Han Geng (traditional Chinese: 韓庚; simplified Chinese:韩庚; pinyin: Hán Gēng) was born on 9 February 1984. He is a Mainland Chinese Mandopop artist and actor well known for his powerful dance skills. He is skillful in all China's 56 ethnic traditional dances, as well as ballet and hip-hop dance. He has been dubbed "Dancing King" and "King of Popularity" in China. He started his career, in 2001, when he was chosen by SM Entertainment (SME) to become a member of South Korean boy band Super Junior, which debuted in 2005, and as the leader of its sub-group Super Junior-M in 2008.
On 21 December 2009, Han filed a lawsuit against SME to terminate his contract as he felt that the 13-year contract was unlawful and overly restrictive; and has since returned to China to pursue a solo career. On 21 December 2010 the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Han, however a representative of SM Entertainment said that they will file an immediate appeal to reverse the decision SM Entertainment have yet to release statements regarding his official status with them.
For his various contributions to the spread of Chinese culture, Han was chosen as a torch bearer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming the first boy band member in history to hold this role.
Early life
Han Geng, of ethnic Nanai descent from Northeast China, was born in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, China. He attended Guang Hua Elementary School from 1990 to 1996.
Han Geng started to learn dancing since he was young. By the age of 12, he was accepted into the dance department of the Central University for Nationalities. He left his family and his hometown in the Northeastern part of China to attend dance school in Beijing. During his years in the school, he mastered all 56 types of Chinese traditional dances from the 56 Chinese ethnic groups.
At Central University for Nationalities
At the age of 12, he was accepted into Central University for Nationalities and left Mudanjiang for Beijing to pursue dancing. During that time he also learned ballet and martial arts and performed in many countries including the United States, Russia, Taiwan, and Macau.
In 1999, as a representative of the Nanai ethnic group, he participated in the parade in honor of China's 50 year anniversary.
Career
Korea and Super Junior
See also: Super Junior's musical career
In December 2001, South Korea's biggest Entertainment Agency, SM Entertainment, went to China to hold an audition in Beijing with hopes of finding new talents in the country. The audition was calledH.O.T. CHINA Audition Casting. Han Geng, who was preparing for his graduation performance at theCentral University for Nationalities, immediately caught the attention of the agency's talent scouts and was invited to participate in the audition, but he wasn't very interested as he never heard of the company before. One of his friends, however, was very interested and persuaded Han Geng in accompanying him to the audition. Although hesitant at first, Han agreed to audition with his friend. The competition rate was 3,000 to 1, and Han had no hopes of getting selected after auditions ended.
After the audition, Han began to work briefly as a cameo actor in short low-budget Chinese films and performing in local events across the country to earn a salary before entering college. In late August 2002, Han was notified that he had been selected by SM Entertainment. After Han's graduation from the Central University for Nationalities, he was sent to South Korea in March 2003 and received private lessons in singing, dancing, acting, and Korean language. By mid 2003, Han had moved into dormitories and lived with other trainees who were under the same label and started to receive intense hip hop and street dance training. He started out as a Class C dancer (the lowest class for dancing), as he had zero knowledge in hip hop dance at the time, but in the short period of six months, he went straight to Class A, skipping Class B. At that time, there were only 3 people in Class A - Han Geng, Donghae, and Eunhyuk.
On February 6, 2005, Han was officially announced to be part of one of South Korea's all-boy rotational musical groups, Super Junior, as a member of its first generation, Super Junior 05. Being the first group with a Chinese and foreign member to formally debut in South Korea, the media closely followed the group. Three months later after the announcement, Han made his first media appearance as arunway model along with fellow group member Choi Siwon in a fashion show organized by Bum Suk. The two members are extremely good friends, and have even considered themselves "sworn brothers."
