Great Han / Great Yue 大漢 / 大越
← 917–971 →
Capital	Panyu
Language(s)	Middle Chinese
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
- 917-941	Emperor Gaozu
- 941-943	Emperor Shandi
- 943-958	Emperor Zhongzong
- 958-971	Emperor Houzhu
Historical era	Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
- Established	917
- Renamed from "Yue" to "Han"	918
- Ended by the Song Dynasty	971

Southern Han (simplified Chinese: 南汉; traditional Chinese: 南漢; pinyin: Nán Hàn) was a kingdom that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960) along China’s southern coast from 917 to 971. The Kingdom greatly expanded her capital city Hing Wong Fu (興王府, pinyin: Xìngwángfǔ), namely present-day Guangzhou. Not only did it have interaction with other Chinese kingdoms, but due to its location, it also had relations with the Viet (Traditional Chinese: 越) people to the south.

Founding of the Southern Han[link]

Liu Yin, was named regional governor and military officer by the Tang court in 905. Though the Tang fell two years later, Liu did not declare himself the founder of a new kingdom as other southern leaders had done. He merely inherited the title of Prince of Nanping in 909.

It was not until Liu Yin’s death in 917 that his brother, Liu Yan, declared the founding of a new kingdom, which he initially called "Great Yue" (大越), but he changed the name to Great Han (大漢) next year (918). It was because his surname Liu (劉) was the imperial surname of the Han dynasty and he claimed himself a descendant of that famous dynasty. The kingdom is often referred as the Southern Han Dynasty throughout China's history.

Territorial extent[link]

With its capital at present-day Guangzhou, the domains of the kingdom spread along the coastal regions of present-day Guangdong, Guangxi, Hanoi and the island of Hainan. It not only had borders with the kingdoms of Min, Chu and the Southern Tang, they also bordered the non-Chinese kingdoms of Dali. The Southern Tang occupied all of the northern boundary of the Southern Han after Min and Chu were conquered by the Southern Tang in 945 and 951 respectively.

Relations with Vietnam[link]

While the Tang Dynasty was strong, the region of the present-day Vietnam remain a stable, secure part of the Viet domains. However, as the Tang Dynasty was weakening late in the ninth century, the Viet sought to regain control over their own affairs. Hanoi, which had developed as a political center during the Tang Dynasty, was the center of an early Vietnamese polity.

The Southern Han sought to bring the Viet into the Tang's orbit; however, their invasion was unsuccessful and was repelled. In 939, The Viet in the Chinese province of Annam, under the leadership of Ngo Quyen (吳權) redeclared independence.

Fall of the Southern Han[link]

The Five Dynasties ended in 960 when the Song Dynasty was founded to replace the Later Zhou Dynasty. From that point, the new Song rulers set themselves about to continue the reunification process set in motion by the Later Zhou Dynasty. Through the 960s and 970s, the Song increased its influence in the south until finally it was able to force the Southern Han dynasty to submit to its rule in 971.

Rulers[link]

References[link]

• Mote, F.W. (1999). Imperial China (900-1800). Harvard University Press. pp. 11, 15. ISBN 0-674-01212-7. 
• Schafer, Edward H. "The History of the Empire of Southern Han: According to Chapter 65 of the Wu-tai-shih of Ou-yang Hsiu", Zinbun-kagaku-kenkyusyo (ed.), Silver Jubilee Volume of the Zinbun-kagaku-kenkyusyo. Kyoto, Kyoto University, 1954.
• Tarling, Nicholas, ed. (1999). The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia (Volume One, Part One): From early times to c. 1500. Cambridge University Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-521-66369-5. 

External links[link]

• chinaknowledge.de: Southern Han

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Ken Watanabe 渡辺 謙
Ken Watanabe in 2007
Born	(1959-10-21) October 21, 1959 (age 52) Koide, Niigata, Japan
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Yumiko Watanabe (div. 2005) Kaho Minami (2005–present)
Website
kdash

Ken Watanabe (渡辺 謙, Watanabe Ken^?, born October 21, 1959) is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Among other awards, he has won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles in director Christopher Nolan's Hollywood blockbusters Batman Begins and Inception.

Early life[link]

Watanabe was born in Koide, Niigata prefecture. His mother was a school teacher and his father taught calligraphy.^[1] Ken has two children. His daughter Anne Watanabe is a model.

