THE changing face of China has been unveiled on state television with the debut of two young anchors for the nightly news.

To the amazement of millions of Chinese who watch the bulletins around their dinner tables, the usual grim-faced newsreaders were replaced on Monday by a stylish, half- smiling woman, Li Zimeng, and her polished colleague, Kang Hui. Even staff at China Central Television (CCTV) were taken by surprise when the pair presented the Seven O’Clock News, which is popularly known as the Chinese Communist Party’s “throat and tongue” and probably attracts the largest regular audience on Earth.

A poll on sina.com.cn, China’s largest internet news portal, showed overwhelming support for the revamp, with 11,000 respondents saying that the new anchors were “fresh, lively and not lecturing”.

Another 4,067 found little difference from the usual line-up. Only 546 preferred the crusty old faces that have been presenting the programme’s mix of news and propaganda for the past decade or two.

The newspaper Beijing Youth Daily said: “Li’s youth and vigour, succeeding the tradition and carefulness that the Seven O’Clock News represents, is an incredible move by CCTV.”

Last night the veteran anchor Xing Zhibin, 59, renowned for her stony-faced and firm delivery of the party line, was back in the hot seat with her colleague, Luo Jing. The pair have read the news since the mid-1980s. But officials said that Miss Li and Mr Kang would increase to four the pairs of newscasters who are the voice of the Communist Party to its 1.3 billion people.

The decision will not have been taken lightly. The newscasters’ dress, hairstyle, delivery and expression are strictly controlled by China’s propaganda mandarins.

It may take more than a change of face to win back the millions of viewers who have defected to the internet, DVDs and cable TV. Audiences may also be weary of the unchanging diet of news on offer.

The bulletin invariably opens with a significant government achievement — yesterday it was the destruction of the cofferdam at the mammoth Three Gorges project or with a parade of meetings of top leaders presented in strict order of seniority.

Industrial successes, bountiful harvests and the good deeds of happy citizens follow for 20 minutes. The final ten minutes is reserved for international news. While anchors remain expressionless and never offer an opinion, they have made a small fashion statement.

In the 1980s they began to abandon their starched Mao jackets, except in the case of the death of a top leader, for jackets in suitably serious colours.

One exception was on May 20, 1989, when martial law was declared in Beijing to force protesters to leave Tiananmen Square. Presenter Du Xian’s sad expression led to her removal.

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