Gan Ying (Chinese: 甘英; Wade–Giles: Kan Ying; Hanyu Pinyin: Gān Yīng), was a Chinese military ambassador who was sent on a mission to Rome in 97 CE by the Chinese general Ban Chao.

Although Gan Ying never reached Rome, only travelling to as far as the Parthian coast of the Persian Gulf, he is, at least in the historical records, the Chinese who went the furthest west during antiquity, and he gathered what information he could.

According to the Hou Hanshu, the Chinese history of the later Han Dynasty (CE 25-220):

"In the ninth year [97 CE], Ban Chao sent his Subordinate Gan Ying, who probed as far as the Western Sea,^[1] and then returned. Former generations never reached these regions. The Shanjing gives no details on them. Undoubtedly he prepared a report on their customs and investigated their precious and unusual [products]."^[2]

"In the ninth Yongyuan year, ^[3] during the reign of Emperor He, Protector General Ban Chao sent Gan Ying to Da Qin [the Roman Empire]. He reached Tiaozhi (Characene) and Sibin (Susiana?)^[4] next to a large sea. He wanted to cross it, but the sailors of the western frontier of Anxi [Parthia] said to him:

"The ocean is huge. Those making the round trip can do it in three months if the winds are favourable. However, if you encounter winds that delay you, it can take two years. That is why all the men who go by sea take stores for three years. The vast ocean urges men to think of their country, and get homesick, and some of them die."

When [Gan] Ying heard this, he discontinued (his trip).^[5]

The Hou Hanshu, also recorded that:

"[Roman] territory extends for several thousands of li. It has more than four hundred walled towns. There are several tens of smaller dependent kingdoms. The walls of the towns are made of stone. They have established postal relays at intervals, which are all plastered and whitewashed. There are pines and cypresses, as well as trees and plants of all kinds."^[6]

Gan Ying also gave the following somewhat fanciful description of Roman customs and natural products undoubtedly based on what he was told by sailors in Persian Gulf ports:

"Their kings are not permanent. They select and appoint the most worthy man. If there are unexpected calamities in the kingdom, such as frequent extraordinary winds or rains, he is unceremoniously rejected and replaced. The one who has been dismissed quietly accepts his demotion, and is not angry. The people of this country are all tall and honest. They resemble the people of the Middle Kingdom and that is why this kingdom is called Da Qin [or 'Great China']. This country produces plenty of gold [and] silver, [and of] rare and precious [things] they have luminous jade, 'bright moon pearls,' Haiji rhinoceroses, coral, yellow amber, opaque glass, whitish chalcedony, red cinnabar, green gemstones, goldthread embroideries, rugs woven with gold thread, delicate polychrome silks painted with gold, and asbestos cloth. They also have a fine cloth which some people say is made from the down of 'water sheep,' but which is made, in fact, from the cocoons of wild silkworms. They blend all sorts of fragrances, and by boiling the juice, make a compound perfume. [They have] all the precious and rare things that come from the various foreign kingdoms. They make gold and silver coins. Ten silver coins are worth one gold coin. They trade with Anxi [Parthia] and Tianzhu [Northwest India] by sea. The profit margin is ten to one. . . . The king of this country always wanted to send envoys to Han, but Anxi [Parthia], wishing to control the trade in multi-coloured Chinese silks, blocked the route to prevent [the Romans] getting through [to China]."^[7]

Henry Yule described this account as "vague and puerile", but notes that it ended with a detailed description of the Mediterranean coral industry.^[8] Gan Ying travelled about the time that the Emperor Nerva adopted Trajan as his successor, but neither of them abdicated for bad omens; the "kings" according to him resemble the Sages of legendary Chinese antiquity more than any Roman institution.

