Who is Jackson Wang? Five things to know about the Chinese K-pop star

He's a member of the K-pop group Got7 but also he's making a name for himself as a solo artist

Jackson Wang is known for being a member of K-pop boy band Got 7 but he's also making a name for himself as a solo artist. AFP

Jackson Wang is trending on Twitter again. And this time, all it took was a single photo.

The Chinese K-pop star is the latest cover model for Super Elle, a Chinese fashion and lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in their teens and 20s.

For those who may not be familiar with Wang, he's best known for being a member of the K-pop band Got7. However, he's also found success as a solo artist, becoming the highest charting Chinese artist on the Billboard 200 with his first solo album Mirrors, which he debuted in November 2019. Here are five things to know about him:

1. He comes from a family of athletes

His father was a member of China's national fencing team and won a gold medal at the Asian Games. He also competed in two Summer Olympics. His mother was a former world-class gymnast. Wang started training as a fencer at the age of 10 and was a member of the Hong Kong national fencing team. He was so good at the sport, he got offered a scholarship to Stanford University in the US and could have joined Hong Kong's national team for the 2012 London Olympics, but turned the opportunity down to become a K-pop star instead.

2. He was a K-pop trainee for two and a half years

It may seem like he was born to be a K-pop star now, but back in 2011, after he moved to Seoul, South Korea, to start training, it took hard work to kickstart his career. Wang made an appearance on the reality survival show  Win: Who is Next, which pitted K-pop trainees against one another and eventually won a spot on Got7 with fellow trainees Mark, Yugyeom and BamBam.

3. He's quite the funnyman

Appearing on Korean and Chinese variety shows, Wang doesn't shy away from the camera. He's appeared on an endless list of television programmes, which has helped create a global fan base. He also appeared on a Late, Late Show segment called This is How We Do It with James Corden.

4. He can speak multiple languages

Wang is known for being able to speak five languages fluently: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, English and Korean. He was born and raised in Hong Kong, but his parents are from China so he likely learnt Mandarin and Shanghainese from them. He also attended the American International School, and Cantonese and English are widely spoken in Hong Kong. And, of course, he learnt Korean while training to become the star he is today.

5. He's incredibly popular in China

On the Sina Weibo social media platform alone, he has 24.2 million followers. Of course, he also spends time working on his Chinese brand. He's appeared on Chinese television and even held a birthday party at the Beijing Olympics Sports Centre in 2019 with all 5,000 tickets selling out in 98 seconds. He was appointed as an ambassador for Fendi China and launched a collaboration for a limited-edition line called the Fendi X Jackson Wang Capsule Collection.