Toughened up after training, a strong youth In February, Han Geng will turn 27 years old. However, the route of hard work and challenges that he went through was already in its fifteen year. Some said that he will be able to write a really thick book and, his resume will be a thick stack of paper:
In 1996, Han Geng came to Bei Jing alone from Hei Long Jiang and specialized in ethnic traditional dances. In addition, he took on ballet and martial arts. In 2001, he took part in an audition in China held by SM Entertainment. By the ratio of 3000:1, he surfaced as the winner. In March 2003, Han Geng, who was only 19 years old, he went to Korea, joined SM Entertainment as a trainee and underwent all sort of training. In November 2005, tackling the Asia market, Super Junior debuted. Among these 13 talented newcomers, Han Geng is the only Chinese member. He is the first person from China to debut in Korea and, this is when his hot and rough route in the entertainment industry started.
He had been working very hard in Korea from 19 to 25 years old. He made his mark in Korea as an artiste from overseas. In this stressful and difficult process, Han Geng is the survivor of the harsh training in the Korean entertainment industry but at the same time, he is also the sacrificial product in this industry. He persisted for 5 years in a foreign country, he finally says ‘no’ bravely, shouldering all the accusations and chose to leave. In 21st December 2009, Han Geng announced to terminate his contract with his Korean management company. He won the case after a full year. This whole year, he created a miracle in which his concert tickets were sold out in 37 minutes and also became the ‘Asia’s popularity king’ in a shocking speed. When he was still a 12 years old boy, he started to lead a wandering life that was different compared to the other people of the same age and experienced hardship. His life experiences were also built up throughout the years of challenges.
Make a Choice What does making a choice mean, what big will its impact be on my life? I made the biggest decision in my life when I am still not clear what does it mean exactly to make a decision. After I graduated, I am lost and confused. There is a department (T/N: This department uses singing, dancing and acting for promotion, probably to promote the army) in the army who wanted to hire me. The basic pay they offered was 4500RMB and they would also provide an apartment. When my mother heard of this, she was very happy but I do not want the job. I wanted to try it out in Korea. I decided that I am still young and I want to give it a try outside China. If it didn’t work out, I would just come back for university or to be a teacher. But at that time, I chose the most dangerous and unknown route.
I was still 18 years old then. There were certain clauses on the contract that I do not understand and, before my father sign the contract, he asked me: Are you sure? He said, son, whatever decision you made in your life, you would need to bear all the consequences yourself. I said that I have decided. My father signed the contract and said: I sold my son by signing this contract. At the time, when my father said that, it was like he was joking with me.
Hardships In Korea, the culture and communication barrier would definitely be there. There were not many chances, not much earnings, and no friends that I can completely give my heart to. All these became a burden and stress in me. I wanted to work happily and I wanted to work where everyone cooperates with each other. But the company is closely tied with the artistes; they do not give the artiste any rights, respect and chances to input their own thoughts. There was a period that even picking up my phone was frustrating, going to work was even more frustrating. In this period of unhappiness, I chose to shut my emotions and, I kept myself from saying ‘no’. My grandfather told me not to keep everything to myself because it is not good for our body. He asked me to chat with my friends over some beers. So, I went for a beer with my friends, I drank cup after cup but I still can control myself and I really do not want to say anything. But after that, I started crying, I cried so hard that I am unable to catch my breath, but in my heart, I am still clear. I tolerated and struggled for a year and made this decision only when I cannot take it anymore. Thinking about the brothers and sisters who worked with me last time, they are really nice people. Some asked why am I like this, some of them do not understand and said that I am ungrateful. Thinking about all these, it made me really sad. There are many things that I do not need to do it for people to see, if my conscience is clear then its fine. The day I filed to terminate my contract, I went to Li Jiang. Actually, I wanted to calm myself down, learn English and exercise but I realized that I cannot stop and, I still like to prove myself through my works. In the first year of being a solo artiste, I had three ‘first time’: releasing a solo album, holding a solo concert and filming my first movie. In July 2010, I stood on my stage, the stage that represented me, my personal stage. The memories of that concert are still clear in my head.
