Chien Na Wei


 * For the comic book series chapter, see China White (issue).

"Anything for a friend."

- China White

Chien Na Wei (简娜伟), generally referred to as China White, is the top mercenary and assassin of the Chinese Triad. After the death of her former mentor Zhishan, Chien became the new leader of the Chinese Triad. She became a frequent adversary of the Arrow.

Early life
As a child, Chien was abused by her father for trying to have fun with her toys. However, a man rescued her, shooting her parents through the chest. The fear of her father turned a streak of Chien's hair white, for unknown reasons. This ultimately led to her being bullied for it. One day while at school, she broke, and stabbed a classmate with a pen. Shocked at what she had done, Chien took up the tutelage of the man who had killed her parents. Before this, however, she soaked her hair in hydrogen peroxide, turning her hair fully white, forever.

Under the tutelage of the man, who was named Zhishan, Chien Na Wei became a mercenary and an assassin of the Chinese Triad, later considered one of, if not, the best. She also went under the alias "China White" when working with westerners.

Failed assassination attempt by Edward Fyers
In 2008 Chien was important enough to merit the attention of Amanda Waller who hired Edward Fyers to set up a missile launcher on Lian Yu to destroy Ferris Air flight Chien was on, embarking for an unknown location, which would have also killed hundreds of innocent people. However Fyers was killed and his plan foiled by her future nemesis Oliver Queen, believing Fyers to be attempting to cripple her country's economic system.

Activities in Hong Kong
Two years after in 2010 her failed assassination attempt, Chien arrived in Hong Kong which once again brought Waller's attention to her. Waller informed Oliver Queen that Chien was the original target of the plane attack by Fyers.

She drugged a man to force him in stealing the Omega virus for her. After this man was taken by Oliver Queen and Maseo Yamashiro to get tortured for information, she stormed into Maseo's home and fought against his wife Tatsu in front of their son Akio. Chien eventually gained the upper hand, taking Tatsu hostage.

Maseo contacted her and she told him she was willing to trade his wife for the Omega virus. She waited in a club which was a front of the Chinese Triad. Her associates quickly captured Oliver and Maseo as they came in. Oliver was surprised that Maseo had made a deal with her. She brought in Tatsu and Maseo handed her the virus. However the virus proved to be a fake after she had it tested. Angered, Chien ordered her associates to kill them. The two managed to free Tatsu and fought their way out of the club. Chien chased them with a gun however they were able to escape.

Omega auction attempt
She traveled to Starling City and prepared to sell the Omega virus on an auction to the highest bidder. Her Chinese Triad members found the A.R.G.U.S team led by Maseo. Chien calmly continued the auction while the Chinese Triads killed the team and captured Maseo. Chien ordered him to be killed but Oliver burst in and freed Maseo, after which the two took out multiple Chinese Triad members. Chien and Peter Kang fled in a car while Chien ordered to arrange the killing of the Maseo's. The car got shot by Oliver and they crashed. As Chien got out of the car Oliver swiftly knocked her out after which she got arrested.

Drug operation
By 2012, Chien somehow escaped from prison and rejoined the Triad lead by Zhishan who smuggled drugs into the city and assassinated anyone for a fair pay regardless of collateral damage and civilian body count. China was also associated with Martin Somers who she payed a large profit to let them smuggle drugs into the city through his port. When dock worker Victor Nocenti was threatening to expose Somers, China killed him. However Victor's daughter Emily wanted Somers arrested Laurel Lance opened a trial to prosecute him. After Somers was attacked by the Hood China visited him to discus the threat of Emily who China wanted to kill by Somers knew killing her would only draw more head from Laurel and China voted to kill her instead. China and another Triad member stormed Laurel's house where her friend Oliver fought them until John Diggle arrived and killed China's accomplice but she was forced to run when the police arrived. Seeking to kill Somers to tie up loose ends on the drug operation she returned to the docks only to face the Hood but was defeated but escaped.

Bertinelli family attacks
Later, Frank Bertinelli suspected the Chinese Triad of killing people close to him, and so he arranged a meeting with China White and her mentor Zhishan, threatening them if they didn't stop. They declared that they had no idea of what he was talking about. When Helena kills Zhishan and convinces the Chinese Triad that her father was behind it, China takes it personally. She leads a group to Frank's house and declares they must kill everyone. She kills some of his bodyguards and tries to kill Frank but is stopped by the Hood, who shoots her in the leg. She manages to escape however.