The silkworms of the Greek island of Cos were cultivated in antiquity, but the product was never comparable to Chinese silk.^[9] However, this reference appears to be to the very rare and beautifully golden sea silk, which is also referred to in the 3rd century history, the Weilüe.^[10]

See also[link]

• Sino-Roman relations
• Battle of Yiwulu

References[link]

1. ^ The Persian Gulf - which was then considered part of the Indian Ocean along with the Red Sea. Hill (2009), pp. 222, n. 9.3., 255, n. 10.13.
2. ^ Hill (2009), p. 5.
3. ^ Corresponding to 97 CE.
4. ^ Identification due to Hill, who argues against the previous identification Ctesiphon
5. ^ Hill (2009), p. 23.
6. ^ Hill (2009), pp. 24-25.
7. ^ Hill (2009), pp. 25, 27.
8. ^ Henry Yule, Cathay and the way thither, Hakluyt Society, 1866, I, p. lvii.
9. ^ Hill (2009), p. 279-280.
10. ^ Hill (2009), Appendix B, pp. 467-476; Hill (2004).

Sources[link]

• "The Roman Empire in Chinese sources", Leslie and Gardiner, Rome, Bardi, 1996.
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [1]
• Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
• "The Silk Road", Frances Wood, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24340-4
• Yu, Taishan. 2004. A History of the Relationships between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 131 March, 2004. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania.

Look up gan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Gan may refer to:

Computing and telecommunications[link]

• .gan, the file extension for documents created by GanttProject
• Generic Access Network formerly known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA)
• Global Area Network

Chemistry[link]

• Gallium Nitride a popular III-V semiconductor

Mythology[link]

• Gan Ceann, a headless unseelie fairie of Irish mythology.

Fiction[link]

• gan, an Elvish board game played in The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
• Gan Isurugi, a fictional character from the Rival Schools video game series
• Gan (Stephen King), a deity and the creative overforce in The Dark Tower series and numerous other works of fiction by Stephen King
• Olag Gan, a fictional character in the British television series Blake's 7

Organization[link]

• Global Arab Network, a London-based news service about the Arab world

Geography[link]

China[link]

• Gan River (Jiangxi)
• Gan River (Inner Mongolia)
• Gan County, in Jiangxi province
• Gan (state), a former independent state
• A nickname for Jiangxi

Maldives[link]

• Gan (Huvadhu Atoll)
• Gan (Laamu Atoll)
• Gan (Seenu Atoll)
• Gan International Airport

Elsewhere[link]

• A local nickname for Gananoque, Ontario, Canada
• Gan, a village in Fet municipality, Norway
• Gan, a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, France
• Gáň, a village and municipality in Galanta District, Trnava Region, south-west Slovakia

Linguistics[link]

• Gan Chinese, a language concentrated in Jiangxi province
  • gan, the ISO 639-3 language code for Gan Chinese

People[link]

• Alexei Mikhailovich Gan (1889-1942), Soviet architect, designer, and theoretician of Constructivism
• Brendan Gan, football player for Sydney FC, Australia
• Pinchas Cohen Gan, an Israeli artist
• Gan Ning, a warrior of the Three Kingdoms period in China
• Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (1884-1965), Swedish painter known under the signature "GAN"

Others[link]

• GaN, an abbreviation for Gallium nitride
• Gan, a common family name in South East Asia of typically Chinese descent from Fujian who speak the Min Nan or Hokkien dialect. 顏 (Traditional Chinese), 颜 (Simplified)
• GAN, the former name of the Crédit Agricole cycling team
• Giant axonal neuropathy and is also the name of the gene that when mutated causes the disorder
• Grant Anticipation Note, a type of highway financing

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.

Vincy Chan
Chinese name	泳兒 (Traditional)
Chinese name	泳儿 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Yǒng'ér (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Wing6 Yi4 (Cantonese)
Birth name	Chan Ka-Yan (陳家欣)
Origin	Hong Kong
Born	(1982-10-16) 16 October 1982 (age 29) Hong Kong
Occupation	Singer
Genre(s)	Cantopop
Instrument(s)	none
Label(s)	Emperor Entertainment Group
Years active	2006 - Present
Official Website	Vincy Chan's Official Website

Vincy Chan (born 16 October 1982) is a Hong Kong cantopop singer. Before the handover of 1997 when Hong Kong was returned from Great Britain to China, her family left Hong Kong and went to Singapore when she was a child. She was signed by Emperor Entertainment Group, and debuted with the album Vincy on 27 July 2006.