Career[link]

Japanese roles[link]

After graduating from high school in 1978, Watanabe moved to Tokyo to begin his acting career, getting his big break with the Tokyo-based theater troupe En. While with the troupe, he was cast as the hero in the play Shimodani Mannencho Monogatari, under Yukio Ninagawa's direction. The role attracted critical and popular notice.

In 1982, he made his first TV appearance in Michinaru Hanran (Unknown Rebellion), and his first appearance on TV as a samurai in Mibu no koiuta. He made his feature-film debut in 1984 with MacArthur's Children.

Watanabe is mostly known in Japan for playing samurai, as in the 1987 Dokuganryu Masamune (One eyed dragon, Masamune) the 50-episode NHK drama for which he is now best known. He played the lead character, Matsudaira Kurō, in the television jidaigeki Gokenin Zankurō, which ran for several seasons. He has gone on to earn acclaim in such historical dramas as Oda Nobunaga, Chushingura, and the movie Bakumatsu Junjo Den.

In 1989, while filming Haruki Kadokawa's Heaven and Earth, Watanabe was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. He returned to acting while simultaneously undergoing chemotherapy treatments, but in 1991 suffered a relapse.

As his health improved his career picked back up. He co-starred with Koji Yakusho in the 1998 Kizuna, for which he was nominated for the Japanese Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2002, he quit the En (Engeki-Shudan En) theatre group where he had his start and joined the K-Dash agency. The film Sennen no Koi (Thousand-year Love, based on The Tale of Genji) earned him another Japanese Academy Award nomination.

In 2006, he won Best Lead Actor at the Japanese Academy Awards for his role in Memories of Tomorrow (Ashita no Kioku), in which he played a patient with Alzheimer's Disease.

International films[link]

Watanabe was introduced to most Western audiences by the 2003 film The Last Samurai.^[2] His performance as Katsumoto earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.^[3]

Watanabe appeared in the 2005 films Batman Begins, playing Ra's Al Ghul, and Memoirs of a Geisha, playing Chairman Iwamura. In 2006, he starred in Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, playing Tadamichi Kuribayashi. He reprised his role as Ra's Al Ghul in the Batman Begins video game. He has filmed advertisements for American Express, Yakult, and NTT DoCoMo. In 2004, he was featured in People Magazine 's 50 Most Beautiful People edition. In 2009, he appeared in The Vampire's Assistant. In 2010, he co-starred in Inception, playing Saito.

Personal life[link]

Watanabe's daughter Anne Watanabe (1986-) is also an actress and fashion model.

In 1989 Watanabe was diagnosed with bone marrow leukemia, but he recovered later on.

In 2006 Watanabe revealed in his autobiography "Dare? - Who Am I?" that he has hepatitis C. At a press conference held 23 May 2006 in Tokyo's Ginza district, he said he was in good condition but was still undergoing treatment.^[4]

On March 13, 2011, he launched a YouTube page to raise awareness about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and invited celebrities to add their videos.^[5] In his video in English, he made a call to action to support the victims and to raise funds in the relief effort.^[6] In conjunction, he has created his own website for the cause.^[7]

Filmography[link]

Stage[link]

• Britannicus henso (1980)
• Shitaya mannencho monogatari (1981)
• Fuyu no raion (The Lion in Winter) (1981)
• Pajaze (1981)
• Platonof (1982)
• Kafun netsu (1982)
• Pizarro (1985)
• Hamlet (1988)
• Hamlet no gakuya -anten (2000)
• Towa part1-kanojo (2000)
• Towa part2-kanojo to kare (2001)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ken Watanabe

• Ken Watanabe at the Internet Movie Database
• USA Today Interview
• About.com Interview
• Watanabe Ken's JMDb Listing (in Japanese)
• Ken Watanabe profile on Hoga Central

Kelly Hu
Hu at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, 2008.
Born	Kelly Ann Hu (1968-02-13) February 13, 1968 (age 44) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1987–

Kelly Ann Hu (simplified Chinese: 胡凯丽; traditional Chinese: 胡凱麗; pinyin: Hú Kǎilì; born February 13, 1968) is an American actress and former fashion model. She was Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993.

