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Han Geng: how China’s first K-pop star went from Super Junior to the silver screen and beyond

  • Han was signed by SM Entertainment in 2002 and joined Super Junior, debuting in 2005 in South Korea and playing China in 2008
  • After taking SM Entertainment to court to terminate his contract, Han embarked on a solo singing career and got into the film business

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China’s original K-pop star, Han Geng, performs at a solo concert at the Beijing Exhibition Centre in 2010 in Beijing. Photo: Getty Images

Although he is no longer the biggest music sensation in China, no one would deny that Han Geng, who turns 36 on Sunday, has earned a place in Chinese pop culture history. That’s because Han was the first singer from the country to make it big in a K-pop band.

China got its first taste of South Korean pop music in the late 1990s. The first K-pop bands, as they became known, were formed by SM Entertainment – H.O.T. (1996) and Shinhwa (1998), and the first girl group, S. E. S (1997) – which attracted fan bases in China.

Han, who had mastered traditional Chinese dance, ballet and martial arts, became a part of this new trend in 2002 after singing up for SM Entertainment’s H.O.T. China Audition the previous year.

The company’s founder, Lee Soo-man, had ambitions to build an empire based on K-pop and had gone in search of good-looking and talented youngsters. Han was one of the few candidates who stood out among the 3,000 hopefuls, and was given a trainee place in the K-pop idol-making machine.

Super Junior at Zenith de Paris in France. Photo: Getty Images
Super Junior at Zenith de Paris in France. Photo: Getty Images
Han made his debut in South Korea in 2005 as a member of the boy band Super Junior, which went on to gain international recognition. As a foreigner in South Korea, however, Han’s television appearances in the country were limited as a result of visa restrictions.
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