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 (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 (秦祥林), Brigitte Lin (林青霞) and Joan Lin (林鳳嬌), the four eventually became known as the "Two Chins and 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 World War II. 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 completing 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 has taken several leading roles as scholarly characters in literary films. In 1973, he had roles in Sung Tsun-shou's (宋存壽) Story of a Mother (母親三十歲) and Outside the Window (窗外). When director Li Hsing (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, but his contract for Sung's Where Have the Lovers (晨星) meant that he had to turn down Li's invitation and go to Hong Kong instead . Li Hsing instead cast Charlie Chin (秦祥林) for his film. Chin Han and Charlie Chin became the two household names for the extremely popular genre of Literary Romantic Films (愛情文藝片), which are mainly 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 the “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 the ‘Two Chins and Two Lins’ later.”

Chin later starred in several 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 him the Best Actor award at the 15th Golden Horse Awards.

After Literary Romantic Films lost its audience in the early 80s, 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 was paired with Leanne Liu (劉雪華). The series was an instant hit.

Chin 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 Year English Title Chinese Title Role Notes1966 Smiles from the Distant Mountains遠山含笑 Zong QiHow Many Sunsets幾度夕陽紅 1967 Sister's Lover姐姐的情人 Wah 1968 A Time for Reunion春曉人歸時 1969 Betrayer殺氣嚴霜 also screenwriter1971 The Mad Killer瘋狂殺手 1972 Everybody Is Laughing天下一大笑 Dangerous Game慾火焚身 Five Brothers from Tangshan唐山五兄弟 Heart Wish心願 1973 Outside the Window窗外 Li LiweiStory of Mother母親三十歲 Zhu QingmaoGui Fen桂芬 1974 The House of Love愛的小屋 Luo Wen First Come, First Love近水樓台 Cai Dawei Where the Seagull Flies海鷗飛處 Ou ShihaoSpring Comes Not Again不再有春天 Zhi ChengSex For Sale面具 Lin Weibin News Hen女記者 Xue Xiaonan Rhythm of the Wave海韻 Jiang TaoLove Camp愛情集中營 1975 Girl School春滿女學府 Lei Guangming Hot Wave熱浪 Ho Ta-fung He Loved Once Too Many水雲 Kiu Yee The Unforgettable Character在水一方 Lu Yu-wen Eight Hundred Heroes八百壯士 Jin JianLand of the Undaunted吾土吾民 Li Yueh-ting Where Have the Lovers Gone晨星 A Chilled Spring春天裡的秋天 Xu WeimingDream Lake夢之湖 Posterity and Perplexity碧雲天 Gao Haotian1976 Coffee, Wine, Lemonade咖啡，美酒，檸檬汁 Lin FanLove Forever海誓山盟 Xu ChangwenA Misty Love小雨絲絲 Pan JiawangDeep Autumn Love落葉飄飄 Di ChaoLove in the Twilight Zone陰陽有情天 Erotic Nights色香味 Painted Waves of Love浪花 He ZijianThe Sang Sisters桑園 Mo DikaThe Valley of Butterfly蝴蝶谷 Liu WenbinThe Spring Lake翠湖寒 Hu WeikangWild Pigeons in the Evening野鴿子的黃昏 Meng Wei1977 My Sweet Love霧濛濛情濛濛 Xiao Zhangyun The Love Offensive愛情大進擊 My Beloved雲愛，雲愛 Du DazhongLove in the Shadow愛有明天 Yi Siyin True Love真真的愛 Xu DaweiThe Smiling Face微笑 Chen YunyangThe Glory of the Sunset煙水寒 Ye YichengCloud of Romance我是一片雲 Gu Youlan Confused Love變色的太陽 Hou ShiwenLove Rings a Bell風鈴，風鈴 Wei DekaiWe Are the Youth我們是年輕的 The Lost Dream荒園草夢 Jiang XinhanMelody from Heaven白花飄雪花飄 Shao YulinThe Love Corridor愛情走廊 Chu YunWe Feel the Wind Again又是起風時 Xu Kewei1978 Morning Fog晨霧 Tai Yalun Wild Flower in the Storm花非花 Sea-Wave in Sunset and Love夕陽浪花愛 Meng NanLove is Burning愛情火辣辣 Du Ping (Du Ziping)Hi, Honey嗨親愛的 Hao KeaiThe Diary of Di-Di蒂蒂日記 Fan XijunLove on a Foggy River煙波江上 Du XihaoLover on the Wave我踏浪而來 Zhao DarongA Journey of Love無情荒地有情天 Lin LeiAsk My Love from God此情可問天 Chen YunchengHe Never Gives Up汪洋中的一條船 Zheng FengxiThe Story of Green House綠色山莊 Lei WenMountains Under the Setting Sun夕陽山外山 Huang ShaokuiLove in the Blossoming Mountain Flowers滿山花開一片情 Xu Guowei1979 A Sorrowful Wedding悲之秋 Du JiawenLove Under a Rosy Sky彩霞滿天 Chiao Shu-pei The Wild Goose on the Wing雁兒在林梢 Jiang HuaiLove Seed一顆紅豆 Liang ZhiwenBy Love Obsessed情奔 Zhi GangDash衝刺 1980 My Native Land原鄉人 Chûng Lî-fòAnother Spring又見春天 Yang Wei-han Flying Home雁兒歸 Li JunpingPoor Chasers一對傻鳥 Chen Cheng-hsiung Lotus Triangle情網 Reunion in the Rain蘭花草 Liang HanzhongThe Marigolds金盞花 Lawyer Zhou Flying Rainbow飛躍的彩虹 Lu ChangfengA Girl Who Comes from the Country我從山中來 Lu JunLove in a Big Land大地親情 The Lotus Triangle荷葉、蓮花、藕 Ye YiTwin Troubles愛情躲避球 Long Kedong & Long Youdong1981 My Cape of Many Dreams夢的衣裳 Sang ErxuanThe Land of the Brave龍的傳人 Lin Chao-hsing Love You Till I Die愛你入骨 Once Again With Love又見春天 Yang WeihanComing with a Gun帶槍過境 Ban JieClouds, Please Stay雲且留住 Li Jianwen1982 Girls' School女子學校 Mei YixinThe Girl Robber and I小妞．大盜．我 Fei ShaohuaMarianna賓妹 Pigeons in the Evening鴿子的黃昏 The Drug Busters鐵血勇探 Tang Keyuan also director1983 The Lost Generation風水二十年 Mr. Tsun 1984 Holy War聖戰千秋 Impending War戰爭前夕 1985 Last Breath血染風采 1986Loves of a Small Town Doctor小鎮醫生的愛情 Wang Liyi1990 Promising Miss Bowie祝福 Ko Man-kit Red Dust滾滾紅塵 Chang Neng-tsai 1991Center Stage阮玲玉 Tong Gwai-saan 1992Requital五湖四海 Fan Dai-kuay 1994 Treasure Hunt花旗少林 Tong Ling 1995 Don't Cry, Nanking南京1937 Shing Yin 2000 Feeling by Night夜奔 De shun 2006 The Knot雲水謠 Wang Ting-wu 2012 Threads of Time柳如是 Qian Qianyi