Contract Termination Since young, training had been tough, I have been thinking that going overseas would be a little more relaxed. Afterall, last time, I stayed with 7 other people in the dormitory previously and now, only 2 others. Foods and shelter is provided, it would be better, at least. But when I got there, I have trainings for 20 hours every day and I face competition and elimination all the time. Although I have dancing foundation but I need to go through different kinds of tough training. Once, when I was doing push-ups, my arm felt really uncomfortable so I went to the hospital for examination and the doctor asked that why did I only come now because, my arm was already fractured 2 months ago.
When I am still studying in China, I told my parents that I would not take a single cent from them after I graduated. But when I was overseas, my living condition was still not improved and I had no money to buy bed sheets and blankets so I asked for 500 dollars (RMB?) from my mother. During the one year I was waiting to go Korea, whenever there is any opening ceremony of shopping mall or product release press conference, we would have the chance to dance. And, at each time, we would have around 50RMB to 100RMB as our pay. After that, I joined Shenzhen dance troupe as a temporary actors, ate several times under the ‘Window of the World’. I have never been to the top before so when I was up there in 2008, when I was an Olympics torch bearer, the memories just come one by one. Those are my valuable experiences and it made who I am now.
BeatingsWhen I was young, I was beaten by my father, and it always leaves a deep impression in me. I was really naughty when I was still young. There were many cases of me getting into fights and troubles. But there was once that I made a serious mistake – I took some money from home without any permission. I think I was not even 10 years old that time. I reached home after school one day and saw my mother cooking in the kitchen. So, I crept across quietly to the doorway and took the changes my mother got after she went to the market. My father caught me and asked: What are you holding in your hand? Show it to me! I was really embarrassed and stretched out my hand. In my hand, it was a crumpled 2 dollar note and my father was furious. He got the leather belt with a bronze buckle that was given to him by the army and started to beat me on my bottom. The belt snapped after that. After this big and powerful punishment, I always remembered that this is a bad behavior and it was really shameful. After that incident, my father would always test me. He would leave a 50 cents or 1 dollar coin on the shoe rack at my door. He wanted to see if I would take it, and I would always take it that I never see it there.
MoviePreviously, I read a lot of movie scripts and I really love the script of <My Kingdom>. The character in the movie is rather similar to me. I don’t like to talk much, is an introvert, keep everything to myself but I know what I am doing. It is possible that many people are just like this character but, just that the background and era that is different. I love to perform since young and I always dream to be an actor. So this time, I really want to learn as much as I can in this process. From the other actors, actresses and my director, I put in all my heart to learn and I can gain a lot of experience from it. I am really excited to work with Sammo Hung and challenged myself with martial fighting. I was very excited and also gave my utmost best for it. Everyone called me ‘fresh and vigorous seafood’. Because I had foundations for martial arts and dancing, I know most of the actions but I haven’t been practicing it for a while so I injured my muscles just after 3 or 4 days of filming. I had to rest for 2 weeks…… but my interest towards the big silver screen, started with dynamics. In the future, I would continue to work hard for my dream.
