Chien Yao

Over the decade of Yao's career at Dianjiang, he helped various artists rise to prominence, including Nana Chiang, Sky Wu, Jody Chiang, Monique Lin, etc. His work “I’m Willing 我願意” in 1994, written for Faye Wong, has reached and remained on the KTV charts since then. Eventually, Dianjiang was acquired by EMI, and Yao went to Sony Music to be the General Manager for Chinese pop music. Under his management, Yao built the successful careers of internationally renowned artists such as Coco Lee, Harlem Yu, and Leehom Wang. It's then that he started to be widely recognized as “the talent hunter”.

People often refer to Yao as “Bo Le” for his sharp skills at identifying talent. Yao once responded to this association, saying “I realized that, if there’s a piece of work that’s been widely accepted, or if I successfully recommended someone to do something, it doesn’t have to be my work, I think that brings me a great sense of achievement. It feels like as if what I really wanted to do is to serve as that connection. People benefitted from the result of the linkage through me.” For his love of sharing, Yao had posted his personal recommendations of music from individual artists through “Private channels” on Douban.com in 2013.

In 2013, Yao published “Sense It”, expressing his personal perspective on fashion, taste, and lifestyle. In 2014, Yao compiled columns he wrote for Crown Culture Corp. and published “Mei Li De Xiang Yu 美麗的相遇”. Other than publishing literature, Yao also participated as the panel judge for “Chinese Million Star”. Currently, Yao is informally retired, but his involvement in the music industry, arts, and literature can still be seen from time to time.

Other than these contributions on music, Yao also engaged himself in film productions. In 2012, Yao produced “Melody 腳趾上的星光”, which is an animated movie that incorporated his scriptwriting, novel story, and music. The story used many love letters to tell the story of a long-distance relationship between Taipei and Beijing. In 2017, Yao was inspired by his own experiences in art collection, and invited Director Hao-Hsuan Hsu to film and produce the movie “Ah-Art”. This movie was later selected by Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival as the movie representative of Taiwan.

Other than written critics on arts, Yao also published several literary works like prose writing and novels. In 2010, he compiled his published columns into the novel “Wo Yuan Yi 我願意”, which is a love story about the letter correspondences between Beijing and Taichung. In 2012, he published a fictional romantic novel “Melody 腳趾上的星光”, along with its animated movie. In 2013, his work “Sense It品味” has yet again been the object of praise. In 2018, his newest publication “As Song, As Life” was published by UNITAS Publishing Co. Over the years, Yao has published six books in total. He also has numerous appearances online, such as on shixiang.xin to discuss about Eileen Chang's work, and also on “Ge Ci Shi Guang 歌詞時光”, the page he built on Douban.com to share his lyrical writings.

At the same time, Yao has been constantly engaged in fashion, art appreciation and exhibitions. In 2007, He organized the “Southeast Asian Art Exhibition”. Yao believes that the westernization of East Asian Art will be a great issue to look into in the research realm of art history. Other than this particular exhibition, Yao's involvement in the promotion and organization of artistic events has continued over the years.

Yao's contribution in music can also be seen in other forms of production such as movies and musicals. In 2006, Yao was awarded with Best Original Film Song by Hong Kong Film Award with “Perhaps Love 如果愛”. He also served as the Music Director of “Amber 琥珀”, a multimedia musical that received success in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, and “Mo Shan魔山”, a well-received children's theater production. He also worked with Subaru China on its annual theme song “Wo Xing Wo Lu 我行我路” in 2011.   Invited by Director Han Xiao in 2016, Yao produced the music for the documentary “Masters in the Forbidden City”. He collaborated with many young musicians and used softer melodies to express the craftsmen's attitude towards life.

Yao left Virgin Music in 2005 and served as the General Manager for Music Nation Ursa Major Limited, and the Vice President for Le Music, managing artists like Xiaoming Huang, Quan Yuan, and Coco Lee, receiving recognition and great popularity.

In 1998, Virgin Music invited Yao to be the General Manager, in charge of the Chinese music business under the whole Virgin Group. Yao has yet again successfully created the prosperous career for Elva Hsiao, Maggie Chiang, Angela Hou, Sandy Lam, Stanley Huang, Rene Liu, Ailin Dai, etc.

In the 80's, Yao's “The Dull-Ice Flower 魯冰花” made a huge hit in the Chinese music industry. Back in 1989, a renown Taiwanese director Li-Kuo Yang produced the movie “The Dull-Ice Flower”. The theme song however, was a little too hard for the children actors to learn, so Yang immediately sought help from Yao. Within two hours, Yao wrote a new song for the movie, and it later became a top hit and the winner of “Best Original Film Song” from Golden Horse Awards in the same year.

Yao grew up in a veteran family from Tainan. From a very young age, his love for arts has developed and he was very active in participating in all kinds of arts contest. Although he never received any recognition then, the contests allowed him to reinforce his passion for arts and develop his own perspective. With Industrial Design as his major, Yao studied in Tainan Kunshan College (now Kunshan Technology University), he started his career being a car salesman in Honda. Due to the long working hours and frequent dine-out, Yao suffered from health problems and had to quit his job. While taking the break, he watched two movies and read a lot every day. Yao decided that he should engage in something that he is passionate about. When the Taiwanese pop music industry was booming in the early 1980s, Yao quickly found himself a marketing job in the industry.

Chien Yao (born June 21, 1961 in Taiwan) is an important figure in the Chinese music industry, he wrote the lyrics for countless great hits, and created the career success for many top-selling artists representative of the era. Yao is recognized as the lyricist who best understands female sentiments. He is behind the successful careers of many A-list singers. Yao had served in Dian Jiang Records and Sony Music Taiwan, and had been the GM of EMI Records Taiwan, Virgin Records Taiwan, and Music Nation Group Taiwan. Yao is currently retired from executive positions and serves as an exclusive writer for Warner Chappell Music, Hong Kong Limited Taiwan Branch.