Look up wang in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wang may refer to:

Names:

• Wang (surname), a common Chinese surname
• Titles in Chinese nobility
• A title in Korean nobility
• A title in Mongolian nobility

Places:

• Wang River in Thailand
• Wang Township, Minnesota, a township in the United States
• Wang, Bavaria, a town in the district of Freising, Bavaria, Germany
• Wang, Austria, a town in the district of Scheibbs in Lower Austria
• An abbreviation for the town of Wangaratta, Australia

Other:

• Wang (Tibetan Buddhism), a form of empowerment or initiation
• Wang (musical), an 1891 New York musical
• Wang Film Productions
• Wang Laboratories, an American computer company
• WANG, a radio station licensed to Havelock, North Carolina
• WLVG, a radio station licensed to Havelock, North Carolina formerly known as WANG-FM

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Wang"
• Huang
• Wong (disambiguation)
• Wang Chung (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Yuja Wang (王羽佳)
Yuja Wang at Stadtcasino, Basel, on 19th March 2012.
Born	(1987-02-10) February 10, 1987 (age 25) Beijing, China
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, 2008
Occupation	Pianist

Yuja Wang (Chinese: 王羽佳; pinyin: Wáng Yǔjiā;^[1] born February 10, 1987^[2]) is a Chinese classical pianist. She was born in Beijing, began studying piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.^[3]

Early life[link]

Wang comes from a musical family. She entered Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music at age seven and studied there for three years. At age 11, Wang was accepted as the youngest student in the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. ^[4]. After several summers of participating in the program, Wang moved to Canada at age 14 to continue her studies at the Mount Royal University Conservatory.^[5]

Career[link]

In 1998, Wang won 3rd Prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, in Ettlingen, Germany. In 2001, she won Third Prize and Special Jury Prize (awarded to an especially superior finalist of less than 20 years in age, prize money of 500,000 Japanese Yen) in the Piano Section at the First Sendai International Music Competition in Sendai, Japan.^[6]

In 2003 Wang made her European debut with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Switzerland, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 under the baton of David Zinman. She made her North American debut in Ottawa in the 2005–06 season replacing Radu Lupu performing the Beethoven concerto with Pinchas Zukerman conducting.

On September 11, 2005, Wang was named a 2006 biennial Gilmore Young Artist award winner, given to the most promising pianists age 21 and younger. As part of the award, she received $15,000, appeared at Gilmore Festival concerts, and had a new piano work commissioned for her.^[7]

Starting at age 15, she studied for five years with Gary Graffman, who was also Lang Lang's teacher, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in May 2008. She is increasing the number of concerts she is playing, and has "developed a novel reputation" of replacing sick pianists, yet going on "to deliver a knockout performance."^[3][8]

In 2006–2007, she performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in the Netherlands, the China Philharmonic in Beijing and the Guangzhou Symphony and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

In March 2007, Wang replaced the legendary pianist Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston.^[8] Argerich had cancelled her appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on four subscription concerts from March 8 to March 13.^[8] Wang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Charles Dutoit conducting, receiving highly favorable reviews.^[3]

On March 14, 2007, Wang was featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program.^[9]

Wang played twice in Albuquerque in summer 2007,^[10] and three concerts in Kansas City with its Symphony in November 2007.^[11]

On January 21, 2008, She played at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan and, to standing ovations, returned to the stage repeatedly for a triple encore that included Gluck's Mélodie from Orfeo (Wang's transcription, after Giovanni Sgambati), Turkish March by Mozart (Volodos's transcription), and Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee (Cziffra's virtuosic arrangement).

On April 2, 2008, Wang played with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Boston Symphony Hall, on a concert originally scheduled to be conducted from the keyboard by Murray Perahia and she performed in the 2008 Verbier Festival to great acclaim.

2008 residency at SPAC[link]

In the summer of 2008, Wang played two performances at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), for which she was introduced by SPAC President Marcia White.^[12][13] Wang was called a "new pianist star", "a phenom", "a whiz", and "a sensation" after her concerto concerts at SPAC in August 2008.^{[3][14][15][16]}

In her first concert, with the Saratoga Chamber Orchestra, Wang "performed Liszt’s prodigiously difficult" Sonata in B minor.^[15][16] A reviewer said that:

It’s a very long work that goes for almost 50 minutes [actually 30 minutes] of constant playing. Like much of Liszt’s music, this one ebbed and flowed from great dramatic moments to quiet ephemeral sections filled with a romantically ethereal melody. It took a page or so of music before Wang was completely involved emotionally, but once she was—wozzah. She has technique to burn. Her octave runs at lightning speed were incredible. The volume and big sound she got out of the piano, which in the big chordal passages sounded like giant footsteps, contrasted sharply with the lacy streams of notes. Her delicate stroking of the melody was like angels singing. Now and then, she’d lift off the piano stool in her intensity. Yet with all her passion, Wang was always in control. Her concentration was focused. She was unhesitating in pacing herself in accordance with the work’s demands. Her vision was a dramatic one. It was great stuff and the crowd loved it. Wang got a standing ovation and several curtain calls.

