Sorry sorry

Because Hangin' with the Huaren in the short period of this blogging project could not cover all of the Chinese Americans who have their careers or part of their careers in Greater China, we will list them here and one day in the near future give them the coverage that they ought to have:

Flora Chan -- Hong Kong actress from Boston

Jeff and Stanley Huang -- Taiwanese performers (L.A. Boyz, Machi) from Los Angeles

Justin Lo -- Cantopop pop singer from New York

Khalil Fong --  Hawaii-born soul singer based in Hong Kong

Joanna Wang -- Taipei-born folk singer raised in Los Angeles

Know any more? Leave a comment, and I'll add your suggestion to the list!

Wilber Pan

QUICK FACTS

• born in West Virginia
• moved to Taiwan when he was 7
• went to Taipei International School and then California State Polytechnic University to study mass communications
• entered a singing contest in 2000 and got attention from Andy Lau's manager
• began his career as a a Taiwan Channel V host and actor
• has of 2009 made a total of 10 albums, the latest being 007 (2009)
  
• did the voice of Po in the Mandarin version of Kung Fu Panda!
• latest dramas are Endless Love (2010) and Pandamen by Jay Chou
• known as Pan Weibo by his Chinese fans

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When he was young, Wilber Pan wanted to be a basketball player. His parents had run a grocery store while they were living in the U.S., then moved back to Taiwan in 1987, where Will started studying bopomofo and Chinese while attending Taipei International School. There, he began to participate in school plays and found that he really enjoyed performing.

Back in the States for college, Will tried out some singing contests but didn't really have any success. One of them, however, was hosted by Sony BMG in Los Angeles, and while he didn't place in the finals, that was where Andy Lau's manager discovered him.

Leehom Wang

QUICK FACTS

• born in Rochester, NY
• parents immigrated to NY from Taiwan
• attended Williams College and Berklee School of Music
• received a recording contract after entering a talent contest in Taiwan while visiting his grandma in 1995
• has since made 13 albums + one Japanese album
• was one of the torchbearers for the Beijing Olymic Games and performed at the closing ceremony
• began his acting career in a Hong Kong action movie and has since worked with Ang Lee and Jackie Chan
• latest projects are his directorial debut Love in Disguise and a new album, The Eighteen Martial Arts

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Leehom is everywhere in Greater China!





Visiting China since 2001, I'd always wondered why this one person was on every bottle of Wahaha mineral water. I just couldn't understand who would want to be Wahaha's human mascot and assumed that he was either a Taiwanese drama heartthrob or a popstar.

It turns out that Wahaha, the hugest Chinese water & beverages company of all time, was looking for a new young singer's face to represent them, and at the time, Leehom already had a solid fanbase in Taiwan and was looking to expand his audience to Mainland China.

Ang Lee

QUICK FACTS

• born in Taiwan
• lives in New York
• graduated from the National Taiwan University of Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and New York University
• nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
• received Academy Award for Best Director for Brokeback Mountain (2005) along with seven other nominations
• has also won awards at the Berlin Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, British Academy Film Awards, among others
• latest films are Lust, Caution (2007), Taking Woodstock (2009), and Life of Pi (2012)
  

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Ang Lee was born in 1954 to parents who had come to Taiwan after the Communist victory in the Mainland. His father wanted him to become a professor, but Ang failed the the University Entrance Examination and later studied at an arts university in Taiwan. In 1979 he went to the US to study theatre at UIUC and did his MFA at NYU.

Van Ness Wu

QUICK FACTS

• born in Santa Monica, California
• starred in Meteor Garden (2001) and was a member of F4
• dramas include Peach Girl (2002) and Autumn Concerto (2009)
• has made 6 albums including V.Dubb (2007), and the latest, Reflections (2010)
• did a collaborative album with Korean star Kangta, Scandal (2006)
• has been an entrepreneur with clothing, shoes, a record company, and a nightclub
• is also a producer and director
• featured in the documentary 1040 (2010) about Christianity in Asia

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Van Ness grew up in Los Angeles. He had a job as a telemarketer before he decided to go to Taipei "with a pocket full of dreams" and was chosen to be in the original mega-hit drama Meteor Garden, playing Mei Zuo, one of the boys of the "Flower Four" or F4. And so his acting-singing career began. F4 turned into a super boyband that had hundreds of millions of girls totally in love across East Asia.




Now, he is a solo artist who dedicates his life to God.