Chin Han (秦漢; born 10 July 1946), is a Taiwanese actor whose birth name is Sun Siang-chong (孫祥鐘), and got his first stage name Kang Kai (康凱) from

Li Han-Hsiang Richard Li Han-hsiang (; 7 March 1926 in Jinxi, Liaoning – 17 December 1996 in Beijing) was a Chinese film director. Li directed more than 70 films in his career beginning in the 1950s and lasting till the 1990s. His '' The Enchanting Shadow' ...

(李翰祥) at the beginning of his acting career. He changed his stage name to Sun Ge (孫戈) during the shooting of ''Five Brothers from Tangshan'' (唐山五兄弟; 1972). It was director Yao Feng-Pan (姚鳳磐) who gave him the stage name Chin Han, which he kept ever since. In Chin’s long acting career, he is best known for starring in literary romantic (愛情文藝) films and TV series, adaptations from novels by Qiong Yao (瓊瑤) and other writers in the 1970s and 1980s. With

Charlie Chin Charlie Chin Hsiang-lin () is a Taiwanese actor. He was born on May 19, 1948, in Nanking and grew up in Hong Kong. Throughout the twenty-four years of his acting career, Chin had participated in over one hundred films. As a member of the "Two Qins ...

(秦祥林),

Brigitte Lin Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. Regarded as a screen icon, Lin played a key role in boosting Taiwan’s film production with her romantic heroine roles in the 1970s before transitioning to Hong Kong, where ...

(林青霞）and Joan Lin (林鳳嬌), the four eventually became known as the "Two Chins, Two Lins" (二秦二林) for their extensive roles in the genre of literary romantic film.

Life and career

Chin’s father is Sun Yuan-liang (孫元良), a general who fought against the Japanese in

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Chin completed the training program of CMPC Film Academy (中影訓練班) in 1966 and joined Grand Motion Pictures Co., Ltd. (國聯) as a basic actor. He had to serve in the army after making his first film, ''Smiles from the Distant Mountains''. After he completed his military service three years later, Grand Motion Pictures Co., Ltd. was already closed for business. He turned to TTV (台視) to act in a TV drama. Chin's gentle and elegant appearance with a scholarly temperament has always been the best interpretation of the leading actor in literary films. After he role in

Sung Tsun-Shou Sung Tsun-Shou or Song Chun-So (; September 2, 1930 – May 27, 2008), was a Mainland Chinese-born Taiwanese film director. He began his film career as screenwriter and assistant director. He came to Taiwan with Li Han-Hsiang (李翰祥) in 1963 ...

's (宋存壽) ''Story of a Mother'' (母親三十歲) and '' Outside the Window'' (窗外), both released in 1973, Chin was acclaimed as a promising star. When director

Li Hsing Li Hsing or Lee Hsing (李行) was a Taiwanese film director. He was born Lee Tz-da (李子達) in 1930 in Shanghai and died in 2021. He made one of the early popular Taiwanese films in the late 1959, '' Wang and Liu Tour Taiwan'' (王哥柳� ...

(李行) was casting for his adaptation of Qiong Yao’s novel ''The Heart with a Million Knots'' (心有千千結), he approached Chin for the lead role. Due to his contract to star in Sung Tsun-Shou’s ''Where Have the Lovers'' (晨星) Chin had to turn down Li’s invitation and work in Hong Kong. Li Hsing instead cast Charlie Chin (秦祥林) for his film, which made Charlie Chin an overnight star. Chin Han and Charlie Chin became the two household names for the extremely popular genre of Literary Romantic Film (愛情文藝片) , which mainly are adaptations of Qiong Yao’s novels. Together with two other female stars of the genre, Brigitte Lin (林青霞) and Joan Lin (林鳳嬌), they are called “Two Chins and Two Lins” (二秦二林). Li Hsing once jokingly said, "If Chin Han had come to play ''The Heart with a Million Knots'', there would not have been ‘Two Chins and Two Lins’ later.” Chin Han later starred in quite a few films directed by Li Hsing, among them the biographical film adapted from the best-selling autobiography of Zheng Fengxi (鄭豐喜), ''He Never Gives Up'' (汪洋中的一條船; 1978), which won Chin the Best Actor award at the 15th Golden Horse Awards. After Literary Romantic Film lost its audience In the early 80's, Qiong Yao turned to the small screen of TV to produce popular dramas adapted from her films and novels. In the TV series ''You Can’t Tell Him'' (庭院深深), originally a film directed by Sung Tsun-shou in 1971, Chin Han was paired with

Leanne Liu Liu Sue-Hua, also known as Leanne Liu, is a Golden Bell Award-winning Hong Kong actress. She first starred in Shaw Brothers films in Hong Kong, but moved to Taiwan in the 1980s to focus on her television career. She is particularly famous for a ...

(劉雪華). The series was an instant hit. Chin Han has continued to act in the 1990s and afterwards both in films and on TV.

Personal life

Sun married Shao Chiao-ying in 1971 and has a daughter Sun Shi-wen (孫詩雯) and a son Richard Sun (孫國豪). The marriage ended in 1984. The triangle relationships in life among Chin Han, Brigitte Lin, and Charlie Chin is similar to their relationship in the literary romantic films based on Qiong Yao's novels, such as ''Cloud of Romance'' (我是一片雲; 1976). Chin Han and Brigitte Lin were close when making ''Outside the Window'', but due his marriage Chin kept a distance with Lin. After working Lin on ''Cloud of Romance'', Charlie Chin began to passionately pursue Brigitte Lin, who eventually accepted his proposal and was engaged to him in San Francisco in 1980. However, after Chin Han's divorce, Brigitte Lin found that she was still deeply in loved with Chin and chose to break off her engagement with Charlie Chin in 1984, which caused a scandal. They were romantically related again through the help of Qiong Yao, but eventually broke up because Chin Han was unwilling to marry her.

Filmography

Film

; As actor ; As director * ''The Drug Busters'' (鐵血勇探) – also actor ; As writer * ''Betrayer'' (殺氣嚴霜) – also actor

Television series

Awards and honors

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chin, Han Taiwanese male film actors Male actors from Shanghai Living people 1946 births Participants in Chinese reality television series Taiwanese people from Shanghai