Difference between revisions of "Han Han"

Latest revision as of 08:59, 5 December 2012

This article will be published after the Harvard literary history of China publication.

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-'''Han Han'''
+This article will be published after the Harvard literary history of China publication.
-Critical Surrealist
-[[File:Han Han 2.jpg|400px|thumb|left| Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12P212SVbF-K358.jpg] for original source]]
-[[User:Mattstrock|Mattstrock]] 17:44, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
-== Life of Han Han ==
-* Han Han (simplified Chinese: 韩寒; traditional Chinese: 韓寒) was born September 23, 1982 of relatively humble beginnings to a middle class family, Han Han has become the number one blogger in China (and quite possibly the world with 500 million followers). He is an author of five best selling novels, founder and executive editor of the magazine "Party," a driver on the rally racing circuit, and even a singer, songer writer, and producer. And yet, he didn't even graduate high school. In May 2010, Han Han was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In September 2010, British magazine New Statesman listed Han Han at 48th place in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".
-* Han's first essay, "Unhappy Days," was published when he was attending junior high. He was admitted to Shanghai's Song Jiang No. 2 High School only based on his sporting achievements. During his first year of high school (1999), Han won first prize in China's New Concept Writing Competition with his essay, "Seeing Ourselves in a Cup," on the Chinese national character. This particular essay is what sparked Han's stardom. He heavily criticized the Chinese culture comparing the people to a ball of paper dissolving in a glass of water. Just as the paper dissolved so too are the people dissolving. Han Han quoted writers such as Lu Xun and even latin. After achieving the spotlight for his academic genius, he still failed seven subjects at the year-end examination. He subsequently was retained for a year in school. This incident was reported in the media and ignited a heated debate on China's "quality education" policy, whether holistic or specialized learning should be implemented in schools, as well as other educational issues. Han Han clearly demonstrated academic brilliance, and yet he was unable to succeed in the traditional Chinese education. Han has since become a symbol of the shortfalls of the Chinese education. Following another seven subject failure in the second year examinations, Han ultimately quit school.
-* After dropping out of school, Han worked on a series of essays – "One Degree Below Freezing"; "Press Release 2003"; "And I Drift"; and "Miscellaneous Essays." His essays were accepted into various publications. Han's first novel, ''Triple Door'', on life as a third-year junior high school student in Shanghai, raised his prominence in China outside Shanghai. With over twenty million copies printed, this novel is China's bestselling literary work in the last 20 years. Other novels – ''Like a Speeding Youth, Riot in Chang'an City, A Fortress, Glory Days,'' and ''His Kingdom'' were also published during this time.
-Fueled by his love of racing, Han became a professional rally driver and wrote less frequently. However, he continued to blog on current affairs, with some articles attracting a large number of readers and sparking intense debates.
-<h3>Han Han's Writing</h3>
-Han Han cleverly utilizes humor and satire to criticize Chinese society. He typically writes of problems experienced by the youth of his generation (possibly the reason for his popularity) depicting the shortfalls of society and the education system. He is considered a "critical surrealist" for the way in which he criticizes society through his depictions of real life often containing a few elements of fiction. This method helps youth relate to what is being read, and yet as such the criticizing is more implicit. As a writer in China, Han Han takes many risks in his critical approach. One may wonder why he hasn't "disappeared" as many other critical writers have in the current Chinese society. He often has blogs and other writings taken down because of their content, and although he says it is just part of being Chinese, the risk is still present that one day it won't just be his writing that is taken down. His popularity is a safeguard and definitely helps in his overall protection, but there are others (maybe not as popular) who have disappeared for what they've written (Xu Zhiyong, Jitian, Teng Biao, Li Xiongbing, Li Fangping, and Jiang Tianyong to name a few recent disappearances). Often they return weeks or months later, but there is always the possibility they won't return at all.