Han was one of the few members of Super Junior who actively appeared on variety shows, such as being a regular guest in Love Letter and Star Golden Bell. Being active in variety shows, his popularity within Super Junior grew and Han became popular overseas. Aside from South Korea, Han also became well known in China, where he made guest appearances in different Chinese variety shows, being one of the first K-pop idols to appear in them. Han became a national celebrity in China with the debut of Super Junior's third subgroup Super Junior-M on April 8, 2008 in China, with Han Geng as the leader of the group. The subgroup released their first Chinese-language studio album, Me, on May 2, 2008. The album debuted on Taiwan's G-music combo charts as #2 and #1 on many of China's and Thailand's music charts. Leading his fellow Korean members to develop in his home country, his popularity immediately soared in China. His overwhelming popularity set him apart from the rest of the group, catching the media's attention and making him become in high demand by numerous TV shows, commercials and movies. However, his agency did not allow him to take part in such activities without the rest of the group, restricting his solo appearances.
Han Geng ceased activities with Super Junior after filing for contract termination from SM Entertainment on December 21, 2009.
Acting
Han made a cameo appearance with band-mate Eunhyuk as a friend of Heechul in an episode of theMBC drama Rainbow Romance early 2006. In August 2006, Han played the role of a police officer inZhang Liyin's debut music video "Timeless", starring alongside Lee Yeon-hee and bandmate Siwon. The two-part music video was released separately in September 2006. The music video was ranked #1 for four weeks on Melon's Video Chart. In November 2007, Han starred as the lead role in Zhang's debut Chinese music video, "I Will", and "The Left Shore of Happiness" alongside Lee and Siwon. Both music videos were released in February 2008.
Han's first big-scale film was Attack on the Pin-Up Boys, an SM Pictures production that starred all Super Junior members except Kyuhyun. He made a cameo as a popular basketball player who later got attacked by a mysterious force. Despite positive critical ratings, that film did not do well in the box-office. However, all four versions of the film's DVD were sold out and broke chart records.
In late 2008, Han filmed the CCTV mini drama called Stage of Youth in China. In the mini drama, he played Xia Lei, a young man who has to go through numerous obstacles and challenges in order to achieve his dream to become the new generation's dancing star. The 12 episode drama was a Chinese New Year Special and also a tribute to the Beijing Olympics 2008. It aired on CCTV-Children (少儿频道) from January 19–31, 2009.
In the middle of 2010, Han Geng was given a cameo role as Deng Xiaoping in the government funded film The Founding of a Party (建党伟业) along with many other A-list Chinese celebrities. The movie premiered in China on June 15, 2011.
Han Geng was cast alongside Barbie Hsu and Fahrenheit's Wu Chun for the Sino-Hollywood collaboration action movie My Kingdom (2011) (大武生). The film is directed by Gao Xiaosong, produced by Andre Morgan and features action directing by Sammo Hung. Filming began in October 2010, although the actors trained in martial arts and Beijing opera for three months before this. The filming wrapped up in late January 2011, and the movie will have an release date of September 9th, 2011. The production team has stated that the film will be released theatrically in the United Statesand around the world.
In mid-2011 Han Geng was cast in the film Founding Father Sun Yat-sen (国父孙中山) as Hu Han Min, the secretary of Sun Yat-sen. He started filming on June 14, 2011, and the film is due to premiere in October.
2008 Beijing Olympics torch bearer
On March 20, 2008, Han was announced to be one of the torch bearers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the first boyband member to be chosen in history. Being active in a foreign country, Han had constantly promoted Chinese culture in Korea, earning him a spot as torch bearer. His torch relay was in the Beijing route on August 7, 2008. He was runner number 240. Besides being a torch bearer, he also sung in the Beijing Olympic theme song "Beijing Welcomes You" (北京欢迎你).