She attended the Dunman High School in Singapore. Chan was amongst the top 24 contestants in Project Superstar, a Singaporean singing competition held in June 2005 after graduating from Nanyang Technological University. She was also the runner-up and won the award "Most Popular Image" in Emperor Entertainment Group's New Talent Singing Awards in 2005. Later on, she became more well-known amongst the Hong Kong public when her song 'My Feelings' (Chinese: 感應), a Cantonese rendition of Freya Lin's '一個人生活', debuted.

Chan released the studio album "Flowers Without Snow" (Chinese: 花無雪) in February, 2007, in which a song of eponymous title is the Cantonese version of Mika Nakashima's Yuki no Hana.

In 2007, she performed at the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Charity Gala in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with various artists. Chan's latest album, released October 15, 2007, was titled "Close To You", which included a cover version of The Carpenters' (They Long to Be) Close to You.

After the "Close To You" tour ended at the beginning of 2008, Vincy released her third and self-titled album on June 4, 2008. This album also marks her first MandoPop album since her only previous 2 albums featured Cantonese pop.

In 2008, Vincy appeared in both New Talent Toronto (June 21) and New Talent Calgary (June 22) in Canada. At both occasions, Vincy performed her new hit mandarin song "It's Very Tiring to Like a Person" and several other hits.

External links[link]

• Vincy Chan's Official Fans Club Web Site (Chinese)
• Vincy Chan's Official Website (Chinese)
• Vincy Chan's Blog
• Vincy's Profile

This article about a Singaporean singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article about a Hong Kong singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Leon Lai BBS, MH 黎明
Chinese name	黎明
Pinyin	Lí Míng (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Lai4 ming4 (Cantonese)
Birth name	Lai Chit (黎捷)
Ancestry	Meixian, Guangdong, China[1]
Origin	Hong Kong
Born	(1966-12-11) 11 December 1966 (age 45) Beijing, China
Occupation	Singer, Actor, Record Company Manager
Genre(s)	Cantopop, Mandopop
Instrument(s)	Singing
Label(s)	1990–1998 PolyGram 1998–2004 Sony Music 2004 -Amusic
Years active	1986 – present
Spouse(s)	Gaile Lok
Official Website	www.amusic.hk
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Original Film Song 1999 City of Glass Golden Horse Awards Best Original Song 1997 Eighteen Springs Best Actor 2002 Three Going Home New Talent Singing Awards 1986 Second Runner-Up

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Leon Lai is a Hong Kong-based actor and Cantopop singer. The media refer to Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王). He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming" which literally means "dawn."

Biography[link]

Lai was born in Beijing, China as Lai Chit (黎捷) with Meixian, Guangdong ancestry.^[1] His family was originally from Meixian. His parents divorced when he was four. He migrated with his Malaysian Chinese father, Lai Xinsheng to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution in China. At the age of 15, he attended Kingsway Princeton College in the United Kingdom and returned to Hong Kong at the age of eighteen in 1984.^[2][3]

Career[link]

Early years[link]

Lai initially worked as a salesperson for a mobile phone company.^[2] After being awarded second-runner-up in the 1986 5th New Talent Singing Awards, Lai received vocal coaching from Dai Si Zong (戴思聰).^[4] In the same year he also obtained an artist contract from Capital Artists.^[5] Lai did not release any albums for four years.^[6] As a result, his teacher, Dai, arranged to have him signed a contract with Polygram, later known as Universal Music.^[7]

Music[link]

In Polygram, he released his first album "Leon" and subsequent album "Meet In The Rain". His debut album went gold.^[8] After several years at Polygram, he then signed a new contract with Sony Music on 23 March 1998.

Together with Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok, Lai was among the four most popular male singers during the 1990s, when the media referred to them as Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings (Chinese: 四大天王).