—Geraldine Freedman, in The Daily Gazette^[15]

Another reviewer wrote that:

Some say this music shows the different facets of the composer's personality, and Wang exposed the most gentle, languorous aspects of the piece every bit as perfectly as the hard-edged, pounding furor. Just 21, hair blunt-cut to hide her face in profile at the piano, Wang is a quiet, unaffected presence as she plays, utterly without body language except when the force of her arms on the keys lifts her slight frame from the bench. This young pianist is a technical whiz who makes every note speak for itself.

—Judith White, in The Saratogian^[16]

She also played Brahms' Horn Trio with the Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster, David Kim, and Philadelphia's principal horn, Jennifer Montone, in which "Wang showed herself entirely capable of playing in ensemble."^[16]

For her second concert, she performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 at SPAC to spectacular reviews, in which it was noted that she "is probably not much older than Prokofiev when he wrote the work."^[14] One reviewer wrote:

Wang used punchy, dry articulated fingerwork and strongly accented the pulses, which only added to the flavor. In the inner slow movement with its plaintive melody, Wang stroked the keys tenderly and gave the lovely melody good lift. The orchestra under Charles Dutoit was solidly enthusiastic. The crowd went wild with whistles and cheers and gave her a standing ovation and several curtain calls. Wang was a real-life star....

—Geraldine Freedman, in The Daily Gazette^[14]

Recording contract[link]

In January 2009, Wang signed an exclusive recording contract for five discs with Deutsche Grammophon.^[17] In March, she made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. On April 15, 2009 Wang performed at the Youtube Symphony Orchestra event held in New York at Carnegie Hall. In May, she performed Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto number 2 with the San Francisco Symphony.^[18] In August, she played his third Piano Concerto under Claudio Abbado in the Opening Concert of the Lucerne Festival, with live broadcast and telecast in the Swiss first national programm SF 1.^[19] In June/July, she appeared, like the year before, at the Verbier Festival, and in November, she had her first solo concert in Zurich at the prestiguous Tonhalle Zurich (her second visit after her famous European debut here in 2003, see above), with a program featuring Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Wang currently lives in New York City, but travels most of the time playing concerts around the world.

Discography[link]

Wang has released four CDs with Deutsche Grammophon: Sonatas & Etudes in 2009; Transformation in 2010; Rachmaninov in 2011;^[21] and Fantasia in March 2012.^[22]

In addition, EuroArts has released a DVD on which she performs Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, with Abbado conducting.^[23]

Although there are reports that Wang released a debut CD in 1995,^[24][25][26] there is little information available about it.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Yuja Wang at Allmusic
• Profile of Yuja Wang on Opus3 Artists site

Leehom Wang
Leehom Wang at the 2011 Harbin Film Festival with the award for Best New Director
Chinese name	王力宏
Pinyin	Wáng Lìhóng (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Wong4 Lik6 Wang4 (Cantonese)
Birth name	Alexander[1] Leehom Wang
Ancestry	Yiwu, Zhejiang, China[2]
Origin	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Born	(1976-05-17) May 17, 1976 (age 36) Rochester, New York, USA
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, film director, actor, record producer, music arranger, composer
Genre(s)	Pop, R&B, rap, hip hop, rock, jazz, Broadway
Instrument(s)	Violin, piano, drums, guitar, bass/electric guitar, erhu, vibraphone, harmonica, chinese flutes, guzheng, zhongruan, etc.
Voice type(s)	Tenor
Label(s)	Sony Music Decca (1996–1997) BMG (1995–1996)
Years active	1995–present
Influences	Stevie Wonder, Prince, Alicia Keys, Outkast, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, The Neptunes[3]
Official Website	www.wangleehom.com
Awards Golden Melody Awards Best Mandarin Male Singer 1999 Revolution 2006 Heroes of Earth Best Album Producer 1999 Revolution 2004 Unbelievable MTV Asia Awards Favorite Artist, Taiwan 2006

Leehom Wang (born May 17, 1976) is an American-born singer-songwriter, record producer, actor and film director of Chinese descent based in Taiwan. Formally trained at the Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his musical style is known for fusing Chinese elements (such as Beijing opera, traditional styles of ethnic minorities, Chinese classical orchestra) with hip-hop and R&B. Wang has been active since 1995 and contributed in 25 albums. He is also a four-time winner of Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards, the "Grammys" of Taiwanese music.

