From Kris Wu to Lu Han: 5 millennial Chinese celebrities who found fame through K-pop

Thanks to its killer melodies and mesmerising choreography, K-pop has been receiving a lot of attention from millennials all over the world. With various K-pop boy bands, girl bands and albums climbing in the Billboard charts in the past year alone, here are five Chinese celebrities who found fame after training in South Korea.

Luhan (鹿晗)

Beijing native Luhan, 29, has built himself quite a reputation. The professional actor and singer first moved to South Korea as an exchange student – and he earned a certificate from the Korean Language School of Yonsei University. He enrolled in applied music at the Seoul Institute of the Arts in 2009 to explore his passion.

Following an unsuccessful audition with JYP Entertainment in China in 2008, a chance encounter while out shopping in Myeongdong in 2010 led to Luhan auditioning for a different Korean music studio. He was successful and became a candidate training with SM Entertainment – the first company in Korean entertainment to enter foreign markets.

After two years of training, Luhan was recruited in 2012 as a member of a Korean-Chinese boy band EXO, where he debuted as a singer and dancer. While he severed his ties with the studio in 2016 – his career and fan base are still going strong, and he has acted in movies and television series such as The Great Wall (2016), Sweet Combat (2018) and Shanghai Fortress (2019).

Kris Wu (吴亦凡)

Kris Wu, 29, is now known as a Chinese-Canadian actor, singer and songwriter, originally from Guangzhou. During his younger years, he flitted between Vancouver, Canada, and China – where he returned briefly to attend middle school. Wu was recruited to join SM Entertainment through their global auditions at the age of 17, and relocated to South Korea in 2008.