TELEVISION news anchor Zhang Haijie checks her reflection in a handheld mirror, turning her head slowly from left to right, then back again.

Satisfied, she walks over and assumes her position on the couch as requested by the photographer.

Then, she whips out the mirror again, fussing with her hair to make sure that not a strand is out of place.

As she admires her reflection for the final time, she coos: 'I have just one request. You can write anything you like, I really don't care. But please make sure the pictures are nice.'

It is tempting to accuse her of being vain, but she has her own reason for being conscious about her looks.

'How the story will turn out is beyond my control. The only thing I can control is how I look,' she reasons.

She speaks in impeccable Mandarin, peppered with English terms, and when coupled with her soothing yet authoritative voice, her words are strangely persuasive.

Born in Xian, China, the former Channel U news anchor was previously known as Helen Cheung but is now using her Chinese name.

Now back at Channel 8, the 36-year-old is dead serious about looking her best on the job. Even when she is on air, she is well-known for grabbing every opportunity to check her appearance in the mirror.

'In real life, I go without make-up and I don't comb my hair,' she says.

'But I have very high expectations of myself professionally. Once I'm on air, I must make sure everything is perfect.'

It is small things like that which make her an easy target for gossip. She has a reputation for rubbing people the wrong way, a fact she readily acknowledges.

'Many people probably don't agree with the way I do things, and I'm fine with that,' she says evenly.

'I don't bother others, and they have the freedom to like or dislike me. It doesn't affect me at all.'

Mirror has two faces

AFTER she settles down for the interview at House, the hip spa, bar and restaurant space in Dempsey Road, the self-conscious manner she displays during the photoshoot evaporates.

She does not touch her hair once, let alone reach for the mirror, and is so relaxed she even talks between mouthfuls of carrot cake.

The stark contrast in her behaviour is perhaps the reason people find her fascinating.

Her public persona is that of an aloof Ice Queen, with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude that fans adore and detractors sneer at. Not the sort who is eager to please, she speaks her mind even when it is not politically correct to do so.

Yet those who know her paint a different picture - they say she is a warm person who sends text messages to friends when they are feeling down. She is also known to be a filial daughter who will say no to social gatherings because she has to cook for her father.

Friends say she is like a durian - you either hate her or love her. And once you can get past the thorns and the shell, you will be rewarded splendidly.

Former Channel U colleague Wang Yanqing, now the deputy editor of Citta Bella magazine, says she admires Zhang for her principles and her dedication to the profession.

She adds: 'Although I wouldn't use easygoing to describe her, I've also never seen her lose her temper.'

In the past three years, Zhang has stayed resolutely out of the limelight. But the public has clearly not forgotten about her, if the five-year-old rumour about her romance with Creative Technology founder Sim Wong Hoo is anything to go by.

Zhang, who is single, sighs when his name is mentioned, half-rolling her eyes as if to say 'here we go again'.

For the first time - and the last time, she stresses - she agrees to break her silence on what she calls a 'ridiculous rumour'.

'Some time ago, I was in a public toilet and the cleaner said to me, 'Haijie, you're married, right? You're Mrs Sim now, right?',' she says, exasperated.

'I don't want anyone to think I'm using Mr Sim as a publicity stunt. That is why I've never commented on it. People can say what they want, I couldn't care less. But it has gone on for far too long.'

Pointing to this reporter's notepad, she instructs in a no-nonsense tone: 'Make sure you write this down. One, I've never met him. Two, I've never spoken to him. Three, I've never crossed paths with him at any event and I've never interviewed him before.

'How did this rumour come about? I don't know, but I hope it ends here.'

Her generous mood ends there too and she remains tight-lipped when quizzed about her past relationships.

'Love is a bonus,' she philosophises. 'What I want is a soulmate who can share all the wonderful moments in life with me, be it enjoying a delicious plate of curry chicken or popiah.'

Back to her only love

WEARING a floral top from Hugo Boss and a pair of white jeans, the 1.64m-tall Zhang is a head-turner, thanks to her porcelain skin, large eyes and the confident way she carries herself.

But her beauty is just part of the reason that she is a magnet for controversies, and no other news anchor in Singapore comes close in this respect.

As soon as news broke two months ago that she was making a surprise comeback after disappearing from local TV screens for three years, the rumour mill went into overdrive.

Internet forums were abuzz with all sorts of speculations: Some questioned if she was starving and hard up for money, while others predicted with glee the catfight that would erupt with her return.

But mostly, the missiles that were hurled her way centred on one Chinese saying: Hao ma bu chi hui tou cao, which means 'a good horse will not return to old pasture'.

She left MediaCorp and crossed over to rival station SPH MediaWorks in 2001, right after she lost the Best News/Current Affairs Presenter prize to her Channel 8 colleague Ng Siew Leng at the Star Awards.

Then after the media merger at the end of 2004, she again sparked endless talk by rejecting a move back to MediaCorp.

She says: 'The closure of MediaWorks was too sudden. I couldn't accept it and I cannot make myself do a job just for a living.'

Last year, a close friend of hers underwent major surgery to remove a brain tumour, and she says the episode changed her perspective on life.

