Chinese YouTube Girl

OK, I found this video while wasting time on YouTube. I have no idea who this beautiful Chinese girl is, but she's definitely worth taking a look at.

Tang Wei: Back Fom Ban

Tang Wei (湯唯) is a Chinese actress who made her controversial debut in Lust, Caution, a Chinese film directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain). The espionage thriller takes place in Shanghai during the WWII period Japanese invasion of China. Tang played the role of Wong Chia Chi, an acting student who takes on a real-life role to seduce and set up for assassination a collaborator with the Japanese. For her debut role, Tang We won a Golden Horse award for Best New Performer.

Lust Caution features some pretty explicit sex scenes between Tang and her male co-star played by veteran actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai.

The Chinese government censorship authorities apparently thought the sex scenes were too explicit (or maybe they were concerned with some of the political content of the film). To be allowed to have the film shown in Chinese theaters, director Ang Lee edited the film although the unedited version is available outside mainland China (I imagine its also available in pirated DVDs in China). After the film was released, China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television banned media outlets in China from showing anything featuring Tang Wei.  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the ban said that "All television programs, including news, features, entertainment, advertising and live broadcasts, must not cover Tang Wei or stir up issues related to her from now on."

Here's a trailer video for Lust Caution:

Since Lust Caution was released in 2007, prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it seems to me that the Chinese government may have been trying to crack down on anything controversial that could possibly tarnish the clean Olympic image China wished to convey. Tang Wei was an unfortunate scapegoat, with her Pond's skincare commercial promptly taken off the air and her role in a big-budget historical film, The Warrior and the Wolf, lost (and filled by actress Maggie Q).

The ban certainly stalled Tang Wei's promising career, but hopefully has not ended it. Tang seems to have made the best of the situation by taking acting and English language classes in London. In late 2008, she applied for a Hong Kong passport. Although Hong Kong is part of China, it is largely self-governing and is also an Asian film industry center. Tang Wei recently appeared in Beijing for the first time since her ban at a fashion show (other Chinese actreeses included the gorgeous Shu Qi and Maggie Cheung). She is also supposed to be starring in a new film, Crossing Hennessy.

Legally Blonde in Korea

I guess to some extent everyone wants what they don't have which might explain why a lot of Asian woman want to be blonde. While I much prefer their natural hair color, some Korean actresses have a good excuse to try the blonde look since they're appearing in a Korean musical version of the hit Hollywood film, Legally Blonde.

The South Korean Legally Blonde musical is set to begin in November and is full of Korean stars. Dingy blonde lead character, Elle Woods is played by Jessica (Jessica Jung; 제시카 정) of the popular Girls Generation (소녀시대) pop group.  Some of Elle's sorority sisters are played by Kim Ji Woo (김지우) and the lovely Honey Lee (이하늬;Lee Ha-nui), 2007 Miss Korea. This is a bit confusing since some articles say that the three actresses will alternate in the starring Elle Woods role.

While I prefer that beautiful Korean women keep it natural and stick to looking Korean, I have to admit that these girls don't look bad as blondes.

Harumi Nemoto: Busty Gravure Idol

arumi Nemoto is one of the most popular gravure idols idols in Japan. Harumi has been featured in many DVDs and photo books since her modeling career began in 2001.

Harumi reportedly got her start modeling when she wrote a letter to the president of the Yellow Cab talent agency in Japan asking to be made a star. He was impressed with her body (hhmm, I wonder what caught his eye) and quickly signed her to a contract.

Harumi is obviously quite generously endowed with a very large pair of natural breasts which have played a major role in her popularity.

If you like what you see, you can join Harumi's Facebook fan club for more. You can also check her out in the video below - posing for photos in a boxing ring with another busty beauty, Yoko Matsugane.

Sassy Jeon Ji Hyun (Gianna Sun)

Jun Ji-hyun (전지현; aka Jeon Ji-hyeo, Gianna Sun) is a very popular South Korean actress, best known for her role in the Korean film My SassyGirl. Born is Seoul, Jun went to Dongguk University where she studied acting. She started working as a fashion model when she was 16 years old and then got some roles on Korean TV shows.

Jun began her film career in 1999 with White Valentine, followed by the popular Il Mare in 2000 (which was remade in Hollywood as The Lake House with Sandra Bullock).

Jun's best role was in the 2001 film My Sassy Girl, a romantic comedy in which Jun plays a drunk girl on a train. A guy helps her out which ends up getting him into all kinds of trouble, but of course its all worth for such a beautiful woman. Jun displays great presence in this role and its hard not to fall for her crazy chick character. My Sassy Girl was hugely popular throughout Asia and was remade in a Hollywood version in 2008 starring Elisha Cuthbert.

