It’s amazing seeing how treasured Han Hong is; her talent’s irreplaceable and people know it. An incredible amount of celebs came out to the album launch party that she held in Beijing, including singers Sun Nan, Sha Baoliang, Anson Hu Huang Zheng, Chen Chusheng, and composer San Bao, amongst a lot of other people. Guo Jingming, who wrote the lyrics for one of her songs also was in attendance. Eason Chan, Nic Tse, Andy Lau,Stefanie Sun, Feng Xiaogang, Ge You, and Zhou Xun sent their congratulations through VCR.
First Single from her new album: Gui Lai/Return
This stunned me the first time I heard it and I’ve wanted to put this up for so long…
Videos of her performance at the album launch at Sina. I couldn’t upload these unfortunately at youtube for some reason. Tried several times, and it wasn’t able to convert properly. Very unfortunate. For more pictures of the release part, click here.
Guo Jingming wishes her success
Han Hong also praised one of her supporters at the album lauch, author Guo Jingming, who also wrote the lyrics to one of the songs (Listen to my voice/《听我的声音》) on her album and previously collaborated with her in 2004. She said it was hard to find someone so talented at such a young age.
Guo Jingming at the Album Release
Back when I wrote about the older generation of singers criticizing the new, I think I made it seem like the older singers just disliked the younger, better-looking generation in general. Which is a misconception I think I had, but that I’m finding is less and less true. Ding Dang is very kind judge to aspiring singers in Supergirls because she knows it’s a hard road, and time has proven that those who make it are those with clear direction on what they want to do with their singing. Cui Jian cast Tan Weiwei in his segment of Chengdu I Love You, even though she was part of the competition singer crowd, because she still is nevertheless, talented and professional about her music.Han Hong doesn’t care what Guo Jingming looks like or how old he is; in her eyes, he’s very talented and that’s what matters.
I guess China’s finding her balance between the need for idols, and the retention of creativity and artistic integrity in her entertainment sphere. Hopefully China can manage this as the market grows at the rapid breakneck pace it’s going at, and the look of Chinese entertainment changes completely year to year. I’m just glad that Han Hong is still so loved.
lol yup they’re average, maybe even below-average if you’ve been staring at korean celebrities for long. I’d say my bar is somewhere way up there XD. I mean, in kpop, your company forces you to get plastic surgery, it’s a wonder if you don’t look good. I love that they don’t have that sort of politics in cpop. Please, don’t go there!
Somehow, I believe I’m still sober. I actually think Anson and Chen Chu Shen are pretty decent looking =]
I didn’t know this!
I discovered Han Hong last year, and was so moved by her voice. I was surprised to learn that she’s so popular in China, and I’m glad she is recognize =D
thanks 4 sharing…ha hon’s voice is just like an angel’s….
@neph
Laure Shang was fairly chubby, and unpleasant looking. As one friend remarked,”she used to be…so ugly.”
You can’t make someone taller, but you can make them lose lots of weight so that they appear taller. That seems to be the scheme for most celeb-wannabes. He Jie and Laure Shang both went on major diets, as are Jiang Yingrong and Li Xiaoyun right now. Not every celeb has the talent or confidence that Han Hong has.
I don’t think the face vs. figure thing is significant. A pleasant face, in theory, matters as much as a pleasant figure. Both are there for aesthetic reasons. The quest for a “good body figure,” imo, is a lot more important than that for a good-looking face.
It’s somewhat human nature to prefer those with better face/figures, because they’re pleasant to the eye. But I don’t think that the Chinese audience as a whole will completely disregard an artist for their looks.
Eh, like I said… maybe it’s that my standards are too low. =\
But regarding Anson Hu, he also came before the newest wave of stars, didn’t he? And he’s not nearly as… interesting-looking as Liu Huan, LOL. Even if he’s not particularly good-looking, he’s got that certain body mold (tall and fit).
And I thought Chen Chusheng and Ji Jie were good-looking enough, and Yao Zheng grew on me. =\ I guess it prolly has something to do with my difficulty in finding anyone particularly more attractive than anyone else, haha.
It’s more about the figure than their faces, IMO. The stars I’ve seen in the newest wave seem to conform to a certain body mold, and there seem to be few outside of that norm… Most everyone’s faces can be made better with makeup, but you can’t make someone taller (yet). And I haven’t seen many stars that are anything but at most fit; most seem very skinny.
@Neph
Are you kidding? Anson Hu was hideous when I first saw him. Obviously, his image has improved through better dressing, make-up, etc…but I think that without any of those, he’s at the most average-looking.
Chen Chusheng, Ji Jie and Yao Zheng were all fairly average, too.
Even Zhang Jie used to be very average (now he’s good-looking, but far from hot):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU_xl3QlP2Q]
Haha, you must have high standards of beauty, CFensi… I thought everyone looked about the same mold in the way of Super Girls and Super Boys. If Chen Chusheng and Anson Hu are average looking, then your bar is set pretty high… ^^; Or maybe it’s mine that’s set too low.
I’ll have to listen to her album when I get the chance.
Really…? But the winners of the Supergirls/boys…were all, well less attractive than the others.
Of the younger crowd at Han Hong’s release, Anson Hu and Chen Chusheng, neither imo that good looking, were the singers. The good looking one was Guo Jingming, who’s an author.
Li Na > Han Hong *cough*. But I like both, haha.
I definitely agree about the individual women being role models and so forth… at the same time, though, there seems to be a prerequisite to fame for women these days that wasn’t there before the recent burst of development. Of all the young idols that I know, none of them are anything like Han Hong or Liu Huan – that is, talent seems to require physical attractiveness to sell these days, which is a bit distressing to me. It’s quite possible that I just don’t know enough idols, though…
Yes…her love for Tibet is so beautiful…
But has it really regressed from Maoist times? One of the things I love in Chinese entertainment are all the strong female role models, who have such strong opinions on their life and career goals.
There’s so many, and they’re not just the tomboys…they can be beautiful and girly and still strong. Jane Zhang plans each step of her way. Fan Bingbing gets called slut and other names, but she just goes on with her work. Same with Li Yuchun.
Even Gao Yuanyuan, who is very “wen rou” and feminine is so picky about her work. And Yang Mi who is as girly as they come, is such a workaholic.
Good points, cfensi. For all the bad things about Maoism, it did strive for women’s equality. But within recent years, the status of women has seemingly regressed to coveted roles of beauty queens, mistresses, and sexual objects. I hope I’m wrong.
So is Han Hong Tibetan?
Yes…but just look at Li Yuchun. She’s also the most popular pop singer in China today, even without really apparent skills (until she started composing).
And in part, I do think that China underwent a different path than other places in Asia.
Despite all the bad that came out of communism post 1949 to opening up…one of the best things that did occur was that it bucked Confucian ideals of docile and submissive women.
Everyone was equal, dressed in the same unisex grey Mao suits. Women went to work. Everyone was simplistic.
Now, having embraced globalization, hopefully China can pick and choose what they want from Confucian philosophy, which was not perfect. Perhaps regain the emphasis on civility, but none of the age and sex hierarchy that you see in Japan and Korea.
Is Han Hong Tibetan? Her talent is amazing. Even so, given the standard ‘beauty’ requirements of China and Asia, I’m surprised she’s popular where female entertainers are mostly judged by looks.
Hey, I never knew she could play the guitar. (: