Han Han is a best-selling author, singer, creator of Party, the world’s most popular blogger and also a professional rally driver which is what I find most interesting. Han Han is an inspiration to many and rightly so. His attitude towards life is almost greedy. Nothing it seems is out of his grasp.
He became a professional rally driver in 2003 and achieved sixth place in the N category at CRC Shanghai station. “I’ve loved driving and racing ever since I was a little boy,” Han said. “It is difficult to be both a racer and a writer, but I just have to have good time-management skills.” He went on to win first prize in the China Circuit Championship (CCC) 1600c category in 2007 and in 2009 he became the overall CRC champion in N category as a Shanghai FCACA racer.
This all in a country where dissent is frowned upon and his literary work is often censored. Han Han is someone who refuses to be beaten, refuses to let the establishment that he so hates interfere with his dreams.
Critics have claimed that his racing driving is merely a way for him to show off his wealth which he has accumulated from his books such as Triple Gate. He does have a sort arrogance about him that results in criticism. “I don’t have a head for business and stocks…Advertising opportunities would earn me more than RMB 3 million, but I’m afraid that once I get started in this, I would not be able to stop.”
This independent streak and resistance to following a ‘norm’ is what makes him so interesting for some and so hated by others. These critics however are missing the joy of Han Han. Critics claim that he is a symbol of the one-child policy that has created a nation of spoilt children born in the 1980s. He undoubtedly has a rebellious side to him that thrives off independence but to call it spoilt is to shed unnecessary negative light.
“My success comes from my judgment, which is my gift. Some people will never know what they are really capable of. They just waste their lives in something that they are not good at,” he says. Han Han is a symbol of an attitude in life that everyone would do well to have. He spent his own money on training and buying the rally cars at first but was then contracted to a professional team. He surprised the public by winning the 2007 China Circuit Championship. The greatest conundrum that many people have to deal with is what career to settle on; he tells us not to give up but to face the challenges that life throws at you and pursue whatever path you so wish.
Han Han is an eternal optimist. He realised that rally driving was a sport that would give him pleasure and a sense of achievement so he threw himself whole heartedly into it. Although my dreams of becoming a professional football player may have come to an end, my dream of having a life full of achievement and success has not. If ever there was a guiding light, it is Han Han.
