Lena Yang

When kung fu meets music

Meet Lena Yang, the pop princess who knows kung fu.

By Chew Wan Ying

At first glance, with her doe eyes and sweet smile, Mandopop newcomer Lena Yang looks like a cross between Jolin Tsai and Zhao Wei.

However, compared to Tsai, Lena is armed with a secret weapon that might give the pop princess a run for her money.

This girl can kick butt – literally.

The budding singer beat 600 contestants from 24 countries to win a medal at the 2009 Hong Kong International Martial Arts Contest.

It came as no surprise when her music label, Rock Records, packaged her as a pop star that knows kung fu.

As much as that sets her apart from the rest of the pop stars ruling the chart, it can be a double-edged sword at times.

She admitted that her background in martial arts intimidated some of her suitors.

“People think that I’m tough, but I am actually very gentle. I would not simply hit my boyfriend,” she said with a laugh, at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur recently.

At 22, Lena had extensive experience in the showbiz, having started modelling for print and TV commercials at 15.

She entered the Hong Kong showbiz at 19 and by that time, she had over 100 commercials under her belt, with Nicholas Tse and Vanness Wu among her collaborators.

Musically, it is hard not to compare her to Tsai, when you consider how similar they are in terms of their pop dance darling image and sexy dances.

Citing her age as an advantage over the 29-year-old Tsai, Lena said, “Many people say that I resemble her, but I hope that one day people can see me as a unique person.”

While she is not against the idea of becoming a goddess for gaming geeks, à la otaku-killer Yao Yao, don’t expect her to head down the route of Hong Kong’s pseudo models, who use sex as a selling point.

“They are models and I’m a singer, so there’s a limit to my sexiness. I will be sexy, but not sleazy,” she replied.

The Shanghai-born lass is also set to start her acting career in Hong Kong.

“We are currently in talks with a few film studios. I wish to take on action roles,” she said, adding that her dream is to work with Ip Man star Donnie Yen one day.

“I learnt Wing Chun before and I was at one point attached to take part in the shooting of the prequel film The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, but I missed the chance as I was busy preparing for my first album then. I really hope to star in a movie or a TV series about Wing Chun in the future,” she concluded.