- (Click [citation] for original source)
-[[File:Han_Han_3.jpg|200px|thumb|right| Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Han_Han.jpg] for original source]]
-== Motivations ==
-Han Han's father, Han Renjun, from an early age encouraged Han Han to memorize characters and read both classical Chinese books as well as moderen books published before 1949 (Renjun did not consider literature after 1949 worth reading). In addition, Han Han also read western literature in Chinese translation. As a result of this early literary education, Han Han was instilled with a critical mind. In other words, the influence that this education had on him, eventually created a figure that could incite the minds of the Chinese society moreso than any other in his generation. Han's writing is unique in its attempt to criticize; although he can be explicit in his opinions, often Han appears to object to issues with the sole purpose of helping the Chinese society think. Rather than purely objecting, he merely helps people to see things from a different perspective. Han Han has been compared to a modern day Plato in that sense. In a society where most people are forced to think one way, Han Han has become a glimpse of light and a breathe of fresh air offering new perspectives to incite the mind.
-== Controversy==
-There are various controversies surrounding the writings of Han Han. Because of his blatant objection to Chinese society it is often conjectured that those who oppose his writings are secretly working with the government and do so in an effort to downplay what he says. This is purely conjecture as there is no proof for or against this notion. However, the possibility still stands that those who oppose him do so from pressure of the government.
-<h3>The Han-Bai Controversy</h3>
-On 2 March 2006, Chinese literary critic and bookseller Bai Ye published a blog post entitled, "Status and Future of the Post-80 Generation," which was a harsh criticism of the works of writers born in the 1980–1989 period. Han responded critically with his online article "The 'Literary Circle' Is Bullshit, Don't Act Pretentious." This exchange escalated into the "Han-Bai controversy," with both sides arguing on issues such as the post-80 classification, whether the works of post-80s qualified as literature and whether post-80 writers should be considered real writers.[10]
-On 4 March 2006, Bai published an online article entitled My Declaration – a Reply to Han Han, stating that Han's articles in this exchange had crossed the boundaries of literary debate into the realm of humiliation and personal attack.[11] Subsequently, writer Lu Tianming, his director son Lu Chuan, and musician Gao Xiaosong, entered the debate, which became the focus of the online community for a time. Han debated with the above personalities on his blog until the debate finally concluded with Bai, Lu Tianming, Lu Chuan, and Gao shutting down their personal blogs.[12][13][14]
-<h3>Ghostwriting Allegation</h3>
-On 15 January 2012, the blogger, technology entrepreneur, and former Baidu employee Mai Tian alleged in a blog post that the majority of Han's work was produced by a team of ghostwriters. Mai Tian claimed that Han Han's early work, including Triple Door, was in fact produced by Han's father, Han Renjun, a literature aficionado who was forced to leave university due to his condition of Hepatitis B. In addition, Mai Tian accused Han's publisher Lu Jinbo of leading a ghostwriting team that produced and published most of Han's work; Mai also questioned how Han was able to become a nationally acclaimed writer while maintaining fitness to participate in many high-level rally races. Han categorically denied the claims in a blog post dated 16 January 2012, and Mai Tian had since removed the post from his blog and formally apologized to Han on 18 January 2012.[19]
-On 16 January 2012, the Chinese scientific author and anti-fraud crusader Fang Zhouzi published a blog post, in which Fang concurred with Mai Tian and further raised questions on the plausibility of Han's works. Despite Mai Tian's retraction of his statements against Han, Fang continued to assert that Han's work was produced by ghostwriters. Han again denied Fang's claims and sued Fang for defamation on 29 January 2012. Besides Fang, Han also sued a man named Liu Mingze, who is said to have forwarded an article claiming that Han's work was produced by a team of ghostwriters. However, Han withdrew his prosecution a few days after the prosecution was accepted by the Putuo courthouse of Shanghai. Later, in an interview with a reporter, Han admitted that the person named Liu Mingze was actually a friend of his. Han sued this person so that the prosecution can be accepted by the Putuo courthouse since Liu Mingze was living in the zone of Putuo.
-Later Mai Tian came back to support Fang's statements against Han.[20][21]
-<h3>Other Controversies</h3>
-Questioning the value of modern Chinese free verse, Han posted a blog article on 26 September 2006 entitled Why do modern Chinese poetry and poets still exist? In this, and other related articles, he parodied modern Chinese poets including the late Xu Zhimo and the late Hai Zi, igniting a controversy involving poets such as the Lower Body Poet Shen Haobo, Yang Li, Yi Sha, and Dong Li. [15] On April 10, 2007, Han criticised rock singer Zheng Jun's capriciousness in a blog post entitled "Some Recent Arrangements," igniting a controversy between the two.[16][17] In 2006, Zheng condemned the Super Girl singing competition as being "unbearably disgusting",[18] but participated in the judging for a similar competition Super Boy in 2007.
