The first round-up of songs, made when it was called coronavirus, here.
Please stay safe wherever you are! Remember to wash your hands and don’t use them to touch your eyes, nose, and mouth.
I Know 我知道 – Andy Lau
These heartfelt lyrics by Andy Lau are inspired by that of “For whom“, a song about efforts to contain the 1998 Wuhan floods –
“I don’t know who you are, but I know for whom you fight for.”
Fan Bingbing tops the Forbes China Celebrity List for the second year in a row, which means I get to reuse the same photo as last year.
Riding on her foray into Hollywood, actress Fan Bingbing has retained her top-ranking position on the Forbes China Celebrity List. The list, which ranks the top 100 Chinese celebrities based on media exposure and income, sees more Mainland stars this year than ever before, with 60 (or so) of the listees basing their careers in Mainland China. Aside from a handful of actors, however, the biggest A-listers were overwhelming from Hong Kong or Taiwan, with 14 of the top 20 hailing from either of the two islands.
According to Forbes, Fan raked in nearly $20 million last year, putting her on par with Jennifer Aniston and Kanye West. The celebrity with the deepest pockets, Jay Chou, banked $25 million, around the same as Ben Affleck or Buffy creator and Avengers director Joss Whedon.
Despite the success of China’s biggest stars (this year’s top 10 took home $20 million more than last year’s), the overall earnings of the Celebrity 100 decreased for a second consecutive year, accumulating $65 million less wealth than the year before. However, the celebrities still managed to bring home more than half a billion dollars between them.
Actors and actresses made up the bulk of the list, accounting for 72 of the celebrities. It is common for celebrities to both sing and act in the Chinese entertainment industry, however, and several were identified as both.
Of the 29 singers and musical groups on the list, only six were from Mainland China. Of those six, five were involved in reality television singing competitions, with the exception of Hong Kong-launched Faye Wong.
Mainland Pianists Lang Lang and Li Yundi maintained their presence on the list, with Li (ranked 56) overtaking Lang Lang (57) for the first time.
New entrants to the list include Tiny Times author Guo Jingming who debuted at 27, model Zhang Liang of Where Are We Going, Dad? fame, and I Am A Singer runner-up G.E.M and Taiwanese actor Kai Ko just sneaking onto the list at 91 and 97 respectively.
Meanwhile, notable dropouts include Taiwanese film director Ang Lee (previously ranked 29), Hong Kong funnyman Stephen Chow (24), Jet Li (41), Nobel laureate Mo Yan (16), Olympic gold medalist Sun Yang (31), former Super Junior member Han Geng (87), and Super Girls Chris Li (15) and Jane Zhang (45).
| Rank | Name | Income (million RMB) | Income (million USD) | Income rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fan Bingbing | 范冰冰 | 122 | 19.5 | 4 |
| 2 | Andy Lau | 刘德华 | 89 | 14.2 | 5 |
| 3 | Jay Chou | 周杰伦 | 156.5 | 25.0 | 1 |
| 4 | Huang Xiaoming | 黄晓明 | 66.5 | 10.6 | 10 |
| 5 | Zhang Ziyi | 章子怡 | 56 | 9.0 | 14 |
| 6 | Yang Mi | 杨幂 | 52 | 8.3 | 18 |
| 7 | Lin Chi-ling | 林志玲 | 60 | 9.6 | 13 |
| 8 | Li Na | 李娜 | 141.5 | 22.6 | 2 |
| 9 | Nicky Wu | 吴奇隆 | 67 | 10.7 | 9 |
| 10 | Jackie Chan | 成龙 | 54 | 8.6 | 17 |
Forbes China has ranked celebrities from the Greater China region in its 10th annual star power list. The list is aggregated by the magazine based on factors such as print and digital media exposure and income.
Apparently not one to highlight gender differences, the Associated Press calls her a “local heartthrob.” Actress Fan Bingbing jumps two places from 2012 to take the crown as China’s top celebrity from Jay Chou, this year’s runner-up, according to Forbes China. This is the first time since Yao Ming‘s six-year streak, from 2004-2009, that a Mainland Chinese celebrity has topped the list. The top 100 combined suffered an 11% paycut this year, earning ¥482,600,600 less than the previous year. Nevertheless, the stars still took home more than ¥3.8 billion, or around US$613 million. Donnie Yen is this year’s highest earning celebrity, adding ¥115 million to his pockets.
The list further fuels celebrity tabloid rivalries as Fan Bingbing’s (1) red carpet attention and upcoming Hollywood roles outshine Zhang Ziyi (5) as Western media’s Chinese actress of choice. Fellow Bingbing, Li, drops from 20 to 26.
Jay Chou (2) again beats out Wang Leehom (12), despite Wang’s currently ongoing, successful world tour. And Li Yundi (55) plays second fiddle to fellow classical pianist Lang Lang (51). Meanwhile, Super Girl Chris Li (15) outperforms Jane Zhang (45) undeterred by Zhang’s bigger bank account.
Similarly, Jet Li (41) lined his pockets more than higher-ranked kung fu superstar Jackie Chan (4).
Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, the go-to face in Asia for men’s luxury goods, drops off the list after a slow descent over previous years. His touted successor, Godfrey Gao, is also absent from the list.
