Movers & Shakers
By Will McGrath
This year, Talk took special care in compiling our annual tribute to the most dynamic names in China, cognisant of the whispered rumours that 2012 might end sooner than we expect. If such calamity should come to pass, as foretold by the prophet Emmerich, we wanted to be sure to honour not just the industry veterans who made this year memorable, but the up-and-comers who are poised to make their mark on the next. Ladies and gentlemen, the new guard and the old guard, our 2011 Movers & Shakers.
ART & CULTURE
SU TONG
Literary Stalwart
You might not know avant-garde novelist Su Tong’s name, but you know his stories. Over the last 20 years, Su Tong has published a litany of well-received novels, including the book that inspired Raise the Red Lantern, but his low-key demeanour has led to a career bubbling just beneath the surface. This year saw the publication of a beautiful translation of his Cultural Revolution bildungsroman, The Boat to Redemption, by über-translator Howard Goldblatt, and Tong was put up for the Man Booker International Prize. He’s become the standard by which modern Chinese literature is judged, and, unlike some of his contemporaries, he’s done so without leaving the country.
ZHOU HAO
New Voice, Sharp Eye
Director Zhou Hao is making waves with his latest documentary, The Transition Period, which follows a local bureaucrat in Henan for three months as he navigates the world of guanxi and government. The film was honoured at the 2011 China Documentary Festival in Hong Kong for its subtle depiction of the contradictions and consternations of modern China. His previous effort, Using, followed heroin users in Guangzhou, an uncomfortably honest portrayal of addiction and friendship. Zhou’s keen eye for dysfunction and close relationships with his subjects have marked Zhou as a filmmaker to watch; this year he was picked up by an international distributor.
BUSINESS
JACK MA
21st Century Mogul
Open the business section of any 
newspaper this year, and you’ll find breathless coverage of Jack Ma, head of online behemoth Alibaba. Alibaba’s various services – B2B on Alibaba, C2C on Taobao, online payment through Alipay – chug along, dominating the industry, while Jack Ma has pushed the company in new directions. This year, Alibaba launched its own mobile operating system, pumped RMB 1 billion into Taobao’s shopping search engine eTao and beefed up its cloud computing operations. More importantly, Jack Ma has made no secret of his interest in buying Yahoo!, and business reporters mention his name in the same breath as Steve Ballmer. Pretty good company.
SHI LIRONG
Hitting the Ground Running
This year has been Shi Lirong’s first as a lead actor in China’s ongoing telecommunications soap opera. Not long after Shi took over at equipment giant ZTE, rival Huawei welcomed him to the scene by suing ZTE for patent infringement in Germany, France and Hungary. Unfazed, Shi upped the ante with a patent infringement case of his own in China. The duelling lawsuits are still underway, but Shi hasn’t slowed down. According to some analysts, ZTE became the fourth largest mobile phone maker in the world this year, and Shi has announced plans to move into the lucrative international high-end network and smart phone game. Ericsson and Nokia better watch their backs.
ENTERTAINMENT
LI BINGBING
World Class Beauty
In the battle of the Bingbings, Li has come out on top. Ever since Gong Li absconded to Singapore, Li Bingbing has been locked in a cinematic arm-wrestling match with Fan Bingbing to take her place as the top woman in entertainment. Fan has demurely posed her way through every known magazine with a fashion spread, but Li has more ambitious goals: Hollywood. In addition to her part in Jackie Chan’s 1911, this year Li co-starred with former Sexiest Man Alive and current sexy living person Hugh Jackman in the English-language Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Next year she’ll strap on her guns and an American accent for the next instalment of the blockbusting Resident Evil series.
