Alan Dawa Dolma

1987–2002: Early life
Alan is a native of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and her native tongue is Kham Ke, one of the Tibetan dialect.
Alan was born in Kangding to a large family, her father had ten siblings and her mother had eight. She grew up with her grandparents in nearby Danba, often referred to as "Beauty Valley". The name "Alan", which is in fact her official surname, is a self-created shortened form of a combination of the sinified Tibetan names of her parents Atu and Lantai. Her given name "Dawa Dolma" was bestowed upon her by a Buddhist monk and means "Heavenly maiden of the moon" in Tibetan. Alan's father was a local government official and her mother was a singer in the local Art Troupe.
She was made to play the erhu at an early age as a punishment for tomboy behavior and in 1997 left her hometown to live with her aunt and study at the Middle & High School affiliated with the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, after ranking first in the erhu audition as a fourth grader.
2003–2006: Career beginnings
In 2003 she was accepted to the PLA Art Academy in Beijing and double majored in vocal music and erhu. Playing the erhu, she performed traditional Chinese music with a group of girls at the 2006 gala performance near Cairo, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Chinese-Egyptian diplomatic ties.
During this time, Alan performed as a singer throughout China and discovered the pop music such as Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau. In 2005 she released her first Chinese album, Shengsheng Zui Rulan, covering 13 songs by more established C-pop singers, which helped her reduce her student debt burden to her parents.
In October 2006, selected to represent mainland China together with Wei Chen (with whom she later collaborated for Jiayou! Ni You Me!), Alan won second place at the 9th Asia New Singer Competition, narrowly losing to Filipina singer Maria Donna Taneo by 0.005 points.
2007-2010: Voice of Earth, My Life and Japan Premium Best & More
In April 2006, Alan distinguished herself from roughly 40,000 hopefuls when Avex Trax held auditions throughout Chinese cities that year. After graduating with excellence a year later, she became Avex's first signed artist from China and moved to Tokyo, Japan in September 2007. In November 2007, her first Japanese single "Ashita e no Sanka" was released.
In May 2008, Alan released Shiawase no Kane/Ai Jiushi Shou and all profits from the songs were donated to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake in her home province. A later Japanese single titled Gunjō no Tani was also dedicated to the people of Sichuan.
In June 2008, Alan sang the theme song "Natsukashii Mirai (Longing Future)" for NHK's Save the Future special TV programs which raised awareness of the environment nationwide. Beginning with this song, which was themed on earth, Alan's next five Japanese singles each dealt with a traditional Buddhist element from the Japanese Godai or Tibetan Bön.
Chosen to sing the theme songs (Xin Zhan: Red Cliff and Chibi: Da Jiangdong Qu) of the two-episode Chinese blockbuster Red Cliff, Alan performed at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008. The Japanese versions, "Red Cliff (Shin-Sen)" and "Kuon no Kawa", were recorded for the films' showings in Japan.
In April 2009 Alan's ninth single "Kuon no Kawa" reached No. 3, the highest chart placement ever for a Chinese artist in Japan.
Alan held her first Japan tour in January 2010, taking in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
On February 3, 2010, Alan released a double A-side single, "Diamond/Over the Clouds". "Diamond" was used as the second closing to the anime Inuyasha: The Final Act. While "Over the Clouds" was used as the theme song for the PSP video game, God Eater.
On July 23, 2010 Alan performed with a symphonic orchestra at Shibuya Orchard Hall, performing 23 songs in multiple languages. She also began using Twitter to communicate directly with fans.
2011-present: Hiatus in Japan, return to China
In August 2011 alan announced that she will be focus her activities in China. She held a live in August 31, 2011 in Japan. In October was announced that alan's Chinese label, Avex China, dissolved and she was transferred to Yuehua Music.
Her first single under the new label called "Wǒ huíláile (I'm back)" was released as digital single in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and was composed by JJ Lin.