels in the Gulf States, and even sojourned at a lodge on the heavily armed border between Turkey and Syria. One month he'd be in a tent on the Kenyan savannah listening to lions roaring not far off, the next month he'd be in the South American rainforests, falling asleep in a hammock on a boat chugging its way up the Amazon River and waking the next day to the graceful song of an indigenous woman. Once he drove more than 600 kilometers through a pitch-black Turkish night to film a traditional horsemanship contest in Turkey's Konya Province, barely making it by daybreak.
To gather adequate source materials, Li took a month or two each time he went overseas, returning to Taiwan only to immerse himself in his work, writing, editing, and doing voiceovers and postproduction.
"As project manager, I was a bridge. I used my mind and eyes to guide the audience into another land. But I wouldn't become an expert on it: it just didn't fit my personality. You see, I was always champing at the bit to go on a new trip."
After leaving World Overview, Li entered the news division at Chinese Television System (CTS), and soon transferred to the programming division in charge of purchasing programs and movies from film festivals in the US, Japan, France and the Netherlands. The world was his office. "He's been to France 22 times," adds Li's wife, former CTS news anchor Synthia Wang.
"Doraemon, Case Closed, Slam Dunk, and Hikaru no Go were all programs I successfully negotiated. I love cartoons!" laughs Li with pride. Negotiating for overseas programs enabled Li to continue his life of world travel. And as a lover of music and antiquities, when not working he would visit record stores and antique shops in different countries.
After this period, his exposure to the world's cultures and customs soon began to bear fruit. The first was a music program: Li created the program Global Music Station on the Taipei Broadcasting Station, which introduced music and culture from around the world.
In one series for this program, World National Parks, when covering South Africa's Kruger National Park, Li supplemented traditional Zulu music with recordings he made on the African veldt of the cries of wild animals. And when introducing the music of Taroko, he narrated with fervor on the culture and artifacts of Taiwan's Aborigines. This series earned a bronze medal in the International Radio Festival of New York in 1990.
China is conspicuously absent from the splendid history of gold coins. How rare it is to come across a gold kai yuan tong bao coin from the Tang Dynasty! It was only used as imperial gifts or as offerings to gods; it did not circulate as currency.