In addition to his music, Wang also acted in several films, including Ang Lee's Lust, Caution and Jackie Chan's film Little Big Soldier. He is an environmental activist, and his album Change Me was dedicated to raising eco-awareness among Chinese youth. Wang was one of the first torchbearers for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and performed in the Olympics' closing ceremony in Beijing. He was listed as one of Goldsea's "The 100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time".^[4]

Life and music career[link]

Childhood and early beginnings[link]

Born in Rochester, New York, Wang is the second of three sons of immigrants from Taiwan of waishengren heritage. His father, a pediatrician, and his mother moved to the United States to further their college studies in the early 1960s. Influenced by his older brother, Leo Wang, who had been taking violin lessons since he was seven, Wang began to develop a curious interest towards the violin and its musical counterparts when he was three. He begged his mother to put him in violin lessons with his brother but his mother was against it, reasoning that he was too young. When Wang turned six, his mother enrolled him in violin classes, performing along with his brother.^[3] As he became a teenager, he began taking piano lessons, also teaching himself the guitar. He also worked several jobs to earn money to buy a second hand drum kit.

He attended Jefferson Road Elementary School, Pittsford Middle School, and Pittsford Sutherland High School in Pittsford, New York. He graduated from Pittsford Sutherland. Passionate for a career in music, he chose to attend Williams College double majoring in music and Asian studies.^[4][5] He joined an all-male a cappella group, The Springstreeters, and the group recorded several demo tracks.^[5]

In the summer of 1995, while Wang was visiting his grandparents in Taiwan, he was offered a professional recording contract by Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) after he participated in a talent competition hosted by the label.^[6] Not wanting to lose the opportunity, he immediately began preparing for his debut, and released his debut album Love Rival, Beethoven (情敌贝多芬) that December. The record received little limelight, forcing him to leave the label. He signed with Decca Records the following year, a label then famous for producing "powerful singers" (實力派歌手) in Taiwan.^[7] Wanting to also have control in the idol market, the label initially planned to market Wang as the mainstream "romantic idol", like with their previous artist Mavis Fan. However, after discovering Wang's talent in music-making, Decca began promoting him as Taiwan's "quality idol" (優質偶像) instead.^[7] Wang released his second album If You Heard My Song in 1996, which included some of his own compositions. He co-wrote the album's eponymous title song, which earned positive responses from the audience. The album drew moderately successful sales, and he became a rising star in the idol market, also finding similar successes with his third and fourth albums. During this time, Wang was asked to leave his college studies to pursue a full time singing career, but he insisted on finishing school first.

Rise to prominence (1998–2000)[link]

Wang's contract with Decca records was terminated after the release of his fourth album White Paper in the summer of 1997. After graduating with honors at Williams College,^[4][5] He released his first award-winning album Revolution under Sony Music Entertainment in August 1998. The album became his breakthrough album, immediately selling over 10,000 domestic units in the first week of release. Critics rated the album highly, and it won Wang two Golden Melody Awards—Best Producer and Best Mandarin Male Singer.^[8] He was the youngest artist to win in either of the two categories.^[9] Wang has been nominated the Best Mandarin Male Singer at the awards every year since the success of Revolution. The singles of Revolution also achieved similar success–"Revolution" became Wang Leehom's first #1 single, becoming one of the top 20 songs of the year on Channel V Taiwan.

He continued his studies by attending Berklee College of Music's Professional Music program, with voice as his principal instrument.^[3] In 1999, Wang released his sixth album Impossible to Miss You, which combined the catchy pop melodies of Revolution with a quirky style of new-found dance pop. It became his then best-selling album, selling over 1 million copies.^[10] All of the album's promotional singles topped KTV charts and yearly music charts, notably the upbeat "Julia" and the ballad "Crying Palm".His album also attracted international attention–Wang won three Best Male Vocalist awards at three different award ceremonies and was also awarded for his musical merit in the album at the 1st annual Asia Chinese Music Awards.