As director The Drug Busters (鐵血勇探) – also actor

As writer Betrayer (殺氣嚴霜) – also actor

Television series Year English title Chinese title Role Notes1971 Rainbow Bridge七色橋 Mu Yuande1985 How Many Sunsets幾度夕陽紅 Ho Mu-tien 1986 Lovers Under the Rain煙雨濛濛 Ho Shu-huan I Am a Chinese我是中國人1987 Deep Garden庭院深深 Po Pei-wen 1988 One Side of the Water在水一方 Chu Shih-yao remake of The Unforgettable Character1989 Seagulls Soaring In Iridescent Clouds海鷗飛處彩雲飛 Yu Muhuai 1991Love in Venice情定威尼斯1995 Secular Romance情愛紅塵 Geng Haoran1996 Flowers Gone, Flowers Bloom花落花開 Xia Haimo1997 Flying with the Iridescent Clouds我伴彩雲飛 2000 Give Daddy A Kiss親親老爸 Fang Nien-tsu 2002 Cash Is King勝券在握 Qi Ren 2004 Son From the Past子是故人來 Seng Ming Wealthy Family's Shocking Dream豪門驚夢 Chiao Cheng-tien 2005 Purple Jade, Golden Clay紫玉金砂 Pan Tianci 2007 Niu Lang and Zhi Nu牛郎織女 Jade Emperor 2009 Dragon-Phoenix Luck龍鳳呈祥 Long Jiandong 2014 Moment in Peking新京華煙雲 Yao Siyuan 2017 The Glory of Tang Dynasty 大唐榮耀 Emperor Xuanzong Cambrian Period寒武紀Zhan ShiliDear My Friends親愛的她們Song Shuhao2018Flesh And Spirit靈與肉Xu ingyouTwenties Once Again重返20歲Xiang Dahai2020New World新世界Shen Shichang2025Forget You Not忘了我記得Cheng Kuang-Chi

Awards and honors +YearAwardsCategoryWork197622nd Asia Pacific Film FestivalMost Popular Actor197815th Golden Horse AwardsBest Leading ActorHe Never Gives Up197925th Asia Pacific Film FestivalBest Actor For Tragic Films

References

Further reading Daw-Ming Lee. "Chin, Han". Historical Dictionary of Taiwan Cinema. (2013) . pp. 118–120.

External links