Gengfans In 2006, I finally got a chance to go back to China after being overseas for 2 years. Korea KBS TV Channel wanted to follow me to do a recording for ‘A Trip to China’. Fans from China have been following my news closely on the internet. They guessed that this is a test by my company to check on my popularity and wanted to let the Koreans know that I already have a fan base in China. When I stepped out from the airport, I saw so many fans at the airport, waiting to fetch me, I was shocked. ‘Gengfans’ have been accompanying me since my debut, no matter what I experienced, happy or not. <Wings of Love> in my new album is a surprise present from ‘Gengfans’, they composed the music and wrote the lyrics themselves. ‘Gengfans’ from 30 different places sang with me and appeared in the music video together, this is the best present we can give to each other. In the song, there is our promise of 20 years and there is also the spread of love. My ‘Gengfans’ persisted and have been doing charity works for 4 years. They expressed concern and love during major natural disaster, at the same time, they would go to primary school, old folks’ home and orphanage to help all those in need. They usually would film the process and burn it into a CD as a present for me and every time I watched it, I would cry. There are both males and females in my group of ‘Gengfans’, but they are all very courteous and orderly. They would keep a distance from you and express their innermost concern for you. My ‘Gengfans’ are the best fans.
Brothers To be honest, I don’t want people to look at me as an idol. To me, the most important thing is to come up with good items and have a unique personality. If someone were to ask me which is the most important – money, friendship and love? I would definitely answer that friendship is the most important. The entertainment industry in Korea is very mature, if I wanted fame and money, I would have just stayed there. But I do not like the environment there. What I need is everyone is happy working together, doing different things but have the same goal in mind. I do not know that if I am mature or not. I feel that a mature man should have a steady personality. By my side now, my manager and friends were all my classmates from 10 years ago. I can feel the trust and respect from each other. We are all working in the different industry but every time we gather together, it felt really good. Working together with my close friends, I felt much more practical. I like that feeling of everyone working, walking and improving together.
Mother After I started schooling in Beijing at the age of 12, both my parents travelled to the southern part from the north to work, in order to earn my school fees and my daily allowance. After that, my mother came to Beijing, she rented a small apartment and goes to the electronic store to work and had to stand for the whole day. Once, when I was home, my mother was making dumplings for me and when she was chopping the fillings of the dumplings, the knife slipped and dropped on her swollen leg, I was so sad and felt really sorry. At that time, no matter how hard is it for me overseas, I must work hard, I don’t want my mother to work so hard anymore. When I am on the phone with my mother that time, I would only cry. On the other side, my mother would cry as well and she said: ‘Son, if it is really hard on you, just come back. It is really okay for me to work harder.’ But in my heart, I told myself that I must persist on, at least I can lighten the financial burden of my family. In 2007, I used the first 100K I earned and opened a dumpling restaurant in Beijing for my mother. Although there is only 8 tables but my mother is very happy. When I was in Korea, I always go to a restaurant named ‘Mei Hua’ to have my meals so my mother named her restaurant as ‘Mei Hua Jia Ren’, a heart-warming name. Sometimes, I like to bring my mother around for shopping. I would ask her to try it on if she sees clothes that she like but after trying, she would say that it is good but it is too expensive and didn’t want to buy it. After that, I would pay for it secretly and let her bring the clothes home……when I was in elementary school, my mother took a course for beauty (T/N: facial and more). She always wanted to open a beauty salon so I am very happy that I can fulfill her wishes. My mother’s health is not very good now, I hope that I can have more time to be with her.
Love Before I went to Korea, I was in a relationship. The girl was from my hometown, she was my classmate and she learnt ballet. At that time, we have nothing. We had to pay for each other for taking the bus. We were together for 4 years. It was a pure and simple love. I remembered that I helped to hold the umbrella for her. And, during winter, it was really cold and we held hands, took the bus and changed to take the train. Then, we reached home and had dinner together, it felt really warm. First love is really a beautiful happiness. But, I think the correct time and place are needed for love to happen. Now, to me, this is just like a dream that would be difficult to come true, I shall just let nature takes its course. What I want is a simple love. To be together our whole life, just like my parents, understand and trust each other. I don’t need the love to be vigorous and dynamic, just smooth and simple will do. I hope that I can get married after the age of 35, I shouldn’t be as busy as I am now, I guess? Like this, I can calm myself and live everyday practically.
Source: Baidu Gengbar
Shared by: sltan @ geng-bao.net
Translated by: huiwensg @ geng-bao.net
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