	"Sugar in the Marmalade" noicon A hybrid cantopop techno song by Leon Lai
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the early stages of his career, he mainly sang cantopop, but due to the influence of producer Mark Lui, he expanded his repertoire to include popular electronic songs with compelling music videos. In 1990 he won his first 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards.^[9][10] He also followed up to win the "Most Popular Male Singer" award in 1993 and 1995 for TVB Jade Solid Gold.^[11][12] In 1996, he collaborated with composer-producer Steve Barakatt on his album "Feel". Two years later in 1998, he became the first HK singer to reach the Top 10 K-pop chart with the song "After loving you".^[13] In 1999 he announced that he would no longer accept any more awards in Hong Kong.

In 2002 he was selected to sing "Charged up", the 2002 FIFA World Cup theme song for the Greater China region.^[14] In 2004 he became the first Hong Kong singer to represent the territory at the first Asia Song Festival held in South Korea.^[15]

Lai was selected to be the ambassador of the 6th Winter Asian Games to be held Changchun in 2007. He sang the Games' theme song and took part in the torch relay.^[16] He then joined Michael Wong and Janice Vidal held a three day "Magic Live" charity concert at Star Hall, Hong Kong from 9 Nov to 11 Nov 2008.^[17]

Duets[link]

Apart from being a solo artist, Lai has co-operated with other artists. Some of his better known collaborations are "Love Until the End" and "A Happy Family" with Vivian Chow, "Really Wish to Be Like This Forever" and "It's Still You" with Priscilla Chan, "Song of the Star" with Alan Tam, "Never Give Up" with Jacky Cheung, "Why did I let you go?" with Janice Vidal.^[18]

Company founder & singer[link]

In 2004, Lai formed a new record production company, "A Music", East Asia Record Production Company Limited, with Peter Lam. The first album produced by the company, "Dawn" was released in September of that year. The album, "Dawn", was released with minimum promotion as Lai went to Mainland China for a movie shoot on the day of the album's release.^[19]

In order to bring in new excitements for his music, Lai invited a famous music producer Jonathan Lee from Taiwan in 2005 to produce his new mandarin album "A Story". However, by doing so he had to give up the opportunity for a lead role in a big budget Taiwan movie "Gui Si" due to conflicts in his schedules.^[20]

Lai returned to the Hong Kong Coliseum on 13 April 2007 to perform in his one night only Leon 4 in Love Concert where he performed not only his own hits but also hits of the other three heavenly kings. He performed a total of 18 songs, all of which are newly arranged by Mark Lui. He subsequently released an album titled "4 In Love" on 3 May 2007, comprising 16 of the 18 songs he had performed in the concert.^[21]

Actor[link]

In the period before Lai participated in the New Talent Singing Awards, he enrolled in the ATV actor training class, a classmate with actress Cheung Man, however he didn't complete the training. He then applied for admission to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts but his application was rejected.

After the New Talent Singing Awards, he had some opportunities to star in a few TV series. On one occasion, he went for filming of a romantic serials titled, Fengyun era, in Taiwan. There was a stark contrast in height between Lai and the popular lead actress who is only 160 cm in height. The actress then demanded that Lai squatted while filming so as to make up for the height differences. Lai had to act through all the scenes with the actress while squatting but he had to endure it as he was not popular at the time. Not long afterwards his new TVB series, The Breaking Point (1991 TV series) turned out to be a resounding success and propelled him to widespread fame in Hong Kong and Taiwan.^[22][23]

In 1996 Lai was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the film Comrades: Almost a Love Story. The next year in 1997, he managed to win the award for Best Original Song for the film Eighteen Springs both at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards. He was again nominated for the Best Actor and Best Original Film Song award for the film City of Glass in 1999, but he only managed to win the award for Best Original Film Song which he shared with Albert Leung and Dick Lee.^[24]

Lai was considered by Lee Ang to act as Li Mu Bai in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, however he had to turn down the offer as he had advertising contract and live concert about to start which would not match his shaven head as was required for the role.^[25][26]

He collaborated with Cecilia Cheung in 2001 for the first time in the Wong Jing directed romantic comedy film, Everyday Is Valentine. In the film, Lai played a serial liar.^[27]

