Introducing Jay Chou To the Non-Asia World

In America, I often overlook what's hot in the rest of the world and are sometimes under the belief that all stars come out of Hollywood.


So many forget that a large portion of our superstars and best actors are actually from the UK (Sean Connery, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Hugh Grant, Anthony Hopkins), Down Under (Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman), Ireland (Colin Farrell, Daniel Day Lewis), or even S. Africa (Charlize Theron).

Yes, it's true, mention Tom Cruise, Madonna, Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts anywhere on the globe and the locals are sure to know who you're talking about - But try mentioning Zac Efron, Jay Leno, Martha Stewart or Sarah Jessica Parker (the list could go on forever) and you'd draw blank stares.

Well, I deliver to you the 29-year-old superstar... Jay Chou. He is probably more famous in China, Singapore, Malaysia, his native Taiwan, and the rest of eastern Asia than all of the above stars combined. The basketball giant Yao Ming is probably the only one who exceeds Jay's popularity in China. [More...]

Jay Chou is a huge pop, hip hop, and movie star. I remembered seeing his pic on the cover of a magazine and inquiring who he was. My friend, who had previously lived in Taipei, told me he was "the biggest thing to hit Asia since instant ramen." I didn't think much about it until my mother went to Shanghai and saw his face plastered in every magazine and across countless billboards on buildings, in the subway, and along most streets. He represents everything from the aforementioned ramen, to clothing, to fine jewelry - You name it, his face is hawking it.

With a sold out show at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. a couple years ago, the importance of the Chinese market in the new global economy, and his recent success with China's no.1 foreign film this year (Kung Fu Dunk, from Taiwan), it will be interesting to see what Hollywood has in store for him.

You might remember him best as the heroic son of Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat in the beautiful Chinese film Curse of the Golden Flower. From that movie came his international pop mega-hit that is played in every karaoke house in Asia . I had to listen to my friends belt it out countless times as part of their master seduction of women. That's one of the secret tricks of expats in Japan and China - phonetically learn a romantic song in the country's native tongue and girls are sure to swoon. *Attention Male Readers* - Start practicing his song and you're sure to be as popular with the ladies in China as Tommy Lee is with the bimbos stateside. =)

Ran