-[[File:Han Han 4.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Han Han at Hong Kong book fair 2010. Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Han_Han_at_Hong_Kong_Book_Fair_3.jpg] for original source]]]
-== Legacy ==
-<h3>Online Bookstore and Magazine</h3>
-On April 19, 2009, Han launched his online bookstore on the Taobao online shopping marketplace. The bookstore site stated that it would sell only Han's original autographed books.[22][23] As the number of sale transactions on the Bookstore was unusually large, the online system erroneously classified these as false transactions and attempts at credit fraud, leading Taobao to investigate the issue.
-On 1 May 2009, Han posted an article on his blog entitled Request for articles, recruitment, article fees and article submission email address for a new magazine.[24] The post mentioned that Han would be setting up a magazine, informing the email addresses for article submission, response to recruitment ads, and advertising offers, but without revealing the magazine's title to prevent illegal copying. The blog post also mentioned that the writer of the selected cover story, if the story had not been previously published, would get up to RMB 2,000 per 1,000 characters in article fees. This would be 10 to 40 times of the standard rate in China's publishing industry,[25] and 2 to 4 times higher than what China's top magazine would pay China's top writer for an article. Writers of previously unpublished non-cover story articles in the magazine would be paid RMB 1,000 per 1,000 characters, 10 to 20 times higher than standard rates in the publishing industry. As for previously-published articles or selected extracts from articles, the rate would be RMB 500 per 1,000 characters, which would be about 15 times the standard rates.[25][26] Contributors of photographs would be paid up to RMB 5,000 per photograph.[25]
-Han also invited article submissions for a "braindead" (脑残) column, deliberately publishing articles that the magazine disagreed with or were not up to standards. The rate for such articles would be RMB 250 per 1,000 characters. 250 (Chinese: 二百五) is a Chinese slang with the same meaning of "You idiot".[27] Han gave the rationale for including this column:
-Every issue of the magazine would include 2 to 3 articles with the worst viewpoints or the lowest standards of writing, as examples of articles which the magazine completely disagreed with or found the most unsuitable. These articles could be stupid, against humanity, against common sense, against righteousness or anti-freedom. In conformance with the standards of these articles, the writers would be paid a relatively low RMB 250 per 1,000 words if compared with other types of articles, still a high rate if compared to publishing industry standards. I had reasons for deciding on this rate.
-Han Han [28]
-Within five days of putting up the blog post, Han received over 10,000 article submissions from across China, and also a few thousand résumés. Interestingly, there were several articles of the types which Han had expressly forbidden from submission, such as cut and paste jobs, pornographic literature and dissertations. Han expressed his exasperation with these and declared that such articles would not be published.[29]
-Han's setup of his magazine received widespread attention, with editors proclaiming that the higher fees enabled the writing profession to regain a measure of financial independence and dignity[30] One journalist even commented that Han had completed his transformation from a rebellious youth into a full-fledged intellectual.[31]
-Due to certain publishing and circulation restrictions in China, Han's magazine, which was originally planned for publication in August 2009, remained unpublished for some time.[32] One of the delays was reportedly because of an article that detailed the blacklisting of actors.[33] On July 6, 2010, his magazine Party (独唱团) was finally published. According to the publisher, the magazine became the most popular book on Amazon.cn less than 10 hours after pre-selling.[34]
-However, it only lasted one issue. In December, 2010, Global Times, a state-linked newspaper, reported "Han Han's magazine dies". The paper reported: "Han went through more than 10 publishers to try and save that content and may have planned to include in the second issue." [35]
-<h3>Rally Racing Career</h3>
-After Han turned professional as a rally driver, there were rumours that he had encountered financial difficulties.[36] Han himself admitted that writers and race car drivers in China earned less compared to those in other professions. Furthermore, his only income source was from book royalties as he was not involved in other revenue generating activities.[37] However, he continued to race as it gave him a sense of achievement. Winning prizes also enabled him to prove to himself that he was a well-rounded learner.[38] As Han stated in a media interview in 2007:
-My income is from book royalties. I don't have a head for business and stocks, and I don't invest in trust funds. Racing is an expensive activity, and this frequently causes my family financial difficulties. I don't take part in [other] revenue generating activities, and '''I decline many such offers every year'''. [Taking advantage of racing-related] advertising opportunities would earn me more than RMB 3 million, but I'm afraid that once I get started in this, I would not be able to stop.