In 2002 Lai took the spotlight at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language version of the Oscars in Taiwan. He won Best Actor for Three: Going Home. Lai played a minor role as Superintendent Yeung Kam Wing in Infernal Affairs III in 2003. In 2004 Lai starred with Faye Wong in the romantic movie Leaving Me, Loving You, the story of which he co-wrote with Wilson Yip and he was also the creative/production controller of the movie. However, the movie was a flop raking in HK$ 10,529,501 in the box office.^[28] Still in that same year he was ranked 8th on the China Celebrity 100 list released by the Chinese edition of Forbes.^[29]

In 2005 Lai acted as one of the seven warriors in the Tsui Hark directed wuxia film, Seven Swords.^[30] In the same year in the film Moonlight in Tokyo, Lai unexpectedly acted as a Chinese retard who pretend to be a Korean gigolo in Japan and thus shedding his idol image.^[31] He won the Golden Deer Best Actor Award from Changchun China Film Festival for his portrayal in Leaving Me, Loving You in 2005.

In 2006 Lai starred alongside Fan Bingbing and Rene Liu in a love and horror, thriller film titled The Matrimony where he played a cinematographer Shen Junchu, the love interest of Manli and Sansan. JunChu was pressurised into marrying Sansan after the untimely demise of his true love Manli in an accident. The film was released on 8 February 2007.^[32] In the same year, Lai wrote and directed a musical film titled A Melody Looking which was shot in New York. It features Lai and the rest of the Amusic family of singers namely Janice, Jill, Emily, Charles and Chapman. This film marks his debut as a director.

In 2007 Lai starred alongside Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen and Guo Xiaodong in the Ching Siu-tung film An Empress and the Warriors. He acted as a woodland medicine man who has a romantic relationship with a princess. Lai and Kelly Chen sang the theme song, "Fly With Your Dreams" written by Albert Leung and composed by Mark Lui.^[33]

He underwent training in Peking Opera for playing the lead role as Méi Lánfāng in the biographical film Forever Enthralled which was directed by Chen Kaige. He directed the music video for the film where he and Zhang Ziyi sang the theme song, "You Understand My Love".^[34] For the first time in his career, Lai played the role of a beggar in the Peter Chan directed film Bodyguards and Assassins.^[35] For his success a wax figure of Lai was revealed at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.^[36]

Community[link]

Apart from being an actor and singer, Lai is actively involved in the Community Chest. In the 1990s he began serious charity work when his father was diagnosed with carcinoma of the rectum. The doctors said it was incurable. But after operation, his father survived the miraculous surgery. When the Cancer Research Foundation and the UN organization approached him for help, he started getting involved in charity work actively.^[37]

Lai's first work with UNICEF in a China polio eradication project in 1993. He managed to raise substantial funds accruing from his supporters, fans and concert ticket sales. In July 1994, he was appointed the International UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and thus becoming the first Hong Kong citizen to be given this position. Since the year 1994, he has been involved in various fund raising activities of The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU). These activities include seven charity concerts, three charity chocolate sales and charity walkathon. Lai, along with HKCU representatives, visited Rwanda, Gansu of China and Brazil to study the work of UNICEF and to help promote public awareness to help children".^[38] In December 1995, he was appointed as "UNICEF Special Representative to Youth" at in the New York headquarters recognizing his contributions for the welfare of the children.^[38]

Lai have also been elected as one of The Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in 1997, giving him a formal recognition of his professional endeavours and commitment to the community.^[39] He bought the first donation ticket, numbered 000001 at a "Children's Education Fund Raising Campaign" launch event at Tsuen Wan PARKnSHOP's Skyline Superstore in 2001 to encourage people to contribute to a meaningful social cause. The funds raised was donated to the Community Chest.^[40]

He was awarded the Medal of Honour (M.H.) on 12 October 2003 by Tung Chee-Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.^[39]

