I was thinking about this the other day. In China, Fan BingBing is huge. She advertises everything, and is very much the icon of physical perfection that all girls try to emulate and all guys try to acquire. But in the West, nobody knows who the hell she is, despite appearing in Iron Man 3 and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Personally, I don't think she is that attractive, and I guess the West feels the same. She has a mannequin-like quality, which is not appealing at all. But the skin-deep obsessed culture in China really looks up to her as a mega star. So I wanted to compile a list of Chinese stars and their popularity to highlight how unknown she is on the world stage. And we're talking real Chinese stars, not people like Lucy Liu or Maggie Q. So here is my list:

1. Jackie Chan
2. Jet Li
3. John Woo
4. Chow Yun Fat
5. Zhang Ziyi
6. Donnie Yen
7. Michelle Yeoh
8. Zhang Yimou
9. Gong Li
10. Sammo Hung
11. Li BingBing
12. Louis Koo
13. Andy Lau
14. Fan BingBing
15. Angelababy
16. Daniel Wu

Let's take it for granted that all of China knows these names, then this becomes a clear representation of who is known by Western audiences. I used myself (who I know now compared to who I knew before experiencing China) and I used my mother (as a typical not-interested-in-China Western person). Well, my mum knows Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and John Woo. She knew the name Chow Yun Fat, but didn't have a clue about the rest. I would say that the rest are generally only known by film fans. But even films fans might now really know Angelababy or Louis Koo (I certainly didn't prior to China), but I knew Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun Fat. I didn't know Fan BingBing either, but that's more to do with her not really gaining exposure until recent years.

I couldn't think of any other Chinese stars that would warrant a mention on the list. I only included film stars that were alive. So no Bruce Lee mention, although I am sure he would top the list. Surely everyone has heard of Bruce Lee over Jackie Chan. Either way, it's close.

Green are very well known. Every knows their face/name.
Orange are not so well known, but do have some level of exposure. People could most likely recognise them and most likely put a name to the face.
Red are really not that popular or known by the masses at all. People may know the face, but most likely not, and they could definitely not put the name to the face. Only known by the Chinese.

All others not on the list are in the red category. Not well enough known to even feature. That's how I see it. What do you think? Did I miss any stars?

Did Bruce Lee have the Chinese nationality? He was born in the USA and returned to HK when it was still under British control.

From your list I knew 1-10, 13 and 14.

Don't know if I would put Woo on the green list. 20 years ago for sure, but lately not much from him has been seen in the West, and his name has lost some recognition.

Other people that come to mind : Bolo Yeung, Chen Kaige, Gong Li and Tony Leung.

Gong Li is already included.

I even have no idea who Chen Kaige is.

Bolo Yeung could feature, but he'd be in the red portion. I don't think anyone knows him apart from action movie fans. He is only known for being a supporting player in Enter the Dragon 40 years ago and appearing in a few Van Damme films. He's a henchman, at best, and doesn't belong on this list. And Tony Leung is the same as Louis Koo in many ways, just the Chinese know him and people that have seen Infernal Affairs.

I'm familiar with 1-10 and 13.

Normal folk probably can recognize just 1 and 2.

It kind of says it all by looking at their Facebook coverage. Here is the ranking on Facebook (in brackets is my original rank to see how it compares):

(1) 1. Jackie Chan - official - 65,925,377 likes
(2) 2. Jet Li - official - 21,792,932 likes
(6) 3. Donnie Yen - official - 1,190,129 likes

(12) 4. Louis Koo - unverified official page - 538,304 likes

(13) 5. Andy Lau - no official page - 197,138 likes
(16) 6. Daniel Wu - no official page - 75,644 likes
(14) 7. Fan BingBing - no official page - 72,891 likes
(5) 8. Zhang Ziyi - no official page - 55,139 likes
(4) 9. Chow Yun Fat - no official page - 50,447 likes
(7) 10. Michelle Yeoh - no official page - 45,976 likes
(10) 11. Sammo Hung - no official page - 43,282 likes
(9) 12. Gong Li - no official page - 24,612 likes
(3) 13. John Woo - no official page - 23,959 likes
(11) 14. Li BingBing - no official page - 22,560 likes
(8) 15. Zhang Yimou - no official page - 15,078 likes
(15) 16. Angelababy - no official page - 13,840 likes

So I was kind of right about Jackie Chan and Jet Li (obvious) and Angelababy. But I think in general, Chinese stars are just not popular. They're not very interesting as personalities so people don't follow them. But if Andy Lau and Daniel Wu have more likes than Fan Bingbing then that tells us a lot about her popularity, but the fact that most of these stars don't even have official pages is quite telling.

