Credit: Shin Min Daily News
Date: 09/04/05
Journalist: Chen Yunhong
Translator: veyonce from YWP
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Do male artistes become 'brighter' after they turn 'black'? The entertainment industry is a vicious gossip circle; can one can become popular, what can make one popular, there are many different ways. Female artistes can rely on their looks to make a living, once in a while dressed sexily to 'brighten' their future.

What about male artistes? Unless they belong to the 'visual' category, otherwise there are not much changes. However, nowadays the entertainment industry seems to believe that one's skin tone can boost up your celebrity status and the most obvious example would be Louis Koo whose celebrity status seems to escalate after he became tanned.

Maybe it is because Louis Koo's tanned skin removed his previous weak, studious image. Although he was not very well-built, he looks more 'healthy' and became more appealing.

Because of this, the trend of male artistes tanning rises not because of the superstition of becoming famous. Some male artistes citing reasons of health, some due to the roles they took on and some just want to change their image. Guys do want to look good too!

Let us take a look at some of our home-grown top male artistes: Chen Hanwei's, Qi Yuwu's, Hong Kong's Louis Koo's and Liu Kaiwei's fair to tan theories.

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Qi Yuwu
'Pale Weak' Ah Wu Suddenly Turns 'Invincible'

Skin Tone: Fair to Tan to Fair

To be honest, 'Star Search' champion alumni Qi Yuwu has been in the entertainment industry for 5 years and the drama serial that turned him famous overnight is "The Champion" which he starred with a tanned, well-built physique.

Because of "The Champion", Ah Wu took up a 1-month scuba diving course before the filming started. He got his well-tanned physique due to his daily regime of being 'sun-kissed'.

To his fans, the 'frail' Ah Wu suddenly became 'invincible', more manly and their admiration grew stronger. For that reason, for the first time in 5 years since he entered the entertainment industry, Ah Wu was one of the "Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes" in last year's "Star Awards", does the credit goes to his tanned skin?

Do You Believe That Skin Tone Can Change Your Luck?

Ah Wu has no intention of being 'black' down the road. During a recent press conference, he seems to turn fairer.

"I don't want my image in the "Champion" to be etched on the audience's mind and I do not want to be stuck with the image because of that". Ah Wu started to feel very uneasy after realising that his physique always became the center of attention.

His minder chipped in, "Actually, it's hard to set the lighting while shooting a drama serial if one's too tanned. During the filming of "Jing Zhong Ren", when Ah Wu is acting with Fann, one's tanned, the other's fair, Fann's exceptionally fair, the lighting can be a bit tricky and one may not neccessary look good on-screen".