YANG M
I
Blazing Her Own Trail
Yang Mi isn’t your typical star. A former child actor, Yang started out as a stock player in a string of fantasy series, most notably as a sassy swordsgirl in the video game adaptation Chinese Paladin 3. She seemed destined for middlebrow television when she started microblogging on Sina Weibo and leveraged her modest talents into a rabid fan following. If Weibo is the Chinese Twitter, Yang Mi is its Ashton Kutcher – although these days, the comparison might not be fair to Yang. Her newfound Internet stardom helped make Mysterious Island, a low budget horror film, into this year’s surprise success story at the box office. Is Yang Mi a model for a new kind of celebrity? We think so.
FASHION
CHEN NIAN
Style for the Laobaixing
Chen Nian made his name with pioneering bookselling website Joyo, which Amazon devoured at its earliest opportunity, but his latest venture, VANCL, is taking the fashion world by storm. An innovative online apparel retailer that has revolutionized fashion in China, VANCL has reaped the benefits of the prolonged explosion of e-commerce in lower tier cities in 2011. Chen Nian moved VANCL to the head of the pack, and the company is looking to go public next year. Combine that with VANCL’s top notch advertising campaign (starring the likes of Han Han and Li Yuchun), which spawned its very own viral meme, and it’s clear that Chen Nian has had a banner year.
WU QINGQING
A New Perspective
Wu Qingqing’s vision of menswear involves the sort of nylon suits, kimono blazers and lightweight fabrics that encourage men to invest a little more time chiselling away at the gym. The Beijing designer has struck a chord with the fashion world, winning numerous awards this year for his fashion forward collections in stone cold grey and cerulean. In 2011, he became the first Chinese menswear designer to show at New York Fashion Week with his label VLOV, and he was yet again feted as a top 10 designer at China Fashion Week. Next up for Wu? A store in New York City.
MEDIA
HU SHULI
Fearless and Focused
No one ever doubted that Hu Shuli would land on her feet after leaving the doggedly independent magazine she founded, Caijing, two years ago after a feud with the publisher. She’s been in top form in 2011, driving the conversation through the unrivalled print and online journalism of her new media empire, Caixin. With her counterparts at Xinhua expanding abroad, Hu won't be left behind – this year she announced a partnership with the SCMP to distribute Caixin Weekly in Hong Kong, a new iPad app geared toward Americans and Europeans and English-language video content. The world still doesn't know what to do with Chinese media organizations, but Hu Shuli is going to show them.
JACK XU
Making Connections
Jack Xu’s résumé reads like a tiger mother wish list. Considered the boy genius of Chinese tech, Xu graduated from top-rated Tsinghua University when he was barely out of his teens. After a few years at a successful start-up, he had a brief stint as technical director at top portal Sohu, which he left to found top social network Renren. For his next act Jack Xu has set up Diandian, a ‘soft blogging’ site modelled after Tumblr, its trendy American cousin. This year Xu secured US$10 million in venture capital for the project, and Diandian is already winning rave reviews for its sleek design, easy interface and fast speeds. Jack Xu is making a bold move for the future of social media.
SPORT
LI NA
Journeywoman Arrives
At 29 years old, tennis player Li Na looked set to retire as a successful if unremarkable member on the women’s tour. That was before she won the French Open this June, becoming the first Asian player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam tournament. Her game fizzled in the second half of the year, but she’s earned her place in the history books. Sponsors, particularly those with big markets in China, took note. Endorsements for the likes of Nike, Rolex and Mercedes-Benz have made Li the second-highest paid female athlete in the world. Get used to her face – you’ll be seeing a lot of it.
SUN YANG
Diving In
Every year we meet a young new sports pheno
m who, without fail, burns out at the exact moment you finally learn his name. Sun Yang, a 19 year old swimmer from Hangzhou, is worth remembering. At nearly two meters tall, Sun made the Beijing Olympic team while most kids his age were cramming for their high school exams. This July he finally hit the big time when he shattered a longstanding world record – so good that it was the only one to make it through the period when swimmers were allowed to wear performance-enhancing bodysuits – and claimed the world title in the 1,500 freestyle. In his free time, he won a world championship in the 800 and a silver in the 400. Not bad for a someone who just finished puberty.