'I saw her fighting for her life in the hospital. It taught me not to take everything for granted and to treasure what I have,' she says sombrely.

'Newsreading is not just my greatest love, it is my only love. So when the chance to return to MediaCorp came along, I was able to put aside my pride because my mindset is totally different from what it was three years ago.'

It is this newfound inner peace that enables her to withstand the pressures of being in the public eye again, although the feedback since her return to Channel 8 on Feb 15 has been largely favourable.

She helms the 10pm news on Fridays and the 6.30pm and 10pm news bulletins on weekends.

In a poll on MediaCorp's Chinese news website xin.sg, over 58 per cent of respondents say she has maintained her standards, while 33 per cent feel that she is even more professional than before.

Indeed, she has silenced her critics who doubted if she could roll up her sleeves and fulfil less glamorous newsroom duties such as writing stories and conducting interviews.

She has done all that and more. On Feb 21, she held her own during the live telecast from the Padang of Singapore being named the host city for the Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

'I was so happy when the results came through. I was jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd,' recalls Zhang, who became a Singapore citizen in 2003.

But public displays of her raw, uncensored emotions are actually few and far between.

Even in private, she is not someone who lets her hair down easily, preferring to play mahjong with her family than paint the town red during her free time.

Social worker Samuel Ng, who knew her during her stint as a part-time talkshow host at the then UFM 100.3 from 2003 to 2005, describes her as a kaleidoscope.

'She dazzles you with her richness and colour, but sometimes you can't help but feel that is all she allows you to see, a fragment of her,' he says.

However, she strips away her defences at this interview and offers a rare glimpse into her carefully guarded life.

She lives with her 77-year-old father and her eldest sister, 45, a project manager, in a condominium apartment in the central part of Singapore.

No one among her small circle of friends here - she can count the number of close friends she has with both hands - has ever been to her home.

'This is the way I was brought up. My whole family is very private. But that doesn't mean I have something to hide,' she says.

Also living in Singapore are her second sister, 40, who is a primary school teacher, her brother-in-law and two teenage nieces. Her mother, 69, and older brother, 44, a civil servant, are still in Xian.

She is obsessive about cleanliness and will not tolerate stray hairs on the floor or anyone else washing her clothes or preparing the food because 'other people are not thorough enough'.

But the dog lover lets her friends' pooches trample all over her BMW without a word of complaint.

'I think I'm intolerant only towards humans,' she confides with a laugh.

She indulges herself with expensive Tiffany jewellery but is not shy about using discounted face masks from Watsons, buying designer goods only during sales or meeting friends in town before noon to beat the ERP charges.

'I believe in being money smart,' says Zhang, who says she is a savvy investor in the stock market.

Dreams of working abroad

BORN during the Cultural Revolution on Aug 28, 1971, she is the youngest child of a school-principal father and an architect mother.

As her father was held in a detention camp and her mother was busy working, she was often locked up alone at home, with just chalk-drawn hopscotch squares in the room to amuse herself with.

She muses: 'I guess that's why I've never been very outgoing or sociable. I don't usually know what to say to people, so I keep quiet, and they think I'm proud.'

Her competitive streak was honed from a young age, judging by how she routinely topped her class from primary school all the way to university.

When she was 18, she left Xian to study at the prestigious Beijing Broadcasting Institute, after beating over 10,000 candidates from her province.

It was there that she built her solid foundation in broadcasting. The rigorous training included vocal exercises that started at 6.30am every day without fail for four years.

Her former classmate Wang Xuechun, who is now a top CCTV host in Beijing, says Zhang has always been someone who would make her own decisions and choose her own paths in life.

'Emotionally, she is very strong. Once she makes up her mind, she will not be easily swayed, no matter how tough the going gets,' she says.

After graduating in 1993, Zhang taught at her alma mater for four years before joining Shanghai Cable TV Station, where she worked as a financial news host for 11/2 years.

At the end of 1998, she jumped at the chance to work for MediaCorp despite having to take a pay cut.

'Everyone in China has this dream of going overseas, and I was no exception,' she says.

Although she was hired as a trainer, the bosses liked what they saw and within seven days of starting work, she found herself sitting in the anchor seat, delivering the 1pm news on Channel 8.

However, it was during her three years in Channel U that she grew into a celebrity anchor, gaining new fans with her composed, polished style.

In 2003, she was nominated for Best Current Affairs Presenter for the highly rated show Inside Out at the Asian Television Awards and emerged runner-up in a field dominated by English TV hosts.

Following the media merger, she took a six-month break, travelling to places such as Russia and Egypt.

In July 2005, she became a full-time PhD candidate at Nanyang Technological University's Chinese division, researching the changing political role of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry before the country's independence.

Since then, she has been leading a simple - albeit boring - life, spending most of her time mugging at the library, teaching tutorial classes and hanging out occasionally with friends.

'I'm a zhainu, but no one will believe me,' she says, using the Chinese term borrowed from Japanese culture for a woman who likes to stay at home.

With her TV comeback, she will now complete her dissertation on a part-time basis.

So after almost two months on Caldecott Hill, with the rumour mill still churning, does she regret her decision?

She widens her eyes.

'I'm doing what I love, why should I have any regrets?'

Why indeed.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Mar 3, 2008.