At the beginning of the millennium, Wang began filming for several Cantonese-language Hong Kong blockbusters, which inspired him to study the Cantonese language. He included a Cantonese track, "Love My Song," in the Hong Kong release of Forever's First Day (2000), his seventh album. Unlike his previous two albums, Forever's First Day consisted mainly of melodic R&B tunes. The album's eponymous single is a tragic romantic ballad, speaking of a separation of two individuals. Although raised in New York for most of his life, living in Taiwan made Wang realize the deep roots of his Chinese heritage. Forever's First Day yielded a cover of his uncle's signature song "Descendants of the Dragon"; Wang re-arranged the song with heavier rock and dance elements. The song also included a rap bridge that summarized experiences of his parents living as a Chinese American in New York.^[11]

International success (2001–03)[link]

Wang's next album, The One and Only (2001) received phenomenal international success. Selling over 1 million units in Asia, the rock-inspired album won him over seven different prestigious awards throughout 2001 and 2002. The album's title single "The One and Only" peaked #1 in almost all available music charts of Taiwan and was on the Ringback Tone #1 Download Charts for over a year, becoming his signature song. The One and Only also found success in Japan, opting him to release his first full-length Japanese album The Only One on May 9, 2003. The album only promoted one single, a Japanese version of "The One and Only", but it did not meet success on Japan's Oricon Charts. Wang also began filming several Japanese films, establishing his rising star status in Japan.

Eager to experience and perform different musical genres, Wang embarked on his first Asia-wide concert tour The Unbelievable Tour a few months before the release of his ninth album Unbelievable (2003). His concert tour received great reviews from both fans and music critics; they were impressed and shocked with his new-found hip hop image. His R&B/hip hop-inspired album Unbelievable involved new urban pop numbers, drawing hip hop influences from different styles of popular music, such as Indipop and urban pop. The album marked a milestone in his musical career; his new image received international critical acclaim and the album a chart-topping success, selling over 1.5 million units by 2004. A celebratory version of the album was released three months later, also becoming a chart-topping album. The album's singles, notably the ballad number "You're Not Here" also experienced international success, ranking #1 on several music charts for over 10 weeks. Unbelievable yielded his second win for Best Producer of the Year at the Golden Melody Awards in 2004.

Chinked-out (2004–06)[link]

Leehom Wang (right), named Best Mandarin Male Singer for his album Heroes of Earth, with Tanya Chua at the 17th Golden Melody Awards.

Having established himself as one of the most important, influential, and prolific artists in Chinese music, Wang continued to invent and experiment with new sounds and voices.^[12] For most of 2004, he traveled to remote villages in China, collecting often unheard tribal sounds of aboriginal Chinese music, Tibetan music, and Mongolian music. With his younger brother Leekai as his assistant, they carried 15 kg of music equipment as he recorded these sounds, recording and producing his album on the way.^[13] He incorporated these sounds into R&B and hip hop music, coining the style as "chinked-out." Despite the derogatory nature of the term "chink," Wang had wanted to repossess the term and "make it cool."^[3] Shangri-La was released on the last day of 2004, selling an 40,000 copies within the first ten days of release.^[14] Shangri-La became an international music sensation, especially catching the attention of many youths in Asia.^[15] Within a month, the album sold over 300,000 copies,^[16] ultimately selling over 1.5 million units.

Wang continued to infuse chinked-out elements into his next album Heroes of Earth (2005). Unlike the aboriginal tribal music heard in Shangri-La, Heroes of Earth contained mixes of Beijing opera and Kunqu.^[17] Following the concept of "heroes," he collaborated with Ashin of Mayday ("Beside the Plum Blossoms"), Chinese American rapper Jin and opera master Li Yan ("Heroes of Earth"), and also K-pop artists Rain and Lim Jeong-hee ("Perfect Interaction"). Heroes of Earth was the fastest-selling album of both 2005 and 2006, selling over 1 million copies ten days after its release. Subsequently, the album stayed as #1 in the charts for six weeks,^[18] and remained in the charts for 23 weeks, ultimately becoming 2006's third best-selling album.^[19] By 2007, about 3 million units were sold,^[20][21] and has since been Wang's most commercially and critically successful album.^[22][23][24] The album earned Wang a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Male Singer for the second time.

Three months after the release of Heroes of Earth, he began the Heroes of Earth Tour, his first major world tour. The concert commenced with two shows per night in the Taipei Dome in March 2006, breaking Taiwan's concert attendance records.

Professional breakthrough (2007–present)[link]

Leehom Wang playing the piano at 2007 Heroes of Earth concert in Las Vegas.