Early life[link]

Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird breeder; the two divorced during Hu's childhood.^[1] Her brother, Glenn, is a Resource Manager at the United States Army.^[2] She is of Hawaiian, Chinese and English descent.^[3] She attended Maʻemaʻe Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii. She graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Hu has held a lifelong interest in singing and dancing and has also been interested in martial arts since her early childhood. Hu's cousin was a successful model in Japan, and Hu decided to follow her example. Kelly Hu won the title of Miss Hawaii Teen USA and competed in the 1985 Miss Teen USA pageant, becoming the Miss Teen USA pageant's third titleholder in history and its first Asian American winner. Hu has mentioned in interviews that her mother had told her America was not ready for an Asian as such a prominent role model. Ironically enough, she discovered after winning that she was prohibited from appearing in non-contest related activities for the year of her reign, this rule soon changed later on the coming years.

Career[link]

Kelly Hu as Miss Hawaii Teen USA 1985

Hu modeled in Japan and Italy, and became well known in the latter as the star of a series of television advertisements for Philadelphia brand cream cheese, playing a young Japanese college student named Kaori. Hu moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career in 1987, with a guest starring role as Mike Seaver's Hawaiian love interest on the sitcom Growing Pains. Hu followed this with appearances on various TV series, including Night Court, Tour of Duty, 21 Jump Street, and Melrose Place. Her first movie role was in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Hu also won the title of Miss Hawaii USA in 1993, becoming the first former Miss Teen USA to win a Miss USA state title. In the 1993 Miss USA pageant, held in Wichita, Kansas, Hu entered the top 10 in second place, after winning the preliminary interview competition and placing second and third, respectively, in swimsuit and evening gown. She then made the top 6 ranked second, winning the top 10 evening gown competition and placing second in swimsuit. She was eliminated in 4th place after the judges' questions, just two hundredths of a point from the final three.

In 1995, Hu played an undercover police officer in the movie No Way Back. She was the star in this movie. She was then cast as Dr. Rae Chang on Sunset Beach for six months in 1997. Afterwards, Hu was cast as police officers Michelle Chan in the television series Nash Bridges (1997–1998), Pei Pei "Grace" Chen on Martial Law (1998–2000), and Agent Mia Chen on the last three episodes of the television series Threat Matrix (2004). Her subsequent movie appearances include The Scorpion King (2002), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) and X2 (2003). She provided voice talents for the popular video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords as Visas Marr, the Sith woman who joins the Jedi Exile's party. Hu has been featured twice in Maxim magazine (May 2002 and May 2005).

In January 2007, Hu began appearing in a full time role on the TV series In Case of Emergency. She plays Kelly Lee, a Korean American woman who accidentally reunites with her high school classmates and realizes none of them grew up according to their high school plans.

During the first quarter of 2007, she completed filming the film Stilletto, and after that, Farmhouse.

In April 2009, Hu developed the character JIA for Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. In July, she appeared at Comic-Con International in San Diego to sign copies of Secret Identities alongside her collaborator, DC Comics artist Cliff Chiang. In the fall of 2009, she appeared in the film The Tournament as Lai-Lai Zhen. She was the first guest actor to cross over between the television series NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS, playing Lee Wuan Kai in a two-episode arc within both series.

In spring of 2010, Kelly Hu played Pearl, a vampire, on the CW television show Vampire Diaries.^[4]

In fall of 2010, Kelly Hu began a recurring role on the CBS television show Hawaii Five-0.

Personal life[link]

Hu resides in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. She is single. She is an avid poker fan and has frequently taken part in competitions such as the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, including the WPT Celebrity Charity match on March 3, 2008.^[5] She was part of HollywoodPoker.com's "Celebrity Poker Night" on May 30, 2006,^[6] and in July 2006 placed in the top 200 in the World Series of Poker Ladies Tournament, besting nearly 1,000 other competitors. ^[7]

Activism[link]

Hu has supported the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment ^[8] and in 2004 starred in a public service announcement for them entitled "The Least Likely" ^[9] to encourage young Asian Americans to register and vote.

In 2007 Hu was a driver in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race a national fund-raising program supporting children’s hospitals throughout the United States. ^[10]

In January 2008, Hu participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by will.i.am called "Yes We Can".^[11] She campaigned for Obama in Hawaii in the run-up to the February 19, 2008 Democratic caucuses.^[12] In February 2008, Hu also appeared in another viral video in support of Obama, "Sí Se Puede Cambiar", written and performed by Andrés Useche, directed by Eric Byler. She was the emcee of the Asian American Action Fund's annual fundraiser on June 10, 2008.^[13][14][15]

Ms Hu has been active to protect the Hawaiian ecology. She supported ^[16] Reef Check Hawaii ^[17] by running in and successfully completing the Honolulu Marathon to raise awareness for the organization. She also gave support to the Shark Fin Ban which took effect in Hawaii July 2010. ^[18] This made it illegal to possess, sell, or distribute shark fins in Hawaii.

