Old Star Takes New Star under Wing

Audiences have long since noticed over the past few years that a pretty girl has appeared in all the television blockbusters which star Zhang Guoli， an evergreen actor who is one of the most popular television stars in China over the past 20 some years. Some might have wondered who she is and how come she is so eye-catching and what is the relation between the young woman and veteran actor.

Answers to these questions and other questions can be easily found in this age of information. This beauty’s name is Han Yuqin; she is the only disciple of Zhang Guoli; she is his step daughter; she is also the first artist on the payroll of Beijing Guoli Changsheng Film and Television Company. Zhang Guoli is the boss of the company.

In 2005， Han Yuqin was just as anonymous as hundreds or even thousands of those young people who were promising but who lacked the opportunity to make it. She was between jobs at that time and was worried where the next acting job was when she was invited to audition from a casting manager for “New Biography of the Mad Monk”.

Han felt mystified. She hadn’t sent her resume to the casting manager. In fact， she had never heard of the television series. Nor did she believe the director Zhang Guoli know her personally. It was not until she ran into Zhang Guoli’s son Zhang Mo that she understood why.

Back in 2004 Han Yuqin had appeared in a television drama which also starred Zhang Mo. Impressed with the girl while watching his son’s performance in the television series， Zhang Guoli decided to cast her into his new play.

Han Yuqin was born into Hefei， the capital city of Anhui Province. She entered Beijing Film Academy in 1999. She began to appear in commercials after she was matriculated. She began to appear in televisions in her second year in college. For these appearances in showbiz， she had to turn part of her income to the college. Despite the big chunk of cash to the college， she still managed to get money to her mother， who did not believe there was so much money in showbiz. After hearing Han’s career development and anecdotes， Zhang laughed. He said he earned almost nothing from a few prize-winning films in the early years of his career.

The new role was a girl with some kongfu. Han practiced hard. But one day， Zhang Guoli found Han distracted and silent. She was not able to focus. Zhang was frustrated and asked her why. It turned out that she had worried that her grandmother was ill. Han’s mother had died when the daughter was 21. She was a single mother and Han Yuqin grew up with her mother and her mother’s mother. The old woman was the only one dear to her in this world. As she was worried， she was unable to focus. Zhang Guoli gave her a leave of five days. Three days later， Han was back. Her grandmother was all right and she traveled all the way by taxi to the shooting site after learning all the flights were canceled because of heavy fog in Hefei. Zhang Guoli was touched. The girl has a filial responsibility for her family and a responsibility for her work. That is something quite rare these days. Zhang Guoli signed her up for his company and decided to give her more opportunities in the future.

He does create opportunities for her and he does his best to give her a great future in showbiz. In “Great Life”， a television series， Zhang Guoli is the lead man and Han Yuqin is the lead woman. In one act， she jumps into the river and he fishes her out. The first thing she does after getting saved is to slap him in the face. Han Yu did not dare to slap her boss. Zhang Guoli encouraged her to be real. “To be a successful in acting， you need to get yourself thoroughly engaged in the drama and forget who you are in real life.” She got real and slapped her boss. Afterwards she felt guilt but somewhat relieved. She did not fear him so much any more from then on. She tells herself now and then “Why should I be afraid of him since I have dared to slap him?”

But Zhang was always finding faults with her acting. In shooting “Great Life”， Zhang Guoli often let his disapproval and dissatisfaction publicly known but he frequently praised Zhao Tao， a lead woman who had starred in a few very good films directed by Jia Zhangke. Felt wronged and grieved， Han Yuqin sometimes cried for this seemingly unfair treatment. One day， she lost her temper and said she hated Zhao. Zhao Tao was all cool with the unexpected emotional explosion. She explained， “Every actor needs to mature through difficulties. In my early days I was disapproved so much by director Jia Zhangke that I even seriously thought to kill myself. But facts have proved that he was right. I am grateful for his criticism.” One day， Han Yuqin had a chance to take a glance at Zhao’s script and found Zhao had done thorough homework and penned analyses and annotations in meticulous handwriting on back of all these pages. Han realized that she hadn’t worked as hard as Zhao. From then on， she began to work harder and gradually she found Zhang’s dissatisfaction with her acting was bearable.

Zhang Guoli spares no efforts to coach her and give her ideas how to be perfect about acting. His motto: there are one hundred ways to interpret one event， but there is only one way that is correct. An actor needs to find that correct way. In September 2009， Zhang as a director was shooting a television drama at Chongqing University. Han Yuqin acted as a lead woman. In one scene， she was supposed to call for help after finding water was leaking from the ceiling of her dormitory room. Han tried several times but Zhang Guoli was dissatisfied with her acting. Zhang Guoli then explained why she should look at the leaking ceiling while making the emergency phone call for help and why she should speak words fast enough to indicate the urgency.

Marriage

On the recommendation of Zhang Guoli， Han Yuqin went to Hong Kong in March 2009 to take part in the shooting of “Assassins”. Han acted as wife to Richie Ren， the lead actor in the movie. They became good friends. One day， Richie Ren mentioned in a casual chat that he thought his good friend in Taiwan would be good to recommend to Han Yuqin. Ren was serious but Han thought she should not take it seriously.

Zhang Guoli took it seriously. One day， Richie Ren came to visit Zhang Guoli and Han at a shooting site on the mainland. Zhang Guoli asked Ren why Ren as a go-between did honor his promise. Ren explained that he was too busy but he would follow up and make arrangements for his friend and Han Yuqin to meet.

With arrangements of Richie Ren， Eddie Chen Ying-Chieh met Han Yuqin. Just as Ren had predicted， they hit off immediately and fell in love. They dated for half a year and decided to get married. Eddie Chen grew up with Richie Ren and used to be a member of Ren’s band. But Han Yuqin at first did not know that Eddie Chen is now president of Daphne Group， a giant shoe business that runs more than 4，000 retail shops in China. Han as a contracted actress needed to get approval from Zhang Guoli before she could get married. Zhang Guoli said he was very happy and he would give Han a big cash envelop. He never dreamed of objecting the marriage.

May 23， 2010， Han Yuqin and Chen Ying-Chieh got married in Shanghai. □