Ever since his decision not to receive any music award in HK, he has not appeared on the TVB Jade Gold Solid Awards ceremony even as a guest, but in order to secure more funds for charity, he agreed to perform in the ceremony as a guest performer on 8 Jan 2005. On 13 May of the same year, Lai co-operated with Mark Lui to compose the song "8858". The song will be used as the promotional song of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF). The title of song means "Help me (sounded like 'bang bang wo ba' in Putonghua)" and the number "8858" represent the SMS number people can use to donate the money.^[41][42] In a surprising move in Dec 2005, Lai appeared in a Hong Kong government television advertisement requesting the public to support a gradual political reform package tabled by the ruling government rather than asked for rapid political reform. This marks the first time he got himself involved in a politically motivated advertisement.^[43]

Incidents[link]

Commercial anthem incident[link]

In 2000, Lai's song All Day Love (全日愛) got him into trouble with the Chinese authorities for drawing passages from the Chinese National Anthem, March of the Volunteers. The starting tune also sounds similar to the anthem tune. He was warned against using the song for commercial purposes.^[44][45]

Concert[link]

At Hong Kong Coliseum :

(Note: # indicate literal translation)

Source:^[46]

Advertisement[link]

Music pop chart[link]

(source:^{[48][49][50][51]})

Awards[link]

Source:^[52]

External links[link]

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

• A Music
• Leon Lai Family (Hong Kong) 黎明家族 (香港) – fansite
• Leon Family (Taiwan) – fansite
• Leon Lai Fans Club 黎明之友 – fansite
• Leon Lai at the Internet Movie Database
• Leon at UNICEF

References[link]

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Jane Zhang
Chinese name	張靚穎 (Traditional)
Chinese name	张靓颖 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Zhāng Liàngyǐng (Mandarin)
Born	(1984-10-11) October 11, 1984 (age 27) Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Occupation	Singer, Songwriter
Genre(s)	Mandopop R&B Hip-Hop
Instrument(s)	Harmonica
Voice type(s)	Spinto soprano
Label(s)	Record Label(s): Huayi Brothers Music (2005-2009) Universal Music China (2009–present) Manage Label(s): Huayi Brothers Music (2005-2009) Show City Times (2009–present)
Years active	2005–present
Influences	Mariah Carey
Official Website	Official site (English)
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Original Film Song 2009 Painted Skin Other awards Super Girl 2005 Third place

Jane Zhang also known as Zhang Liangying (born October 11, 1984 in Chengdu, Sichuan) is a Mainland Chinese pop singer. She rose to prominence after her third-place performance in the 2005 season of the Super Girl contest, a national all-female singing competition in the People's Republic of China.^[1] Throughout the competition, she sang in English, Spanish and Cantonese in addition to Mandarin Chinese.^[2] She is particularly known for her signature whistle register.

Zhang's debut album was titled The One and was produced by Craig Williams.^[3] Her next album, Update, broke away from the Chinese pop scene by combining elements of R&B and jazz.^[4] After the release of Update, Zhang participated in a World Peace One concert that was designed to increase awareness and activism for world peace, and to raise funds for humanitarian relief.^[5] Other participating artists included U2, Madonna, Pink Floyd and Green Day.^[6]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Her father was an engine attendant for a transportation company in Chengdu, and her mother was a shop assistant.^[7] During her childhood, she performed at her parents' workplace on several occasions. However, her parents divorced when she was 13; two years later, Zhang's father died. This forced her to work outside of school; she started to sing at a local public house, where her uncle played the accompaniments.^[8]

While performing at the pub, Zhang was exposed to a wide variety of music genres, and developed a taste for American country singers in addition to Western pop singers, such as Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera. Because she was unable to afford her own music players, Zhang frequently borrowed walkmans and headphones from her classmates, and skipped lunches to save enough money for cassettes.^[8] After graduating from college, she studied at Sichuan University's Foreign Language Department where she was majoring in English; she dropped out soon after to compete in the 2005 Super Girl competition.^[9]

2005: Super Girl competition[link]

Zhang auditioned for the Super Girl contest in 2005. Super Girl (simplified Chinese: 超级女声; traditional Chinese: 超級女聲) is the Chinese equivalent to the popular Idol franchise where only female contestants were allowed to participate.^[10][11] She auditioned in Chengdu, and after progressing through the preliminary rounds, she entered the national competition with Li Yuchun and He Jie (simplified Chinese: 何洁; traditional Chinese: 何潔).