Author Mo Yan (16) storms onto the list for the first time, thanks to his Nobel Prize in literature (and accompanying $1.2 million in prize money). And Yang Mi (7) cements herself as one of China’s tops actresses, jumping from 13th place last year, and 92nd the in 2011.
| Rank | Name | Income (million RMB) | Income (million USD) | Income rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fan Bingbing | 范冰冰 | 110 | 17.6 | 2 |
| 2 | Jay Chou | 周杰伦 | 104.2 | 16.7 | 3 |
| 3 | Andy Lau | 刘德华 | 47 | 7.5 | 21 |
| 4 | Jackie Chan | 成龙 | 66 | 10.6 | 13 |
| 5 | Zhang Ziyi | 章子怡 | 59.5 | 9.5 | 16 |
| 6 | Eason Chan | 陈奕迅 | 70.1 | 11.2 | 12 |
| 7 | Yang Mi | 杨幂 | 43.7 | 7.0 | 28 |
| 8 | Huang Xiaoming | 黄晓明 | 75.9 | 12.1 | 9 |
| 9 | Jolin Tsai | 蔡依林 | 110.2 | 17.6 | 4 |
| 10 | Lin Chi-ling | 林志玲 | 49 | 7.8 | 20 |
Why is it that everyone’s mother loves Sun Honglei? The man’s not ancient and his charm transcends the generations. Despite his being typecast as a villain for much his career, it was the subtle humor that he seamlessly injected into those roles that made me a fan. It remains to be seen if he can do it for a full movie, such as with the upcoming romantic comedy, My Fair Gentleman (Previously called Dirt Rich in Shanghai). It has a Pygmalion-like plot where he plays the Eliza Doolittle to Kelly Lin‘s Higgins. I’ve grown to really like Kelly Lin and I think she’d play really well off of Sun Honglei, so I’ve been looking forward to this movie. However, the script really has to be much better than what’s been revealed in the trailer.
Crowd Lu = Adorable
So I was going to put up the nominations the day before the ceremony to refresh everyone’s memory before the awards were announced, but then I forgot myself because I’ve been busy. But I’m still not too late to put up the winners list, so check it out and see if you agree or not.
In one year, Tang Yan shot from the abyss of unknown to having lead roles opposite Jackie Chan, Hu Ge, Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng and now Jay Chou.
The newcomer from Chengtian , along with Jessie Chiang, will be the female lead of “Panda men.” Filming began in Xiamen yesterday in the most covered school of the year – Xiamen University, where Meteor Shower is also filming. The crew will also be filming in Shanghai and Taipei. Continue reading
How can anyone not love pandas? With the earthquake in Sichuan last year and the sending of two pandas to Taiwan, pandas again rose to the spotlight. A salut to all the panda tributes, including those from Jay Chou, Disney, Yang Lei and Huang Xiaoming, coming out recently.
Jay Chou held the press conference for a drama series tentatively named “Panda Men” on the 16th. Jay says that he “loves watching Super Hero movies, but Chinese people don’t have a modern day hero. All Chinese heroes are from the ancient times, so I want to do something that no one else has yet done.” Jay says he came up with the idea long before Kungfu Panda, but never had the time to do it.
Continue reading
CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala has become one of the symbols of the Lunar New Year in China and one of the most extravagant shows that CCTV puts on every year. Jay Chou’s performance was probably the most anticipated event of the night. It consisted of three generations of singers – folk singer Song Zuying, Jay and 9-year-old genius Hou Gaojunjie- singing a blend of Song Zuying’s “Spicy Girls” and Jay’s “Herbalist Manual.” Apparently, singing with Song Zuying has been a dream of Jay.
Update: Jay also said that he has already invited Song Zuying to sing in a duet with him. He says he wants to compose a duet just for her.
Herbalist Manual and Give you a Eastern jasmine
Chen Chusheng's self-composed "Has anyone told you" was downloaded 16,564,460 times through China Mobile last year. That's 12 million downloads more than its runner-up, Jay Chou's "Rainbow,"more than one third of all of Jay Chou's downloads (36 million) and more than all SHE songs combined(14 million).
Although you can hear Chen Chusheng’s voice on at least 16 million cellphones in China, you won’t hear it on Chen Chusheng’s own cellphone, which has been turned off since the night he disappeared on New Year’s Eve.
In the midst of good news for him, including winning the award for the most popular ringtone song, coming out with his new single, and and being praised by Han Hong as the one young artist she liked, Chen Chusheng disappeared during the rehearsals right before Hunan TV’s New Year Concert. He told his assistant he was going to the bathroom, and was never seen again. EE Media says that they have contacted his friends and family, but no one reported knowing where he is.
Has anyone told you, music and lyrics by Chen Chusheng
Xue Zhiqian is the first person to be nominated for all six of the major awards given by the Chinese Pop Music Ceremony in one year, including “best original composer,” “best album,” “best male singer,” “most popular singer,” “best album producer,” and “Golden song of the year” for both “Legend” and “Deeply in love with you,” which you can read about here and here.
Legend/Chuan Shuo, music and lyrics by Xue Zhiqian:
Cfensi’s comment: I love that part@3:22!