Christine Fan (born March 18, 1976), better known by her stage name FanFan or her Chinese name Fan Wei-chi, is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, TV presenter, record producer, actress, author and philanthropist. She sings mostly in Mandarin, but has also recorded in English. A popular singer, she has 3 million followers on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

and over 47 million fans on the Chinese portal

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...

. She speaks Mandarin fluently and has some working knowledge of English.

Early life

Fan was born in Ohio on 18 March 1976. She is the elder of two children and has a younger brother.

Biography

Fan was born in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. She studied at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

but transferred in her second year to

Harvard Extension School Harvard Extension School (HES) is the extension school of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school is one among 12 schools that grant degrees and falls under the Division of Continuing Education in the Harvard Faculty of Arts ...

, a distance-education branch of Harvard University. She subsequently dropped out to pursue her musical career. She hosted the

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

, ''Bang Bang Tang'' () on Channel in Taiwan and has also starred in various commercials. On 1 November 2008, she held her first ticketed concert in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. She later held concerts in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and other Chinese cities. She was also the special guest in

JJ Lin Wayne Lin Junjie (; born 27 March 1981), better known by his stage name JJ Lin, is a Singaporean singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Lin launched his musical career by releasing his debut album ''Music Voyager'' (2003). GIO, Taiwa1 ...

's concert in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. She has composed and written lyrics for herself as well as other artists, including

Claire Kuo Claire Kuo (born Kuo Po-yu on 5 August 1980) is a Taiwanese singer and television host. The daughter of a restaurant owner, Kuo graduated from Shih Hsin University and was a competitive cheerleader. She performed her final routine in Novembe ...

Angela Chang Angela Zhang (; born 19 January 1982), also known as Angela Chang, is a Taiwanese singer and actress. Zhang has released ten studio albums as of 2020. She debuted and rose to fame with the Taiwanese television dramas ''My MVP Valentine'' (2002 ...

Freya Lim Freya Lim (; born 20 November 1979), also known as Freya Lin, is a Malaysian Mandopop singer and radio deejay based in Taiwan. She is a Taiwanese PR. Her father is a Chinese Malaysian and her mother is a Taiwanese. In 2002, Lim graduated from ...

, and the girl group Hey Girl. In 2015, she and

Blackie Chen Charles "Blackie" Chen or Chen Chien-chou (born 2 May 1977 in Kaohsiung) is a Taiwanese television host, actor, basketball manager, entrepreneur, and a former basketball player. He is also the founder and current chief executive officer of the T ...

founded a talent agent company and signed

Kimberley Chen Kimberley Chen Fang-yu (born 23 May 1994) is an Australian singer, actress and model based in Taiwan. In 2009, she landed her first hit with the love ballad "愛你" (Aini, "Love You"). In 2012, she became a professional singer in Taiwan, sin ...

, and she became her mentor, talent agent and record producer while she was pregnant with twin boys.

Personal life

In 2003, because of the pressure of her sudden change in career path suggested by her record company to let her become an actress, she suffered severe depression and mild anorexia. She eventually recovered through her religion and with support from friends. A week after receiving the diagnosis, her doctor committed suicide. She dated basketball-player-turned-entertainer

for ten years before he proposed on February 17, 2010 during a

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

game between the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

Izod Center Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor arena facility located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The arena is located on ...

. (They had courtside seats cheering for Chen's friend, Nets player

Yi Jianlian Yi Jianlian ( ; born October 27, 1987) is a Chinese professional basketball player for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He has also played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwauk ...

. She also sang "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

" for the Nets home game against the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

on February 21, 2010.) Both Christians, they married on May 7, 2011 in a church in Taipei. Their twin sons were born on January 15, 2015. The couple is active in charity work, most notably co-founding the Love Life campaign.

Discography

* '' FanFan's World'' () (2000) * ''The Sun'' () (2001) * ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

'' () (2003) * ''

For Fan - Original Dream For or FOR may refer to: English language *For, a preposition *For, a complementizer *For, a grammatical conjunction Science and technology * Fornax, a constellation * for loop, a programming language statement * Frame of reference, in physic ...

'' () (2004) * '' One to One'' () (2005) * ''Our Anniversary'' () (2006) * ''Philosopher'' ()'' (2007) * ''Faces of FanFan'' (2008) * '' F One'' (2009) * '' Love and FanFan'' (2011) * ''Together'' (爱,在一起) (2012) * '' Fanfan's time to give thanks'' (范范的感恩節) (2016) * ''Solitary Moment'' (恰如其分的自己) (2022)

Filmography

Film

TV Dramas

Concerts

We Are Friends Concerts

Love & FanFan world tour

My Dear Life Concert

On the Road to Happiness world tour

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:FanFan 1976 births Living people Harvard Extension School alumni Singers from Ohio Taiwanese Mandopop singers Place of birth missing (living people) VJs (media personalities) 21st-century American singers 21st-century Taiwanese singers 21st-century Taiwanese women singers Taiwanese people from Hebei American people of Chinese descent American people of Taiwanese descent Pomona College alumni