-Han Han [37]
-The following highlights some of Han's achievements in his racing career:
-: Raced for Beijing Extreme Speed Racing Team (北京极速车队) in the China Rally. Achieved 6th in the Shanghai race, 8th in the Changchun race and 6th in the Beijing race, all in the Group N category.
-: Group N 7th position for the Shanghai race, 4th position for the all-China race.
-June: Joined Yunnan Red River Racing Team (云南红河车队).
-: Took 1st position in the Formula BMW Asia Qualifying Race (亚洲宝马方程式资格赛). Received scholarship money of USD 50,000.
-Entered the annual Formula BMW race, achieved 7th in the Bahrain race and 1st in the Rookie Cup.
-th in the Malaysia Race, 2nd in the Rookie Cup.
-th in the Shanghai race, 2nd in the Rookie Cup.
-th in the Japan race, 1st in the Rookie Cup.
-: Joined Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Racing Team (上海大众333车队).
-: Participated in the China Rally 1.6L Category. Achieved 4th in the Shanghai race, 4th in the Guizhou race, 4th in the Liupanshui race, and 4th in the Kunming race.
-: Participated in the China Circuit Championship Production Car 1600cc Category (中国汽车场地锦标赛 中国量产车1600cc组). Took 1st position in the Zhuhai race, 2nd position in the Shanghai race, 3rd position in the Beijing race and 1st position in the Shaoguan race. Won overall 2nd prize for 2005.
-: Raced for Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Racing Team. Won 3rd prize in the Shanghai race of the China Circuit Championship 1600cc Category, and 2nd prize in the China Rally.
-: Raced for Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Racing Team, obtained 1st prize in the China Circuit Championship 1600cc Category.
-In September 2009, Han participated in the 2009 Rally Australia, a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). Following this, he wrote a blog post entitled Report on supervision and guidance work in preparation for the WRC in Australia, using irony to express dissatisfaction with China's standards of race management, economic conditions, political consciousness of the population, etc. in comparison with Australia.[39]
-<h3>Other Media Involvement (Music & Film)</h3>
-In February 2005, a Hollywood movie was planned with the script to be based on Chinese writer Xie Hang's novel, Dysmenorrhoea (痛经), and filming to take place in a northern Chinese city. As Han's image suited him to play the male lead role, the Chinese partner company recommended him for the role to the American producers. When media outlets asked Han for his views on this matter, he replied, "I have yet to receive this invitation, but basically I would reject it." He explained, "It doesn't matter that this is a Hollywood movie, as my decision would depend on who's playing the female lead." On hearing that the script was about the forbidden love between a boy and his female teacher, Han laughed and rejected the role, saying, "This makes it even more difficult for me, I will not play such a role."[9]
-Han is also involved in music production. His debut album, R-18 restricted to 18 and above), was released in September 2006, with all lyrics self-composed.
-==External Links and Sources==
-* [http://www.hanhandigest.com/ Han Han Digest:] English translations of selected writings by Han Han.
-* [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/han-han/ China Digital Times:] Han Han page
-* [http://hanhan.qq.com/ Han Han digital magazine] Google translator doesn't necessarily translate correctly or everything on the page; however, if you're curious and want to take a look feel free to do so.
-==Notes==
-A little bit longer, especially more valuing comments
-You have indicate the sources in the text, at least one per paragraph, but don't just refer to Wikipedia or the summary I gave you as a link. It is better to use the paper sources and indicate the page numbers.

Difference between revisions of "Han Han"

Latest revision as of 08:59, 5 December 2012

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