In April 2011 Hu was a celebrity host for Save the Children's "Caring for Japan's Keiki" a benefit for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims. ^[19][20] Also in 2011 she hosted a Celebrity Poker Tournament ^[21] in support for Best Buddies International, a charity to which she has given support for several years ^[22][23]

Filmography[link]

Film roles[link]

• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) – Eva Watanabe
• American Eyes (1990) – Emily
• The Doors (1991) – Dorothy
• Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) – Suzie
• Surf Ninjas (1993) – Ro-May
• No Way Back (1995) – Seiko Kobayashi
• Strange Days (1995) – Anchor Woman
• Star Command (1996) – Ens. Yukiko Fujisaki
• Fakin' da Funk (1997) – Kwee-Me
• The Scorpion King (2002) – Cassandra
• Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) – Sona
• X2 (2003) – Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike
• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004) – Lana
• Underclassman (2005) – Lisa Brooks
• Americanese (2006) – Brenda Nishitani
• Undoing (2006) – Vera
• Devil's Den (2006) – Caitlin
• The Air I Breathe (2007) – Jiyoung
• Shanghai Kiss (2007) – Micki Yang
• Succubus: Hell Bent (2007) – Detective Pei
• Farmhouse (2008) – Lilith
• Stiletto (2008) – Detective Hanover
• Dim Sum Funeral (2008) – Cindy
• The Tournament (2009) – Lai Lai Zhen
• Almost Perfect (2011) – Vanessa ("Van")
• What Women Want (2011) – Girl in Lotto Commercial
• White Frog (2012) – May Chung
• They Die By Dawn(2013) - TBA^[24]

Television roles[link]

• Growing Pains (1987–1988) – Melia (3 episodes)
• Sunset Beach (1997) – Rae Chang (63 episodes)
• Nash Bridges (1997–1998) – Insp. Michelle Chan (23 episodes)
• Martial Law (1998–2000) – Chen Pei Pei (Grace Chen) (44 episodes)
• Boomtown (2003) - Rachel Durrel (2 episodes)
• Threat Matrix (2004) – Agent Mia Chen (3 episodes)
• Mayday (2005) – Sharon Crandall (TV movie)
• CSI: NY (2005–2006) – Detective Kaile Maka (4 episodes)
• In Case of Emergency (2007) – Kelly Lee (13 episodes)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2008) – Kelly Sun (1 episode)
• Army Wives (2008–2009) – Major Jordana Davis (4 episodes)
• In Plain Sight (2009) – Ahn Li (1 episode)
• NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) – Lee Wuan Kai (1 episode)
• NCIS (2009) – Lee Wuan Kai (1 episode)
• Dark Shadows – Dr. Julia Hoffman (Unaired)
• The Vampire Diaries (2010–2011) – Pearl (8 episodes)
• Hawaii Five-0(2010–2011) – Laura Hills (3 episodes)
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2011) - Angie Salinger (1 episode)

Music Videos[link]

• Outta My Head by Daughtry - Leading Woman

Voice roles[link]

• Robot Chicken (2005–2007) – Additional Voices (5 episodes)
• Afro Samurai (2007) – Okiku
• Phineas and Ferb (2007-present) – Stacy Hirano (51 episodes)
• Dead Space: Downfall (2008) – Shen
• The Spectacular Spider-Man (2009) – Sha Shan Nguyen (5 episodes)
• Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword (2009) – Miyumi/Miss Mirimoto
• Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) – Ms. Li, Female assassin
• Young Justice (2011) – Cheshire, Paula Crock (5 episodes)
• Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011) – Laira
• Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011) - Stacy Hirano

Video game roles[link]

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords (2004) – Visas Marr
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) – Suki Toyama^[25][26]
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Uprising (2009) – Suki Toyama AI
• Ninja Blade (2009) – Ryoko Kurokawa
• Terminator Salvation (2009) – Wells
• Afro Samurai (2009) – Okiku, Osachi

Other[link]

• The Least Likely PSA (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kelly Hu

• Official website
• Kelly Hu at the Internet Movie Database