150519 Full Article for Luhan in Forbes China 2015

[Miekos]

 

Luhan's Past, Present and Future

 

Past: Chinese member of Korean boy group EXO's lead vocal, lead dancer and visual.

 

Present: Youth idol with most fan appeal in China; number of Weibo comments that created a Guinness

world record; the movie he participated in <Back to 20> easily earned 3.7 million ticket box numbers.

 

Future: Trend culture symbol that represents the youth generation in China; earnest, the pursuing spirit is

enjoyable, willing to pay a premium for the things he likes, and not only seeking the practical components

of the item.

 

"Coming Face to Face with Luhan"

 

Luhan was born in 1990, April 20th; he is a typical Beijing boy. Because he has "good looks", Luhan was popular

even during high school. Currently the biggest fan base from Luhan; Luhan's juniors made Baidu Luhan Bar

before he even became an artist. Luhan's dreams when he was little was to become a soccer player, he is a

fan of Manchester United. Until now, Luhan will secretly go play soccer during the gaps between his activities.

He think what attracts about Manchester United is that they never give up when playing a game, the red

devil spirit of continuing till the end; this spirit has always been inspiring Luhan. After high school, he decided

to go to Korea to learn art, his best friend joked: "I thought you went to play soccer, but then you became a

singer."

 

To his friends, Luhan is a cute and friendly person, at times pose as a true "Beijing man", for example, when

the interviewer asked him where he would take his girlfriend on a date, he will naturally say "I will take her to

Tiananmen". But Luhan's personality in real life is a little introverted, he does more, talks less. Even though he

is recognized as a person who have "good looks", but Luhan always thinks this is only something that adds

points, because in the process of becoming a singer he worked really hard. Even though he was lucky, but

there was sweat and tears.

In the eyes of Lufan, Luhan is very cute and real, for example, Luhan will post some photos that look weird

and funny in fan's eyes, but still really enjoy it. He will always laugh not caring about his image; he doesn't

care if this will cause "his chin to fall off". Luhan will also do some foolish acts, for example his height is

178cm, not too tall in his group, but when he was taking a photo with his members, he quietly tiptoed, and

didn't know it was a full-body photo, so he was immediately "caught". But in the fans' eyes, this kind of idol is

more real and cute.

But, when you come face to face with Luhan, apart from the big and tall bodyguards beside him, it will be hard

to realize that this delicate and pretty big boy is already a hot celebrity in the entertainment industry. In the

gap between filming an advertisement, Luhan was sitting quietly by the side scrolling through Weibo. "He

basically doesn't have any celebrity frame, he's very polite and generous to everyone." People who have

worked with Luhan commented on hime like this. Actually until now, Luhan doesn't have the feeling that he

has become a big star, he also doesn't understand why he has such big fan appeal, "There is definitely

pressure, feeling that the responsibility is very big and heavy. The fan's enthusiasm is encouragement for

me." Luhan said.

 

Behind the Luhan phenomenon

Luhan's fans showed the characteristic of youth of the 90s: social networking culture, strong participation,

and the willingness to pay for the things they like. The Luhan phenomenon can only be born in the social

networking generation, especially after Facebook, Weibo, Twitter and other social networking sites were

made. The idol Luhan who is like his fans, they were born and grew up in a generation with better foundation

base, because of this, they are earnest on the inside, they are willing to enjoy the process of pursing

something, even if this will not bring them any money benefit. This kind of generation's characteristic is on

the decision to buy and spend; they are willing to pay a premium for the things they like, and not seeking

the practical components of the item.

 

cr. trans. ludeerstar

 

Interview (Already posted this one)

 

Q. Do you feel like you rose to fame overnight? When did you feel that you're a big star? What do you

think is the reason you are where you are today?

 

Luhan: No, even now I don't think I'm a big star. I don't feel anything that strongly. I think it's a combination

of serious effort and luck, and it wouldn't have been without either of the two.

Q. Why do you have such immense influence (as in, being able to gather people to work towards a cause)?

Have you thought about this?

Luhan: Um... actually, I've always thought that maybe there is something I can do for everyone, something

positive like charity work with my fans.

Q. Having such strong influence with your fans, do you feel a lot of pressure? How do you perceive the fans'

passion?

Luhan: Of course there's pressure, and it feels like (my) responsibility is really big and really heavy. For me,

the fans' passion is encouragement, and I am grateful.

Q. Are you satisfied with your acting in "Back to 20"?

Luhan: Um, I wouldn't say satisfied. I'm still a rookie, so I can't comment on myself. (Staff joking: He often

says that he has no acting skills, and is just appearing as he is). Yeah, I don't really have these acting skills,

I still need to learn.