Throughout the series, she had established a fan base whose members called themselves "Liang Fen" (Chinese: 凉粉), a phrase that combined the Chinese pronunciation of her name and the English word "fan." The term "Liang Fen" originated from Hong Kong years ago, but is now used to define a particular type of bean jelly snack in central China.^[10]

Zhang demonstrated her ability to sing in foreign languages, with performances of "I Still Believe,"^[12] "What's Up,"^[13] "Beautiful,"^[14] and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina."^[15] As such, she was recognized by judges, critics and musicians to be the most talented singer in this competition.^{[citation needed]} Some critics even regarded her as one of China's best artists.^[16] Nevertheless, she was not the most popular contestant among young supporters. Her final number of votes by text messaging was 1.3 million. Consequently, she placed third behind Li Yuchun and Zhou Bichang.^[17] Her loss did not come as a shock because Li and Zhou had garnered more popularity during the competition. Their creative eccentricity and tomboyish appearances triumphed over Zhang's "old, introverted, [and] pretty-girl" image.^[10][18]

Performances in Super Girl competition[link]

[edit] 2006: The One

After the competition ended, Zhang was invited to visit Sichuan University, her alma mater, during its orientation week celebration in early September. She performed her own rendition of Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" there.^[28] On September 26, 2005, she became the first Super Girl contestant to hold a personal music show for her fans. Numerous celebrities attended the show, including Huang Jianxiang, a host on CCTV's football shows, Phoenix TV host Zeng Zimo, and Taiwanese singer Sky Wu.^[29] Zhang also signed a contract with CCTV to play the supporting role in The Song of the Movie, a stage music show produced by Taiwan pop musician Jonathan Lee. Harlem Yu and Yuan Quan also starred in the musical, which opened in Beijing in December 2005 and later in Hong Kong.^[30]

On January 9, 2006, her first EP, Jane·Love (simplified Chinese: Jane·爱; traditional Chinese: Jane·愛) was released. The EP, which cost 2 million yuan to produce,^[31] contains six tracks in total: 3 songs and 3 instrumentals. In China alone, over 210,000 copies of the EP have been sold.^[32] On Forbes' China Celebrity 100 list, Zhang was placed 55th.^[33]

Her debut album, The One, was released on October 11, 2006, her 22nd birthday.^[34] During the production of the album, Zhang visited the United States to collaborate with music producers Craig Williams^[3] and Peter Hyams, the latter of whom had worked with Celine Dion and R. Kelly.^[35] The One contains ten songs, three of which are in English; the three English songs were produced by Williams.^[36]

She has also sung many popular theme songs for various films and series, including "Only for Love" (simplified Chinese: 我用所有报答爱; traditional Chinese: 我用所有報答愛) for the film The Banquet^[37] and "Unparalled in the World" (simplified Chinese: 天下无双; traditional Chinese: 天下無雙) for the TV series The Return of the Condor Heroes. The popularity of both songs was reflected on numerous Chinese music charts.^[38] "Only for Love", which was a collaboration with Chinese pianist Lang Lang,^[39] was nominated for Best Original Film Song at the 2007 Hong Kong Film Awards.^[40]

[edit] 2007: Update

In February 2007, she was invited by World Peace One (WP1) to join a hundred world-renowned singers and bands to record a song called "Give Your Love". This was aimed to bring attention to all cultures of the globe. This project aims to promote awareness of the poverty of third-world countries.^[41] Zhang was the only Asian female singer who received an invitation to participate^[42] and it was reported that Craig Williams recommended Zhang to the organiser of the event.^[36]

Zhang performed her first North American concert on March 31, 2007 in Pasadena, California.^[43] Famous Japanese musician Kitarō and Gavin Christopher also attended the concert, in which Gavin Christopher and Zhang sang I'll Be There together.^[44] On April 8, 2007, she was awarded the Best Singer Award in the 2007 Music Chart Awards ceremony was held in Beijing Exhibition Centre Theater.^[2]

