MinChen Lin / To those beautiful surprises

“Beauty Meets Beautiful Surprises” is the theme of Lin Mingzhen’s debut in the entertainment industry in 2015. Mingzhen’s childhood dreams and subsequent career choices were originally unrelated to the entertainment industry. However, fate had other plans, and Mingzhen’s life was cleverly filled with various beautiful surprises. Things that were meant to happen always happened, and after being discovered by talent scouts, she ultimately chose to enter the entertainment industry, embracing new challenges.

Not only boys, but also girls like the new face, Lin Mingzhen. “I can enter the entertainment industry, it’s a beautiful accident!” Mingzhen admitted that her life has never been related to the entertainment industry, so everything that happened after entering the industry is a strange thing. “It’s like starting to learn to crawl and walk from zero years old, and then start running. Now I enjoy different challenges every day.” In fact, for Mingzhen, every time she encounters something new, she faces it with a bit of fear and excitement. Even though there is always a struggle at the beginning, after working hard to learn and do it, she can enjoy everything: “At the beginning, there will be some resistance, afraid that I can’t do it, can’t do it well, and doubting myself every day.” As Mingzhen spoke, even her facial expressions became exaggerated and frowned, letting the people around her feel her tension. “It’s like going to battle on the battlefield,” Mingzhen used this to compare to facing work tasks and challenges. “Facing setbacks and failures, you have to quickly do better than before, and make progress compared to yesterday!”

Character determines destiny.

Facing challenges every day, Mingzhen is not afraid of the challenges but of not doing well enough: “One day, while I was performing on stage singing, I heard a ding sound, and since then I have learned to enjoy performing and decided to become an excellent singer and actor.” Hearing her say this, I believe that she is now handling her work very well because she can describe the heavy work pressure as “enjoyment”: “If I am not loyal to myself, I probably wouldn’t have made it to where I am today. Although I have had a lot of self-doubt along the way, I don’t think we should be afraid of the unknown and challenges.” The strongest support behind her turns out to be her mother: “One time, I told my mother that I wasn’t sure if I was on the right path, but my mother encouraged me to go for it and do every job well.” So, she continues to live each day with the mindset of “every day is a new attempt.”

“When I’m rushing, I don’t need to think about anything or be afraid. This feeling is what I like the most.”

When it comes to Mingzhen’s favorite sport, she excitedly says, “Because my mom and sister love skiing, whenever we travel abroad, we always like to go to places where we can ski. And even though I still fall all over the place, I still enjoy the process. It’s just about pushing forward no matter what. While rolling, I also think about a lot of things, like how to make myself less painful when I fall? Then I learned how to fall more comfortably, and it’s definitely a learning process. Although I’m not very professional yet, I really enjoy that feeling of rushing forward. When I rush, I don’t have to think about anything or be afraid of anything. That feeling is what I like the most.”

Every morning, Mingzhen opens her yoga mat, turns on yoga music, and meditates for 5 to 10 minutes to calm herself down. Then she does 20 minutes of gentle yoga to stretch her entire body and relax. After that, she does 10 minutes of core exercises: “This is something I must do every day. If I have work to do, I will wake up an hour earlier to do this exercise so that I can start the whole day.” She shares the joy between friends and exercise: “After breakfast, I start doing lower body exercises. There are many different ways to do squats, and I think girls should do more of them because they require a lot of core muscles. If you train well, you won’t have to exert so much effort in any other exercise.”

In the evening, before dinner, if she doesn’t have work, Mingzhen will definitely do 45 minutes of intense yoga. “I really love yoga. It looks gentle, but it actually requires a lot of muscular endurance and can strengthen the entire body.” So, did she always enjoy this type of exercise since she was young? “Before entering the entertainment industry, I didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling of pushing forward, and I hardly exercised.”

“Thank you for those setbacks, they changed my whole life.”

When it comes to the reasons for starting exercise, we have to go back to before Mingzhen entered the beauty salon business. She was under a lot of pressure every day and hardly ever took a break, working from morning till night. Not only did she not have time to exercise, but her eating habits were also irregular. “I spent all day in an air-conditioned room communicating with clients and never broke a sweat,” she said with a bitter smile, recalling the past. In the second year of running the beauty salon, she developed a lot of acne on her face, to the point where it was covered in pimples and she even developed eczema. At first, it was only on her forehead, but due to mishandling, the situation became very serious. “At that time, the doctor gave me a cream, but I didn’t know it contained steroids. After applying it, the eczema subsided and my skin looked even more beautiful than before, so I stopped using the cream. However, three days later, larger patches of eczema appeared on my face, and eventually, my whole face was covered in eczema.” Mingzhen was in pain and itching every day, and it became so severe that pus would seep out, wetting her mask (beauticians are required to wear masks).