 

Q. How do you rather the other actors in "Back to 20"?

Luhan: I've learned so much from them, they're all very nice people, and would teach me things of their own

accord. They would tell me not to be nervous, how to better act out a part, how to try things, and they looked

after me really well.

 

Q. Do you feel that acting is more challenging than singing?

Luhan: (laughs) Right now, it (the challenge) is pretty big. I made my debut as a singer, and I practiced

singing and dancing. Acting was something I had no training in, so it was a pretty big challenge. But I think

it's very interesting, so I want to continue trying and challenging it.

Q. What kind of image do you want to establish (as in, in terms of acting roles)?

Luhan: Even though I'm already taking acting classes, discussing acting skills and "establishing character

image" is too early. My first goal is to be natural, and after I garner experience, I can think about how to

better establish a character image.

 

Q. What kind of role do you want to play?

Luhan: I want to try different kinds of roles.

Q. How do you choose your movies?

Luhan: This... (thinks) I'm a newcomer when it comes to movies and I don't understand scripts that well, so

I leave it to those who do understand.

 

Q. You're now a celebrity with influence on fans. What kind of image do you want to present to the public?

Luhan: Ah?! A good image, be a good role model, an upright young man. A positive upright young man!

Q. What do you wish for fans to see in you?

Luhan: I think it would still be the charity side. Also, dreams. I believe as long as you persist in your dreams

and don't give up, they will come true.

 

Q. Why do you care so much about charity?

Luhan: I tend to get softhearted easily.

Q. Your childhood dream?

Luhan: To be a soccer (football) player.

 

Q. Is it still the same?

Luhan: It's already too late now, I'm too old, can't play profesionally anymore.

 

Q. Do you know that your fans have already left 42 million comments in your Manchester United Weibo post?

 

Luhan: (Claps) They're always even more committed than me.

Q. Why do you like Manchester United?

Luhan: Manchester United has a lot of major stars, when they play, even when they fall behind they don't

despair and persist to the end, they don't give up even right up to the last minute of the match. That red devil

spirit (thinks) moved me (laughs).

 

Q. What kind of books do you like to read?

Luhan: I like the story type, novel type, or manga. (Staff: Why don't you just straight up stay manga...) I

read novels too okay? I like horror, thriller, suspense genres. Can I say that I also want to read Quantum

Physics and A Brief History of Time? (laughs) Wasn't there a Four Global Horror Stories on Weibo? I clicked

it, and the first three were all normal horror stories. I saw them saying that you'll really be scared when you

see the fourth, so I looked, and it turned out to be advanced math, hahahaha.

Q. What about movies and TV shows?

Luhan: I also like horror and suspense genres, the kind where I can't guess the ending.

Q. Will you try these kind of movies?

Luhan: In the future I will try them.

 

Q. What kind of music do you like?

Luhan: I like all kinds of music. My favorite is R&B, followed by ballad.

Q. How do you view the music industry trend? What do you think about some very talented artists who don't

have nearly your level of influence?

Luhan: We are in the era of the internet, music will also have to adapt to the new format offered by the

internet. Good music will definitely be appreciated, but perhaps the group of people will be different.

 

Q. Everyone says your face value is very high (as in, very good-looking), how do you see the question of

face value?

Luhan: Face value? I think it's only a category for bonus points, the important thing is still to see if the person

has inner beauty. Face is just a bonus, and I can't do anything about the face, it's not my fault. Haha, I'm

joking, joking! (Staff: So you mean to say "it's not my fault I'm good looking~")

 

[sebbula]

Nice read, I think it highlights Luhan perfectly, in terms of both personality and demeanor. I'm excited to see what he'll do in the future as always! also inb4 salty comments from ppl who can't take the fact that Luhan is receiving praise left and right, we all saw how that last thread turned out 

[Little Prince ☆]

Ah ah ah, this makes me so excited for his career growth for the rest of this year. I want to see how he'll develop and advance as a celebrity. Looking forward to seeing the 'Luhan phenomenon' growing and ofc, anticipating all his works 

[shady]

[krysbi]

 

[Hypocrites]

[FrenchFries]

"He basically doesn't have any celebrity frame, he's very polite and generous to everyone." 

 

 

I love it when interviews include lines like this and not just the artist's appearance.   I am being greatly affected by the Luhan phenomenon tbh. 

[yabarthe]

 

Luhan will also do some foolish acts, for example his height is 178cm, not too tall in his group, but when he was taking a photo with his members, he quietly tiptoed, and didn't know it was a full-body photo, so he was immediately "caught". But in the fans' eyes, this kind of idol is more real and cute.

[kaleidostar]

So cute that he needed to tiptoe on some photos so that he'd become a bit taller 

[sempire]

Yes!! Get all the praise Luhan