According to an interview conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong's The Varsity newspaper in April 2004, Cheung aspired to be a journalist since watching televised footage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests of June 4, 1989.

[5] Sharon is quoted as saying “I was impressed by the hero who stood in front of the tanks, bravely striving for democracy.”[5] On October 27, 2000, Cheung interviewed then-Communist Party General Secretary of China Jiang Zemin.

In this interview, after Jiang said he supported Tung Chee-hwa, Cheung questioned whether Jiang Zemin had appointed Tung in the election, which made Jiang Zemin angry and then denounced her and the Media of Hong Kong as "too simple, sometimes naïve"[6][1][5][7] The interview went viral and made her become famous, and has been dubbed as one of the three foundational works (Chinese: 蛤三篇; lit.

[4] Sharon Cheung went on to be a senior vice president of Media Asia Entertainment Group, and is now teaching journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In a 2004 interview, Cheung said “the mainland government sees the media as a propaganda tool, to promote its views.