Wang took a break in working on his music to film Lust, Caution (2007), an espionage thriller film directed by Ang Lee.^[25] He released a promotional single "Falling Leaves Return to Roots" on June 20, 2007 through Hito Radio, a month before the release of his twelfth studio album, Change Me. "Falling Leaves Return to Roots" incorporated Broadway-influenced musical elements, with classical instrumental accompaniments, such as the violin and piano. When asked about the sudden change of music style, Wang explained that the inspiration behind the song was due to the influence of his portrayal of Kuang Yumin in Lust, Caution.^[26] "In the past, I have only been releasing mainstream pop and chinked-out related hip hop. Lust, Caution made me return to 1930's Shanghai, re-living the moment."^[25]

Change Me was released on Friday, July 13, despite the superstition generally attached to Friday the 13th.^[27] Unlike his previous albums, Change Me mainly concentrates on pop rock, including influences of Broadway ("Falling Leaves Return to Roots") and old-school Taiwanese pop ("You Are a Song in My Heart").^[28] Through this album, he promoted the issue of global warming and raised environmental awareness.^[29] The packaging of the album used only recycled paper and contained no plastic.^[29] He believed that small changes by each person can change the world. "To change the world, you start with changing yourself."^[30] Reviews of the album were generally positive, defining the album as "mature."^[31] An online album poll organized by China's Sohu, however, suggested that Wang's album did not meet expectations.^[31] Netizens remarked that his chinked-out productions were more impressive, although that genre itself has also been criticized.^[32] Nonetheless, over 1 million units were shipped on the first day of release.^[30] The album broke past 2 million sales, becoming one of Wang's best-selling albums.^[30]

In August 2008, Wang sought US$320,000 in damages for plagiarism by Pritam, an Indian composer. The lead song for the movie Race (2008), composed by Pritam, was allegedly copied from "In the Depths of the Bamboo Forest," a single taken off from Wang Leehom's Shangri-La album.^[33] In November 2008, Wang was selected to conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for their 2008 annual grand finale, being the first Asian pop musician to conduct the orchestra. The concert Hong Kong Music, Leehom Wang (港樂‧王力宏) was held in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for three nights, with four shows,^[34] receiving CNN International coverage throughout.^[35]

Wang embarked on his second world tour, the Music-Man Tour, in the latter months of 2008. The tour commenced with two shows per night in the Taipei Dome in September 2008, three months before the release of Wang's thirteenth studio album, Heart Beat. Heart Beat was released on December 26,^[36] debuting at #3 on the weekly G-Music charts.^[37] The album peaked at #1 on its seventh week of release, ultimately staying on the charts for 17 weeks. Like Wang's previous album, Heart Beat showed a similar emphasis of rock influences. The album largely focused on guitar and electric guitar solos, which Wang also used for performances in most of the album's music videos. Wanting to continue a similar "chinked-out" element, the album's first single, "What's Up with Rock?!" incorporated rock influences with Chinese flavor. For the track, he worked with pipa artist Liu Fang, and the two concentrated on mixing both electric guitar elements and pipa strings into the song.^[38]

On April 15, 2011, Wang Lee Hom took home the Best Male Singer (Hong Kong and Taiwan region), Best Album for The 18 Martial Arts, and Best Newcomer Director Award for his directorial debut, Love in Disguise at the Global Chinese Music Awards.^[39]

On Sept 7, 2011, it was announced that Wang hired Wong Fu Productions to direct his upcoming music video.^[40]

Musical style[link]

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since May 2010. It may contain original research. Tagged since January 2009.

Wang's music varies in style greatly from album to album. Although he is classified as an R&B artist, Wang Leehom demonstrates competence with many styles of music ranging from traditional Mandopop, Broadway, jazz, rock, R&B, gospel, acoustic, Indipop, hip-hop, to rap. Many of the styles are infused with a Chinese flavor.

When he first debuted, he sang old school pop and acoustic R&B ballads. Starting from Revolution (公轉自轉), Wang began to test out R&B pop music, but quickly jumped to a quirky style of dance pop for Impossible to Miss You (不可能錯過你). Starting from Forever's First Day (永遠的第一天), he began composing rock songs with heavy electric guitar melodies and less emphasis on dance pop. Nonetheless, he still concentrated in light R&B music. The One and Only (唯一) became his only fully produced rock album.

