Bing Bling

 

- Jonathan Fam

Before Huang Xiaoming, Hu Ge and Chen Kun, undoubtedly China’s most celebrated actors now, there was Hu Bing — a 1.89m-tall tall drink of water, who went from walking Valentino and Louis Vuitton’s international runways to becoming one of China’s first TV idols back in the late nineties. At the peak of Hu Bing’s career in 2005, he was the country’s most popular male star, and even his albums (yes, most stars those days were multi-hyphenates) were bestsellers.

Twenty five years on, Hu Bing is still one of China’s most sought-after stars. This year alone, he has, at last count, four dramas and movies set to hit screens. He has also, for a lack of a better term, fashioned himself into a very in-demand style icon, an Asian version of Brit supermodel David Gandy, if you must. Which brings us to why we’re sitting opposite Hu Bing at the La Perla boutique in Takashimaya today. The 46-year-old (FYI: he doesn’t look a day over 35) is here not just to grace the opening of the store but also to present the brand’s all new menswear line. In case you didn’t know, La Perla, famed for its high-end women’s lingerie, has been doing loungewear and swimwear for men since 2015.

It explains why Hu Bing is clad in a pair of striped pyjama pants for this interview. Not a bad way to feel intimate with a star… if not for his two minders flanking him on both sides of the chaise longue he’s sitting on.

8 DAYS: You look pretty much the same as when you were treading the runways as a model back in the nineties. So where have you been hiding the fountain of youth?

HU BING: People always ask me what I use or what I’ve done, but taking good care of myself is the most important thing in my life. I’ve been doing it since I was in my twenties.

So what’s your beauty secret?