Her July 28, 2007 concert in Beijing also set a record for the most expensive VIP seating for a mainland Chinese artist.^[45] She performed live versions of hit songs from The One, new songs from her second album Update, which was released in August 2007, as well as Richard Marx's signature ballad "Right Here Waiting" and Beyoncé Knowles's "Listen" from the award-winning Broadway musical Dreamgirls.^[46]

On August 2, 2007, her second album, Update was released. When asked about the album's name, Zhang explained that the album is an upgraded step from The One. The songs broke away from the Chinese pop scene by combining elements of R&B and jazz.^[4] One of her tracks, "We Are Together" (simplified Chinese: 我们在一起; traditional Chinese: 我們在一起), was produced for a project by the United Nations Children's Fund.^[46]

Zhang was invited, along with 130 other renowned Chinese performers^[47] such as Elva Hsiao, Joey Yung, Alan Tam, Wang Feng, Eason Chan, Hacken Lee and Jackie Chan^[48] to record "We Are Ready" in July 2007 for the countdown to the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was released on August 2.^[49] "We Are Ready" was composed by Peter Kam and Keith Chan,^[50] at the request of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), for the celebration of the one-year countdown to the start of the 2008 Olympics. On August 8, the artists who recorded the song gathered at Tiananmen Square, and performed the song live for the first time.^[51] In addition, Zhang, along with Wang Leehom, Stefanie Sun, and Wang Feng, recorded the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay, "Light the Passion, Share the Dream" (simplified Chinese: 点燃激情，传递梦想; traditional Chinese: 點燃激情 傳遞夢想).

Jane also performed the theme song, Huà Xīn (畫心; Painted Heart), for the movie Painted Skin (畫皮).

On December 8, 2007, Zhang performed a live concert in her hometown, Chengdu. She performed most hit songs from her two albums, The One and Update, together with songs from her newly released EP, Dear Jane.^[52]

Additionally, she also sang a promotional tourism song for Chengdu, titled "I Love This City".^[53]

[edit] 2009: Jane@Music

Jane@Music, Zhang's third album, was released in January 2009. She also accompanied Taiwan-based artist Leehom Wang in a duet in Wang's album Heart Beat.

Zhang made her American television singing debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show on May 11, 2009.^[54]

[edit] 2010: Believe in Jane

Believe in Jane, Zhang's fourth album, was released in February 2010. She also performed at the first annual New York China Film Festival, where she was awarded most popular Chinese singer.^[55] She further represented China in the 7th Asia Song Festival held in Korea^[56] and hosted her first fanmeet in Singapore in September 2010.^[57][58] In August, she begun her Believe in Jane tour with concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Tianjin.^[59] Jane further performed "I Believe" and "The Only" at ice-skating couple Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo's wedding. The latter was accompanied by a ice skating performance by the couple.^[60]

As a brand ambassador of Coca-Cola in China, she also collaborates with K'naan and Jacky Cheung in the Chinese version of Wavin' Flag for Coca-Cola's 2010 World Cup promotional tour at the 2010 Shanghai Expo on May 8, 2010.^[61][62] In October Zhang represented China and performed at the 7th Asia Song Festival, organised by Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.^[63]

A passionate vegetarian, Jane Zhang won the title of Asia’s Sexiest Vegetarian woman in 2010 in a poll by PETA-Asia Pacific.^[64]

Vocal ability[link]

Zhang, a spinto soprano, has been compared with other whistle register masters such as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Sarah Brightman.^[65] Her vocal ability ranges from the D below middle C to the G# above soprano C that was demonstrated in a duet song called "Another Heaven" (simplified Chinese: 另一个天堂; traditional Chinese: 另一個天堂) in Leehom Wang's album Heart Beat.^[66] She has been famous for singing in whistle register since her rendition of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You" when she was performing on Super Girl.^[67] As such, she has been given the nickname "The Dolphin Princess"^[68] as Chinese musicians refer to the whistle register as the dolphin vocal sound (Chinese: 海豚音).^[68]

Discography[link]

Charted songs[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]