“I remember one time when I was introducing a product to a customer, and she asked me, ‘If I use these products you recommended, will my face look like yours?’ It was a big blow to me at that time. That night, after taking a shower and looking at myself in the mirror with pus still dripping from my face, I asked myself why it had to be like this. From that moment on, I was determined to change myself and not rely on medication anymore. I wanted to be naturally beautiful and healthy.” Ironically, illness and setbacks became Mingzhen’s redemption. The next day, she started living a disciplined life: “I tried any exercise that could make me sweat. After two weeks, my eczema improved significantly, and I felt more energetic. My work became more efficient, and I became happier. That’s when I realized that exercise could change a person like this.”

Both low-cost and easy to control, as long as you wear appropriate sportswear, you can exercise almost anytime, anywhere. “Comfortable sportswear, put it on, you can exercise anywhere, no excuses. As long as you have perseverance and determination, I think you can become naturally beautiful without relying on any medication, and you can be beautiful from the inside out.” Speaking of this, Mingzhen exclaimed, “Exercise gives me a new life!”

“Nowadays, home is wherever you go. No matter where you go, you should rent a place with a kitchen so that you can cook wherever you go.”

There was a report that said Zhen is very good at cooking, is that true? “My mom was always busy with work, so I had to learn how to cook and take care of my two younger brothers from a young age. I remember starting with cooking plain congee. I saw other people cook congee by adding rice and water, boiling it, and then it’s done. At that time, I thought boiling meant it was cooked, so my brothers and I ended up eating raw rice soup for a whole week! I was wondering why other people’s congee was soft, but mine turned out crispy. Later on, I learned that after the water boils, you have to simmer it on low heat until the rice grains burst, and then it becomes congee.” The staff on site burst into laughter upon hearing this.

From a hellish chef to a star chef, all because of family: “I feel so much joy in cooking. One time, I cooked at home and my mom and family came back and finished the food in an instant. It was so satisfying. So without thinking, I decided to enroll in a cooking course in Australia.” However, due to Mingzhen’s lack of financial ability at the time, she chose to work first, earn and save money, and opened a small spa beauty salon. After the business stabilized, she saved up for tuition fees and enrolled in a chef course, but her plans were interrupted by being discovered by talent scouts.

“Nowadays, I consider the whole world as my home. No matter where I go, I always look for a place to rent with a kitchen so that I can cook wherever I go.” The passion for cooking still runs through her veins. “One of the dishes that my family loves that I cook is honey glazed ribs. It has a strong flavor, but they really enjoy it. Another dish is drunken shrimp steamed egg, which is also a great dish to have with rice.” As she talks about her family’s love for her cooking, Ming Zhen can’t help but smile and cover her mouth in happiness.

Art brings peace to the soul.

When talking about art with Mingzhen, she has been exposed to painting and calligraphy since she was young. “I might have developed an interest in painting because of my sister’s influence. She’s really talented, you should check out her Instagram. Since I started living alone, whenever work stress becomes too much, I do yoga, cook, and paint portraits. Even though my sister hasn’t learned how to paint, she always imagines how to capture the scenery when she goes out. She made me realize that painting is a super peaceful activity that brings calm and comfort.” Later on, Mingzhen also tried painting and found that time flies by when she’s painting, and a whole day easily passes. “If I have the opportunity, I would also like to have a personal art exhibition, although it’s a distant dream. I would keep all my paintings, even if I frequently change workplaces, I always carry my artworks with me.”

Falling in love with sports and painting, Mingzhen seems to have the whole world: “I think sports can cultivate a person’s perseverance and self-discipline. Every time I finish exercising, I feel like I’m the most amazing and strongest person in the world! If you can’t even achieve your daily goals, how can you accomplish what you really want to do? I think you can write down the small goals of which sports you want to do each day. Maybe today, for a certain movement, you have to do 15 repetitions, and when you reach 14, you feel like you’re dying and can’t do it anymore. But when you actually do 15, you will feel great. That’s why you feel so strong after exercising. On the other hand, painting is completely different. It can make you feel calm and feel that the whole world is beautiful.” These two completely different joys have shaped Mingzhen’s current life. Although it’s transient, there’s always a reason to live better.