Charity Work
Han Geng is extremely active in many charities and constantly tells his fans that instead of buying gifts for him, they should use their resources to help those in need. Han Geng is most noted for donating most of his 2008 income to the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. He also donated 100,000RMB to the 2010 Yunnan Drought. In 2010, Han Geng became a spokesperson for "I Want To Go To School Kappa 1200 Help the School Children Project," a charity designed to help underprivileged Chinese children go to school. While most celebrities that participated sponsored one child through the program, Han Geng chose to sponsor ten, and Han Geng's fans, known as Gengfans (庚饭, lit. "Geng Rice"), sponsored another 124. Han Geng also recorded a song with Olivia Ong to promote the charity. In 2011, Han Geng recorded a charity song "孩子 (Children)" with various artists in order to promote child-trafficking awareness. Also in 2011, Han Geng became a spokesperson for the "Sunflower Project" which aims to provide electricity to students in rural China so that they can complete their studies.
In response to Han Geng's request, Gengfans are also extremely active in charities and often gather together to go to poor regions in China to help kids and families in need in Han Geng's name. They call this project "Let Love Fly". Such charities have become a tradition among Gengfans, especially during Han Geng's birthday every year.
Solo career
On June 22, 2010, Han Geng officially announced his solo career at a press conference held at TheGreat Wall Of China, revealing the release of his first solo album titled Geng Xin 庚心, which hit stores throughout Asia on July 27. The name of the album literally means "Geng's heart", but it is also a play on words because it has the same pronunciation as "start anew" in Chinese. There is also a third meaning to it: the character Geng 庚 in his name comes from the evening star Hesperus/Venus (长庚星, Chang Geng Xin), which is what he's named after. So his album’s title can also mean "Evening Star" or "Geng's star", since Xing 星 (star) and Xin 心 (heart) have similar pronunciation in Chinese.There are two versions of the album depending on the locations of where it was released. In Mainland China the albums came with the titles of the songs and the song lyrics written in simplified Chinese characters while in Hong Kong and Taiwan and oversea Chinese communities they are all written in traditional Chinese characters.
On July 6, Han Geng published a complete demo version of his album's title song "My Logo". The song was produced by American producers, Craig Williams and Rene Van Verseveld. Remarkably, Han Geng and Craig Williams invited Travis Payne and Stacey Walker (best known as Michael Jackson's choreographers) along with Michael Jackson's This Is It dancers - Dres Reid, Shannon Holtzapffel, Tyne Stecklein, and Daniel Celebre to join the choreography for the MV of this song. The lead track "My Logo" is listed at number 26 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart(Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2010.
Han Geng also held his first two solo concerts in Beijing on July 17 and 18. Tickets for the 2 concert days were sold out in a record time of 37 minutes. His first solo album has topped various major music charts in China, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. It has sold more than 350,000 copies within only 2 months after its release, and to celebrate such remarkable results, a special celebratory version of the album was released on October 1 with a limited number of 20,000 copies. In addition of the 10 songs in the album, the special version contains 7 MVs and a karaoke disc. As of December 2010, the album has sold more than 530,000 copies. The DVD for his Beijing concerts was released on 20 May 2010, and quickly took the number 1 position on various online retail charts.
Han Geng quickly became one of the most marketable young idols in the Mandopop scene, and since the start of his solo career has received over 20 awards. He has also picked up several major endorsements, most notably with Meng Niu Yogurt, Yishion clothing store, Nokia, online store Lumei, and the video game Tian Xia 2, which features a character in his likeness. Due to his overwhelming popularity, Han Geng was invited to perform in the 2011 CCTV Spring Festival, where he sang the opening and performed a short dance.
He also already announced a second album, to feature rock music elements, and an Asia-wide tour expected in the later half of 2011.
Gengfans and Wings Of Love
Gengfan (庚饭) is the official name of Han Geng's fans. The name was created by his Chinese fans and it literally means "Geng Rice". The name is a play on words which contains various meanings. One of them is the fact that the word for rice in Chinese sounds like the English word "fan". The other meaning is that because Han Geng is known to love eating, they call themselves his "rice" so they can be his main source of energy. The third meaning is that the word Gengfan when abbreviated, becomes GF, which is also the abbreviation of the word "girlfriend" in English. There are also many sub-classifications of Gengfans such as Sister Fans (Gengfans who are older than him), Geng Knights (male Gengfans), Mother Fans (Gengfans who are mothers), etc. Gengfans generally use the colors yellow and black to represent themselves. They are known for their strong and unconditional support as well as for their massive numbers. They're also known to be very active in charities ever since Han Geng asked them to not give him gifts but use the money to help those in need instead.
On Han Geng's 23rd birthday in February 2007, they created a song called Wings of Love as a gift for him. The lyrics, arrangement, singing and music video were all done by his fans as an encouragement for him to continue pursuing his dreams. The lyrics of the song are extremely touching and became a type of anthem for Gengfans all around the world; thus, they call themselves his wings of love. As a gesture of gratitude, Han Geng has recorded his own version of the song in his first solo album, changing the lyrics slightly to sing it back to his fans.
Controversies
Performance restrictions
Before his debut, Han entered Korea with a vacation visa and had to return to China every three months for a new one. After debuting in 2005, his company obtained an E-6 (Entertainment Industry) passport, allowing him to stay for longer periods. However, a Chinese passport strictly limited his promotional activities and appearances in various broadcasting corporations in Korea. By law, a Chinese passport holder is only allowed to perform on three television stations. Han was allowed to perform on KBS and SBS, as stated by Lee Soo Man during a Harvard Korean Wave conference in early 2007. Fellow labelmate, Zhang Liyin, also experienced the same issue. Initially, the company did not know of the procedures and was fined because of it. Before Han signed contracts with KBS and SBS, he performed on stage with a mask and a hat to hide his face on screen. Many thought Han was a backup dancer until three months later when his bandmate Heechul finally revealed him to the media by publicly taking off his mask.
Despite visa restrictions, Han performed with the rest of Super Junior at the 2007 M.NET/KM Music Festival and the 2007 Golden Disk Awards. Both award ceremonies aired on channels that Han was restricted to perform on.
Lawsuit
On December 21, 2009, Han Geng filed for contract termination from his former company SM Entertainment. The following day, December 22, 2009, Han Geng's lawyer released the reasons for the contract termination: the contract had provisions in SM Entertainment's favor, the 13-year contract length was unlawful, it would take an unfair sum of money to end the contract, he was not allowed to request to revise his contract, he was forced to do things that were not in his contract, he was forced to do things against his will, he was fined if he disobeyed the company, missed any events or was late, and there was unfair profit distribution. Along with this, it was disclosed that because of SM Entertainment's refusal to give him a day off in over two years, he had developed gastritis and kidney disease.
Han Geng's current manager, Sun Le, also submitted a statement to the Korean courts citing SM Entertainment's violation of Han Geng's rights. This statement was later leaked to the public via the internet. Though many suspected the statement to be fan created, it was later confirmed as legitimate. Sun Le's statement contended that Han Geng was forced to wear a mask due to SM Entertainment's ill handling of the visa issue, SM Entertainment purposely discriminated against Han Geng and his family, SM Entertainment refused to cooperate or listen to any of Han Geng's suggestions, SM Entertainment purposely turned down individual activities for Han Geng (includingAriel Lin's "Fireflies" music video, which later starred two other Super Junior members) and SM Entertainment treated Han Geng's potential endorsers poorly.
On 21 December 2010 the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Han. However a representative of SM Entertainment said that they will file an immediate appeal to reverse the decision. On September 25, 2011, the Seoul Courts announced that they had received a request from Han Geng 's attorney to retract his claim made against SM Entertainment on the 21st.
As of September 27, 2011, Han Geng and SM Entertainment have officially come to a mutual agreement regarding Han Geng's contract, closing the case. Representatives from both parties released statements, saying, “Hangeng and SM have amicably settled on a mutual agreement, and the lawsuit was able to come to a close after Hangeng submitted his ‘Notice of Withdrawal of Appeal’. For the time being, Hangeng will continue to be active in China, and plans regarding his activities in Korea have not yet been decided. Please understand that according to the settlement, we cannot release any more details about the case." Han Geng will continue his exclusive contract with SM Entertainment, but it is currently unknown if he will return as an active member of Super Junior.
Discography
Albums
| Album Information | Tracklisting (Simplified Chinese/Traditional Chinese) |
|---|---|
| Geng Xin (庚心)
|
Filmography
Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonstop (TV) | 2006 | Himself | Season 6, episode 136 |
| Attack on the Pin-Up Boys | 2007 | Hankyung | limited release in South Korea |
| Stage of Youth (TV) | 2009 | Xia Lei | 12 episodes |
| My Kingdom | 2011 | Meng Er Kui | Release date: September 09, 2011 |
| The Founding of a Party/Beginning of the Great Revival | 2011 | Deng Xiao Ping | cameo |
| Founding Father Sun Yat-Sen | 2011 | Hu Han Min | Post-production |
Music video appearances
- 2006: "Timeless" – Zhang Liyin (Feat. Xiah of TVXQ)
- 2008: "I WILL" – Zhang Liyin
- 2008: "The Left Shore of Happiness" – Zhang Liyin
- 2008: "Beijing Welcomes You" – Various artists (100-day countdown for 2008 Beijing Olympics)
- 2010: "亚运有我精彩之吉" with Zhou Bichang for the 2010 Asian Games
- 2010: "我是火焰" for the 2010 Asian Games
- 2010: "不能忘卻的紀念" with Tan Jing
- 2010: "大手小手" with Olivia Ong
- 2011: "孩子 (Children)" - various artists
Awards and nominations
- 2007 Entertainment Awards
- Won Most Stylish Male Artist
- 2010 Meng Niu Music Billboard Awards
- Won Most Promising Newcomer
- 2010 Future Star Kids Choice Awards
- Won Favorite Male Singer
- 2010 CCTV-MTV Music Awards
- Won Mainland Most Popular Male Singer
- 2010 Meng Niu Newcomer Awards
- Won Best Newcomer
- 2010 Tencent Star Awards
- Won Male Singer of the Year
- 2010 China Power Fashion Awards
- Won Most Talented Male Singer of the Year
- 2010 Baidu Entertainment Hottest Awards
- Won Golden Song of the Year – My Logo
- 2010 Sina Network Awards
- Won Male Singer of the Year
- 2010 Sprite Chinese Music Awards
- Won Best Male Singer of the Year, Favorite Idol of the Year, Golden Melody of the Year: Heartache Notebook
- 2011 Hua Ding PASSAT Awards
- Won Most Anticipated Mainland Chinese Actor
- 2011 Eastern Billboard Annual Awards
- Won All-Round Entertainer of the Year, Golden Song of the Year: My Logo
- 2011 1st Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards
- Won Most Popular Newcomer, Singapore 100.3 Radio Most Dedicated Song: My Logo, Top 20 Golden Songs: Say No
- 2011 Meng Niu Music Billboard Awards
- Won Most Popular Male Singer of the Year
- 2011 Channel [V] Music Awards
- Won Mainland Most Popular Male Singer
- 2011 Music Radio China Top Chart Awards
- Won Most Popular Newcomer, Best Mainland All-Round Artist, Top 15 Golden Songs of the Year – Say No
- 2011 L'OFFICIEL HOMMES Fashion Star Award Ceremony
- Won Music Scene New Power
- 2011 China Mobile 5th Wireless Music Ceremony
- Won Artist of the Year, Most Popular Singer Search Term
- 2011 LUX Fashion Power Awards
- Won Asian Idol of the Year
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