Other Korean film roles include Windstruck, a fantasy, romantic comedy (Jun plays a cop who mistakenly arrests a shy high school teacher, who of course is quickly enamored), Daisy, and A Man Who Was Superman (Jun plays a chainsmoking, documentary filmmaker who falls in love with a mentally challenged man who thinks he's Superman).

Recently, Jeon appeared in an English-language film, Blood: The Last Vampire under the name Gianna Jun. This is a different role for Jeon (or Gianna) since its a vampire, swordplay film. Here's a promotional video from the film with some action and interview footage. Her English is quite good and she looks sexy even slicing people in swordfighting scenes.

There's been a little bit of controversy about Jeon in Korea since Jeon has a Chinese father, originally from Taiwan. Jun is also sometimes known by her Chinese surname name "Wang" Ji-hyeon. Personally, I have no problem with the mix of Korean and Chinese and it certainly turned out quite well for Jeon (I actually there is a slight resemblence to stunningly beautiful Chinese actress Shu Qi).

Finally, here's a video clip of an tea advertisement. Now I like tea, but if drinking it was as sexy as this commercial makes it look, I'd never drink anything else!

Eva Huang Shengyi

Eva Huang Shengyi, 黄圣依 (aka Eva Huang or Eva Wong) is a beautiful young Chinese actress and singer. She was born in Shanghai on February 11, 1983. She studied acting and graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 2001.

In 2004, she landed her first film role playing the part of Fong, a mute girl in in Kung Fu Hustle directed by and staaring Stephen Chow. Eva also signed to Chow's company, but ended up in a legal battle after she did a magazine photo shoot without her agency's involvement, breaching her contract. Eva claimed she was misled into signing the contract and Chow's company wasn't doing a good enough job of getting her jobs. 

The lawsuit received a lot of publicity in China and by fighting it, she may have been risking her career since Chow is one of the most commercially succesful film producers in China and big talent companies usually have much more power than the actors they represent. The case was ultimately settled in 2007 and it was reported that she had to pay 6 million RMB (U.S. $1-1.5 million) although Eva denied this. Regardless, her popularity continued to increase as she appeared in other films such as Chinese comedy Call for Love and TV dramas.

Eva also got a record contract and released her self-titled album in 2007. Here's one of her music videos.

Not shying from being a bit independent and slightly controversial on ocassion, Eva also posed for the September 2008 issue of Maxim China. Although in itself, no big deal, the cover shot (below) shows Eva nude although covered up. This caused a bit of a stir in Chinese blogs since Chinese celebrities tend to portray fairly conservative images. Personally, I'm not at all offended by a beautiful woman posing nude if she chooses to do so and I wouldn't mind seeing more of Eva as I'm sure many other men would.

Finally, here's a Chinese beer commercial with Eva Huang which seems a bit more like a Zhang Yimou film than a typical beer commercial.

My Tam: Vietnamese Songstress

My Tam (Phan Thị Mỹ Tâm) is a famous Vietnamese pop singer. She was born in the Da Nang city in 1981 and studied vocal music at Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory.

In 2003, her third album Yesterday and Now proved to be the most successful album of her career and possibly for any Vietnamese artist. The album included the hit singles Wish and My Everlasting Love and sold 1 million copies.

In addition to her native country of Vietnam, My Tam has achieved a solid fan base in South Korea and has produced some of her recordings in Seoul. Although she's most known for pop ballads, she has also experimented with R&B and Hip-hop influenced songs.

My Tam has also used her celebrity to help others, establishing her charity organization, the My Tam Foundation, which provides scholarships to disadvantaged students in her hometown of Da Nang. If you'd like to hear some of her music, check out her MySpace page.

Zhang Ziyi: Exotic & Casual

Speaking of Zhangs (see previous entry about Chinese Miss World Zhang Zilin), here's a few photos of the best known Zhang - Zhang Ziyi. The beautiful Ms. Zhang is highly made up and looking very exotic for this Bazaar photo shoot.

And here's one of Zhang in a  more casual look, throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game in South Korea with a little glimpse of her midriff and shows that Ziyi is wearing a skimpy T-back underneath her jeans.

Zhang Zilin (张梓琳) won the Miss World beauty contest in 2007. Zhang has been modeling since 2003 and has done runway modeling in around the world, including Paris and Berlin.

Here's a Zilin's website, but its only in Chinese and she also has a Sina blog (also in Chinese only). Apparently, Zhang is 6 feet tall and as you can see has a slim, sleek and incredibly sexy figure as well as a gorgeous face.

Now many of us have probably been critical of some beauty pageants sincethe contestants we think are the most beautiful often don't end up winning. In this case, however, I have no hesitation accepting the decision of the Miss World judge's in selecting Zhang Zilin (I haven't seen any of the other contestants, but who cares - I don't need to).

Here's a video clip about the lovely Ms. Zhang and her winning the Miss World contest.