韩庚，为了你我会加油。(Hangeng, for you, I'll work hard.)

Yet another trip to London to see one of my Asian singers over and despite some disappointments, I came away from it the better. It may seem silly to some of you, the way I look up to these people, but hopefully once I explain about this very special person, you'll at least partially understand.

First off, I should start by saying the event I went to wasn't a concert this time. Instead, it was a lecture and speech as part of the London School of Business and Finance's HOPE, a charity event to help encourage education. This year, HOPE was aimed at the growing Chinese student population and the guest of honor was one of Asian's rising stars, Hangeng.

To help you understand part of why I respect this man, I have to give you a little background. From childhood, Hangeng's dream was to be a dancer and an actor. In 2001, he left China to begin training under SM Entertainment, possibly the biggest entertainment company in South Korea, and later debuted in the group Super Junior in 2005. In 2009, he sued the company to end his 13 year long contract because it was over restrictive and unlawful. This lawsuit went back and forth for two years before finally ending in favor of Hangeng, during which time he began his solo career as a singer and actor. He's been doing pretty well for himself, even winning the 2012 MTV Europe Awards' Best World Act.

With Hangeng, my reasons for admiring him begin during his trainee days. For those of you who don't know, the training South Korean singers go through before they debut is no joke. As Hangeng and others have describe, almost every hour of every day is filled with dance practice, vocal practice, etc. with little free time. The trainees are given a little pocket money, but it's next to nothing. For Hangeng, this time was especially hard. Not only was he in a country where he barely spoke or understood the language, but he was rarely able to talk to his family back in China. However, that doesn't mean he forgot about them. Instead, he sent most of the money he received to them. He endured the long hours and difficulties many of us couldn't imagine, but he did it all to achieve his dream.

Not only has he worked above and beyond hard to reach his dream, but more than that, I believe he's a very brave and generous person. It takes guts not only to leave home to go to a foreign country where you don't speak the language on the slightest hope you'll succeed and then stand up alone against a major company, but to tell them you deserve better and then keep getting better and working harder takes even more courage in my opinion. Not only that, but despite Hangeng's rising popularity and the hardships he went through, he's very human and compassionate. Besides taking care of his parents with the money he earns, he reaches out to others too. Donating both his time, money and image to the cause, Hangeng is a huge supporter of China's Love Life charity. He particularly helps out with programs involving orphaned or destitute children.

All of what I've wrote is a mix of what I knew before and from what he said in his speech. Unfortunately, my Chinese isn't good enough yet and there wasn't a translation or interpreter, so I was only able to understand about a fourth of what he said, but what I did was more than enough. Besides talking about his time in South Korea and his career, he also talked about working to achieve our dreams and helping others along the way. For example, with the children Hangeng helps, he said he wants to help them be as happy as he is and make sure they have the resources to make their dreams come true.

Although I was disappointed I didn't get to actually meet him, I still walked away with a new light. Before Hangeng spoke, one of the school's director gave a small speech, saying success is not only a result of luck, but also of hard work and character. As I watched Hangeng on stage, only half understanding what he was saying, I still felt inspired. Here's a person who's gone through so much to achieve his dreams and has succeeded beyond expectation, but who's still down to earth, who makes jokes with his fans despite being tired, who puts others first. If he can work this hard to realize his dream, I can as well. If he can do this and still manage to be an incredibly good person, so can I. Since I didn't get to meet him, I'm going to send him a letter. A little teenage fangirl-ed and foolish since he likely won't ever see it, but I'll still do it.

I'm not sure of the exact words, but it will be something along the lines of 'thank you.' Because of him, I'll work even harder, both so I can achieve my own dreams of being fluent in Chinese and one day, I can have the opportunity to thank him in person. I'll be a fan he can be proud of, for the sake of both of us.