Let's put Jackie Chan's Facebook likes in perspective; Vin Diesel has 90m, Michael Jackson has 80m, Lady Gaga has 67m, and David Beckham has 52m.

1-10 and #14, don't recognize the others by name, might by face though.

Without Google ... 1-7 and 14 (because of the films mentioned).

Would Stephen Chow be considered part of the list?

1-9, and 13. I'd put Andy Lau in the Orange.

Is Yimou Zhang only recognizable by film fans?

Michelle Yeoh is Malaysian. She started her movie career in Hong Kong.

Daniel Wu was born in the US. He moved to Hong Kong to become an actor/filmmaker.

Jackie Chan, John Woo, Chow Yun Fat, Donnie Yan, Sammo Hung, Louis Koo, Andy Lau, and Angelababy all have launched their movie careers and become famous in Hong Kong before moving to Hollywood or mainland China.

Kaige Chen is the director of Killing Me Softly and that epic stinker The Promise.

Yep, Stephen Chow is definitely up there if you consider him Chinese.

Only the Chinese know him. He is by no means an "International star".

Yes, I know. Hong Kong is part of China for this comparison. As is Taiwan. All of their careers are still targeted to Mainland China. They make films in Mandarin or Cantonese, not English. So they're considered Chinese.

But yeah, I always forget that Yeoh is Malaysian. But Malaysia has such a strong Chinese segment that she is also pretty much a "Chinese star".

This is not true. Before Year 2,000, the Chinese market was pretty much closed to foreign filmmakers, including those from Hong Kong. Especially before the mid-90's, most HK movies available in China were bootlegs. HK filmmakers did not make a dime from China. Instead, they targeted markets like Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore. And even today, filmmakers from HK are considered foreigners in China. That's why under the trade pact CEPA between HK and Mainland, co-produced movies have to have at least half of the crew residing in mainland China to be eligible for local release in China.

Jesus. There's really no need to get so technical. It's just some fun. To the West, these stars are all "Chinese". There is no distinction between Hong Kong, Taiwan, or China.

And I'm talking about now. Not "before the year 2000" or in the "mid-90s". Now.

This is not just technicality, this is the reality. Misinformation creates ignorance and misjudgment.

There are distinctions between HK, Taiwan, and China in their movies.

Yeah, whatever.

Says the one that corrects everyone's typos.

And you were stating something not as an opinion but as fact and i.hope is just correcting wrong information and giving us the backstory.

Tang Wei is probably knocking on the door of that list too.

Yeah, the fact I was stating was that these names are "Chinese stars". As in...they are big stars in China. I didn't say they all came from China.

But like I said; whatever. This is not what I care for.

Hmm, I am not sure if she ever will. You'd like to think so because of Blackhat, but that bombed, and she's not even very talented. I think Western people will never warm to someone such as Tang Wei.

It all depends if they stared in western movies or if they were in Chinese films that became popular overseas.

For example: Donnie Yen I don't know by name however I think many people recognize him from IP Man. That was one of the last Chinese films to become somewhat popular in the West.

Of course any of the stars from the Early 2000 era of Chinese films aimed at Chinese audiences like The Hero or Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon.

What about Kung Fu Hustle? That was super popular in the college scene when it came out and was very well liked. He may not be known now to a younger (<30) generation, but he was well recognized for a few years after Kung Fu Hustle. It helps to have a name that is easy to pronounce...

I walked the HK walk of fame thing and knew like 5 names (Jackie, Jet, Bruce, etc)

I know the first 5 by name. A few of the others by google and their face.

Never heard of Louis Koo and Angelababy (wtf?)