Uncle cool

Taiwan-born star singer Fei Xiang examines traditional gender roles in his latest song, I'll Be Your Man, he tells Xu Fan.

In a 2012 New Yorker magazine issue, he was tagged "the most handsome Chinese man I've ever seen". Kris Phillips, the 54-year-old Chinese-American singer and heartthrob of millions of Chinese women, however, appears to care less about his appearance and more about what he really has to say.

It is a bright autumn afternoon in a fashion photographer's studio, and Phillips - who is better known on the mainland by his Chinese name, Fei Xiang - expresses his appreciation of the crew after a grueling three-hour shoot, even though his eyes betray his fatigue.