Cho Chang: A Fresh Chinese Face

I normally don't get caught up with the Harry Potter movie releases. They're generally good, including the books, but I'm not usually the one who lines up for the first day release, and also not the one who'd constantly search for news about movie updates and flim clips before the actual opening date.

Of course, I found myself spending a lot of my waking time this weekend (I've been sleeping like a log, 14 hours per day, almost.) searching for Happy Potter: Goblet of Fire movie updates.

Its not what you think. I resent the fact that you may actually think I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But I'd rather be a tagged as a LOTR fanatic instead. But. Don't go there.

Well, ok the thing with me looking for Harry Potter updates is because I secretly (well, its not so secret anymore, is it?) like how the girl for Cho Chang looks like. And no, I'm not bisexual or homosexual or anything. Don't go there either.

So what about it that got me searching for her pics?

In my opinion, that's how a normal pretty chinese should look like. Nothing too glamorous, or fancy, just clean, cute and pretty. I mean, generally, westerners have this stereotypical view of asian-chinese: (1) has really slinky, slit-like chinky eyes to the point where you dont see the pupils anymore. (take Lucy Liu as an example) Or (2) stick thin. (Bai Ling anyone?) or tall. They all look like they're lithe, and long. Oh, and sometimes, lets not forget, flat chested. No, no, no.

Not a lot of chinese I know have long legs, for example. Nor do they have long, thin faces. Contrary to the fact, most chinese I know have heart shaped faces, slightly bigger, rounder eyes, and yes, not long legged. (nor short legged either. They're just "ok") Also, chinese girls I know do not have stick thin bodies (ok except for the Hongkongers.. they really take it to the extreme)

It might be because usually media likes to see those model-looking types. Even Hong Kong actresses take it to the extreme. Yes, they're stick thin, they put a lot of goo into their faces. A couple of them looked ok before.. but they seem to get thinner and thinner as the years go by (take the Twins) but to begin with, they're already too thin. But ok, lets not get too carried away. The main thing I like about the girl in the Harry Potter movie, is her face.

This girl casted for the Harry Potter movie, Katie Leung, she's just right. Don't get me wrong, she's not fat or anything. She looks pretty without the overexcessive makeup, and she doesn't look stick thin. She can obviously look made up (see her premiere photos below) but she still looks nice. Maybe its because she's just a neophyte actress, and still didn't get her chance to morph into a glamourized, stick thin version? Maybe. But I still think she looks pretty even without glamouring herself too much.

She reminds me of the two of the chinese actresses that I really like: Maggie Cheung (張曼玉) and Karena Lam(林嘉欣) (and maybe runner up Zhang Zi Yi (章子怡) - no more pics for her, she's well known enough) here are both, respectively:


Maggie Cheung



Karena Lam


All three look simple, pretty and elegant even without overexcessive makeup, or being stick thin. Put tons of makeup on them, and they simply will look worse. They're what I would like to call real Chinese representative actresses, and not the Westernized chinese ones. Must be a pet peeve, but I really loathe actresses that rely only on the goop they put into their faces to make themselves look "pretty". To see for yourself if its really the case, see Katie Leung's pictures for yourself and you be the judge.

Here's a picture of her in the official movie photos (courtesy of MuggleThai.com):



And in a normal photoshoot (courtesy of MuggleThai.com)::



And during the world premiere(courtesy of MuggleThai.com):



Whoops. I think I went photo-trigger happy there. Oh well, I suppose it comes once in a blue moon...