Unbelievable began a new road of music for Wang. Aside from the usual R&B grove, he contributed hip hop and rap that was not clearly emphasized in his past albums. "Not Your Average Thug" was a newly composed R&B style with a huge amount of American influence. "Can You Feel My World" was a different style of R&B, and the song contained great uses of the piano and violin as the accompaniment. Fast dance songs like "Ya Birthday" and "Girlfriend" (Chinese: 女朋友; pinyin: nǚ péngyǒu) incorporated rapid rap and heavy drum rhythms. "Girlfriend" included a heavily emphasised chinese flute and a music style that is influenced by Indipop.

Shangri-La was the first chapter of Wang's new style, chinked-out. Chinked-out is a new kind of musical style developed by Wang that involves modern "west" music of R&B, Hip Hop, rap, and Dance, along with "east" music of heavy Chinese instrument influences, more notably the koudi, tuhu, and ijac. "Deep Within the Bamboo Grove" (Chinese: 竹林深處; pinyin: zhú lín shēnchù) which emphasized samples of Tibetan Opera, and different minority tribes in Yunnan and other remote areas of China.

Then, I coined the term chinked-out. Derived from the historically derogatory racial slur chink, used to put-down Chinese people, chinked-out reclaims the word, turns its negative connotations upside-down, and uses them as material to fuel the new sound of this music. The term describes an effort to create a sound that is international, and at the same time, Chinese. In this album, I decided to implement some of China's most precious and untapped resources, the musics of its shaoshu minzu [少數民族], or ethnic minorities, concentrating on the regions of Yunnan, Shangri-La, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia. This is not one of those world music CDs. It's an R&B/hip hop album that creates a new vibe the whole world can identify as being Chinese.

— Leehom Wang on Shangri-La^[41]

	"Beside the Plum Blossoms" (在梅邊) noicon From Heroes of Earth (2005). The song utilizes a fusion of traditional kunqu melodies with modern hip hop rhythm, one of the several types of the chinked-out music style.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Heroes of Earth displayed a different side to chinked out. Instead of ethnic minority music, Wang focused on Beijing opera and Kunqu. He used instruments such as the erhu, guqin, and guzheng to infuse his new album with another side of traditional Chinese sound. "Beside the Plum Blossoms" (Chinese: 在梅邊; pinyin: zài méi biān) dealt with fast kunqu melodies. In the last 50 seconds of the song, Wang rapped over 250 words, increasing in speed towards the middle and then slowed down. This was to emphasize the accelerating and descending beats of traditional Chinese opera.

In addition to his chinked-out style of music, he is also noted for writing modern love ballads like "Forever Love", "Kiss Goodbye", "The One and Only" and most recently, "All the Things You Never Knew" (你不知道的事） which are sung with piano and string instrument accompaniments.

Acting career[link]

Wang had displayed interest in acting when he starred in several musical plays when he was in high school and college. In 2000, he made his feature film debut in the Hong Kong action crime thriller, China Strike Force, starring alongside Aaron Kwok, Norika Fujiwara, and Ruby Lin. Hong Kong critics had remarked Wang for giving a well-toned performance as his first film. His next starring role was the 2001 Hong Kong science fiction film The Avenging Fist as the main character Nova. He then starred in two Japanese films Moon Child (2003) and Starlit High Noon (2005).

The major breakthrough in his film career was in Lust, Caution, directed and produced by Academy Award winner Ang Lee. The film is based on a novella written by Eileen Chang and revolves around a plot to assassinate a high-ranking Chinese official in the Wang Jingwei Government using a beautiful young woman as bait. Wang plays Kuang Yumin, a patriotic college student who persuades Wong Chia-chi (Tang Wei) to seduce Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). The film was released in the U.S. cinemas on 28 September 2007. Lust, Caution was produced on a budget of approximately $15 million and grossed $64,574,876 worldwide.^[42]

In 2009, Wang was selected to star with Jackie Chan in Little Big Soldier.^[43]

In 2010, Wang stepped behind the camera to direct and star in, Love in Disguise (Chinese: 戀愛通告; pinyin: Liàn ài tōng gào), also starring Liu Yifei and Joan Chen.^[44] Love in Disguise went on to become the highest grossing film for a first-time director in Chinese history grossing over 60,000,000 RMB domestically.

Endorsements[link]

Wang is one of the most highly visible celebrities in Asia due in no small part to his many product endorsements including: Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Sony Ericsson, Bausch & Lomb, Bosideng MAN, Garnier, Lay's Chips, Nikon, Brand's, Hyundai and also Wahaha purified drinking water, which he has endorsed since 1999.

Wang's Bausch & Lomb print advertisements and TV commercials featured prominently in the popular 2008-2010 TV series Chou Nu Wu Di. The series, which took place at an advertising agency, was an adaptation of the 1999 Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea.

