Top 10 Chinese celebrities with doctor degree

Though celebs are often most admired for their great success from their singing, acting, entertaining and sports careers, many of them are actually pretty talented, hard-working, and good-natured people. It’s all too easy to focus on the scandal and glamour of the celebrity lifestyle, but these colleges and universities felt it was important to recognize the talent and contributions to society from these celebrities, however interesting, weird or controversial. Here are 10 Chinese celebrities with honorary degrees.

1. Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung, one of modern cinema’s greatest Chinese actresses,received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh. Raised in England and Hong Kong, Maggie Cheung started her film career in 1983 and is the first Asian actress to win a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.Cheung, has appeared in more than 70 films. She is renowned for her stunning performances in In the Mood for Love and Hero.

2. Zhang Yimou
World famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou received the honorary degree for Doctor of Fine Arts from Yale University. Zhang made his directorial debut in 1987 with the film Red Sorghum. Since then, Zhang has established his international reputation through exploration in a variety of genres in the art world.

3. Andy Lau
Althoug he just graduated from a Secondary School, with his 30 years of hard work, he received the “World Outstanding Chinese” award and an “honorary doctorate” from the University of New Brunswick, Canada.

4. Jackie Chan
Despite the minimal formal education he received, he was made an honorary doctor of social science of the Hong Kong Baptist University, and an honorary fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

5. Lisa Wong
Lisa Wong, or Wang Ming-chun, was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters by City University of Hong Kong. Lisa Wong has contributed significantly to the community and in particular to the art and cultural development of Hong Kong.

6. Wong Kar-wai
Renowned film director Wong Kar-wai received honorary doctorate from The Open University of Hong Kong. Wong excels in using unconventional narrative and directing techniques to handle ordinary subjects like love and humanity, creating his unique cinematic language that gets beyond geographical and language boundaries and plucks the heartstrings of people from different cultural backgrounds.

7. Chow Yun-fat.
Chow Yun-fat was awarded an honorary doctorate of the City University of Hong Kong. Chow, whose photogenic looks are best known to western audiences from his leading role in the Oscar winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will collect his honorary doctorate of letters at a ceremony at the university in November.

8. Ang Lee
International director Ang Lee was honored as “Dr. Lee” when his alma mater Taiwan Art University presented him with an honorary doctorate degree.
Ang Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hulk, and Brokeback Mountain, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director. He is the first person of Asian descent to win the Best Director Oscar.

9. John Woo
World renowned film director John Woo was conferred an honorary doctoral degree by Hong Kong Baptist University. The university conferred honorary doctoral degrees on five distinguished persons for their outstanding academic, research and professional achievements, as well as their remarkable contributions to society.

10. Eric TsangEric Tsang was awarded honorary doctoral degree by University of Dayton in Keladuoha.

Oh, and these celebs get handed doctor degrees without having to lift a finger. Yep, that’s right. No tuition fees, no exams, and they get to pose for the same cheesy photos, so admirable.