Charitable events[link]

Wang is also recognized for his effort and financial contributions to charity. He is active with Worldvision and has visited Laos and Sierra Leone in the last couple of years to raise awareness about the state of poverty in those countries. He personally sponsors over 20 underprivileged children throughout the world with NGO World Vision and frequently participates in the much needed fund-raising campaigns for disaster relief such as the massive earthquake at Sichuan (2008) and Typhoon Marakot in Taiwan (2009). In 2003, he and David Tao composed a song titled Hand in Hand (sung by over 80 celebrities in Taiwan) to promote support and courage to those affected by SARS.^{[citation needed]}

Participation in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games[link]

Wang was chosen as one of the torchbearers to run in Greece.^[45] He was torchbearer number 17 on March 24, the first day of the torch relay. He also attended the torch lighting ceremony before his run. Wang took the torch from Liu Hongliang, son of the first Chinese to attend the Olympic games, Liu Changchun. He represented the newest generation of singers from Taiwan and China. He was chosen mainly because he is devoted to helping save the environment, as shown in his latest album Change Me.^[2]

Another reason he was chosen is due to Wang's enthusiasm in the 2008 Olympic Games Theme Songs Competition. His single One World One Dream was chosen as a Olympic Games participation song. The single was written, sung, produced, and scored entirely by himself. He sang along with Jackie Chan, Stephanie Sun, and Han Hong in the song for "The One Man Olympics" which was about the first Chinese to be in the Olympics. He also sang in the 100 days countdown theme song Beijing Welcomes You. He also sang alongside Stefanie Sun, Wang Feng, and Jane Zhang in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Torch Relay Theme Song, Light The Passion, Share The Dream. He is also one of the candidates on vote for performer of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Theme Song. In the closing ceremony, he sang "Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing" alongside Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen and Korean singer Rain.

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

Bibliography[link]

• December 18, 2001: The One and Only - The Official Piano and Vocal Score (唯一樂譜書) (Piano and Vocal Score)
• March 20, 2003: Accidental Biography (純屬意外) (Biography; Piano and Vocal Score)
• October 15, 2003: Portrait of a Love Song (Photobook; Prose and Biography) [Japan Release]
• November 15, 2005: Shangri-La - The Official Piano and Vocal Score (心中的日月樂譜書) (Piano and Vocal Score)
• June 9, 2006: "Heroes Of TOKYO" (Photobook) [Japan Release]
• July 21, 2010: "Love In Disguise: photo collection" (Photobook)
• July 21, 2010: "Wang Leehom, the practice of first-time director"

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Hu, Brian (7 September 2007). "Leehom's Roots Music". UCLA Asia Institute. http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=77393. Retrieved 10 December 2008. 
• Le, Han (23 May 2007). The Chineseness Constructed in Leehom Wang's "Chinked-Out" Music: Hybridized Texts and Meanings of Chinese Hip-Hop. International Communication Association. http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p168830_index.html. Retrieved 6 December 2008. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lee-Hom Wang

• (English) (Chinese) Leehom Wang official website
• Sony Music: Taiwan Japan
• Leehom Wang at the Internet Movie Database
• Leehom Wang's weibo

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Joanna Wang
Chinese name	王若琳 (Traditional)
Pinyin	Wáng Ruòlín (Mandarin)
Birth name	Wang Ruolin
Born	(1988-08-01) August 1, 1988 (age 23) Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan)
Other name(s)	Joanna
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Genre(s)	Folk
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Kazoo
Label(s)	Sony Music Taiwan
Years active	2008 - Present
Parents	Wang Chi-ping and Ginnie Fan
Influences	Queen, Paul McCartney, Oingo Boingo, Yoeko Kurahashi
Official Website	official website

Joanna Wang (Chinese: 王若琳; pinyin: Wáng Ruòlín) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, daughter of renowned music producer Wang Chi-ping (王治平).^[1] Born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles, California, Wang dropped out from Gabrielino High School when she was 16. Her debut album, Start From Here, was released in January 2008 as a double-disc set, one in English and the other in Chinese. The album reached #1 in Taiwan and has been popular throughout Southeast Asia. In June 2008, it was released in Japan. Her second album, Joanna & 王若琳, which includes her all-original endeavor, The Adult Storybook, was released in January 2009.

Career[link]

As she was raised in the United States, Wang was exposed to many classic pop music acts, including but not limited to: The Beatles, Queen, and Oingo Boingo. Among her major influences are Danny Elfman, Yoeko Kurahashi (倉橋ヨエコ), Paul McCartney, and video game soundtracks, most notably those from the Castlevania, Zelda, and Mario series. She has stated in her YouTube videos^[2] and in interviews^[3][4] that she dislikes the debut and rejects it as her own work.

Wang is a left-handed guitarist.

She has performed some of her own work and has covered various popular songs in English and in Chinese on Taiwanese television programs.

Awards[link]

• 2008: Singapore Hit Awards 2008 - Outstanding Newcomer
• 2008: 9th CCTV-MTV Music Awards - Most Popular New Female Artist of the Year in Hong Kong and Taiwan
• 2008: Metro Hits Music Awards - Metroshowbiz Hits Mandarin Songwriter Singer Big Award
• 2008: Metro Hits Music Awards - Metro Radio Hits Most Voted Newcomer Award
• 2008: China Mobile Wireless Music Awards - Most Potential New Female Singer
• 2008: 2008 Beijing Chinese Pop Music Awards - Best Composer-Singer Newcomer

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Start from Here (2008)
• Joanna & 王若琳 (2009)
• The Adult Storybook (2009)
• The Things We Do for Love (2011)
• The Adventures of Bernie the Schoolboy (2011)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• "Taiwan New Jazz Star Starts from Beijing", China Radio International, 2008-04-08.
• Brownlow, Ron. "Step into the spotlight", Taipei Times, 2006-12-08.

External links[link]

• Joanna Wang Official Site
• Joanna YouTube Channel
• Joanna Hong Kong Fans Forum

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Anjelah Nicole Johnson (born May 14, 1982) is an American actress, comedienne, and former NFL cheerleader. Johnson is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv during its 13th Season. Her characters include a rude fast food employee named Bon Qui Qui and a Vietnamese nail salon employee.

Career[link]

After three years of college, Johnson moved to Los Angeles to pursue an entertainment career. She decided to become a comedian in 2005 and began doing stand-up comedy after a friend suggested that she join a joke writing class.^[2] Prior to that she had been working as an actress in Los Angeles and was taking improv classes in church.^[2][3] She quickly began to headline her own shows after being a featured comedian in just three shows.^[2] As a featured comedian, the comedy clubs that hired her gave her preferential treatment over even the headliners after noticing that her routines were popular with the audiences.^[2] Her stand-up routine comprising her impression of a Vietnamese nail salon employee received much attention on YouTube, and a year after beginning her stand-up career,^[2] in 2007, Johnson joined the cast of sketch comedy show MADtv, as a featured performer. Because of the impending writers strike, Johnson was often given only a few lines in the scripts during her tenure on the show, as the writers had to produce more scripts at a faster pace and thus opted to write more for the already established performers.^[2] However, her character Bon Qui Qui, a fast food employee who treats customers rudely, which she wrote herself was received well.^[2] The clip made its way to YouTube where it gained a large following, quickly outstripping her already popular nail salon routine in views.^[2] In 2008, Johnson was nominated for an ALMA Award for Outstanding Female Performance in a Comedy Television Series for her work on MADtv.^[4]

Johnson was given her own 1 hour Comedy Central special, "Anjelah Johnson: That's How We Do It" in 2009.^[1] She filmed a role in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in 2009. She also appeared as America Ferrera's sister in the comedy, Our Family Wedding alongside Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia in 2010.^[4] She provided her voice for the live-action adaptation of Marmaduke, which starred Owen Wilson and Emma Stone.^[4] She was also featured on the late night talk show Lopez Tonight, hosted by one of her comedic influences, George Lopez, performing her stand-up routine to the audience. Johnson became the "TC Girl", a spokesperson for Mexican restaurant Taco Cabana in 2011 and appeared in television advertisements for the chain.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Johnson was born and raised in San Jose, California in a devout Christian family.^[3] She is of Mexican-American and Native American descent.^[6] She was a Pop Warner cheerleader from the age of 8 and was active in sports including soccer, softball and track.^[7] She also practiced various dancing style, such as hip hop to break dancing.^[7] She began acting as a senior in high school and was especially interested in affecting different accents.^[7] She later studied speech communications in college.^[7] She subsequently became a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders after being inducted in 2002.^[7] As a member of the Oakland Raiderettes she was named Rookie of the year and performed in Super Bowl XXXVII.

Johnson married Group 1 Crew member Manwell Reyes in 2011.

Filmography[link]

Movie appearances[link]

Television appearances[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Anjelah Johnson at IMDb
• Anjelah Johnson on Myspace
• Anjelah Johnson on Twitter

This article about an American television actor or actress born in the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e