Assassination attempt of Malcolm Merlyn
Frank Chen was able to get China to meet with Moira Queen, who China seemed to have been previously associated with. Moira requested that she kill Malcolm Merlyn. She first tried to recruit Guillermo Barrera but he ended up getting killed by the Hood. She then recruited Floyd Lawton. They took out his protective detail. But Malcolm went into the building and she and her team were forced to chase him. China White and her team nearly succeeded but the intervention of the Hood prevented his death. After a brutal fight with the Hood she seemed at the losing end, but managed to get away when McKenna interrupted.

Hospital theft operation
After the earthquake she started a working relationship with a new partner, Ben Turner, aka Bronze Tiger. The two got involved in hijacking the medicine meant for Glades Memorial Hospital. In the first raid, Roy Harper took out one of her motorcyclists attacking the truck. China White was waiting for the truck at the other side, taking out both of the drivers and she and her henchmen quickly moved the truck. Their action created a shortage of medicine into the hospitals, attracting the attention of the Hood. During the next raid, two of her motorcyclists attacked the truck, but got swiftly taken out by the Hood. She confronted him revealing she desired to see him dead and had Bronze Tiger attack him but the police arrived forcing everyone to leave. In a third raid, she and Turner got attacked again by the Hood. She and Ben Turner double teamed the Hood. The Hood managed to knock down China, while John Diggle fled with the stolen truck. China jumped on the truck and attacked John, forcing the truck to crash. After a short skirmish she took him down and was preparing to kill him, only for the Hood to shoot a trick arrow at her which tied her wrists to a pole, keeping her immobilized. The Hood and John left the scene. She mocked her adversary, telling him that he'd softened since they last met. She also mentioned that though he defeated her, he would never be a hero, to which he replied with indifference. It was later revealed to Oliver and John that she and her partner were taken into custody by the police.

Personality
Chien was trained by Zhishan to be a cold-blooded assassin. She kills quickly and efficiently, each kill to her is nothing more than a job. She follows a type of "warrior's code", showing no mercy to her enemies and expecting none in return. She does have a sense of revenge; when Helena kills Zhishan she attacks the Bertinelli house and declares that they will kill everyone. She seems to hold a grudge against the Arrow for injuring her.

Chien is a ruthless criminal as she robbed medicine transports and even wanted to sell the lethal OMEGA virus on an auction to the highest bidder.

Season 2 gives her character more depth, showing her "warrior" side and giving her motivations other than bloodshed. She shows these things when she is spared by the Arrow. She mocks him for sparing her life, implying that he's softened.

China has also been shown to be loyal to her allies, which is encapsulated by her catchphrase, "Anything for a friend", which she usually says when her allies thank her.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: As a highly skilled assassin, Chien is shown to be in top physical condition.
 * Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Chien has demonstrated her proficiency in close, hand-to-hand combat when she fought John and Oliver (under the persona of the Arrow). She was able to quickly overpower John and nearly killed him on two occasions, but she was unable to beat Oliver on 2 occasions that she fought him, only able to fight him evenly.
 * Expert swordswoman: Chien is shown to be highly skilled in swordsmanship, enough to go head on with Tatsu Yamashiro and (offscreen) eventually defeated the latter.
 * Expert knife-fighter/Knife-thrower: Chien is shown to be highly proficient with a pair of Karambit Knives, using them as her main weapons in her job. She has shown to have lethal skill in wielding them, both in close combat and throwing them from long distance. She was able to throw two karambits from long distance with exceptional precision straight through a windshield and killing two guards.
 * Skilled leader/Tactician: Chien drugged a man to let him steal the OMEGA virus for her and not remember it. She was able to track down the house of Maseo. Chien planned the assault on both the Bertinelli mansion and Malcolm Merlyn. In both cases she was able to stealthily take out most of the guards without any notice. She was able to ambush medicine transports.
 * Stealth:  As a highly skilled assassin she can move around unnoticed. She was able to silently take out guards and even sneaked up on the Arrow in their first encounter.
 * Skilled markswoman/Firearms: Chien is skilled in the use of firearms. She was able to fire multiple shots from a driving car.
 * Expert survivalist: Chien is the only opponent so far, who encountered Oliver up till three times without being killed or arrested. In all cases she managed to quickly flee the scene when she got disarmed or when the Police interrupted.
 * Multilingual: Chien is able to fluently speak Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Japanese.

Equipment

 * Karambit knives: Chien uses these karambit knives, as her main weapon of choice. She has replacements for these weapons and is always seen fighting with them in each hand.
 * Guns: Chien used a gun while guarding her mentor. She used this gun to return fire when Helena attempted to shoot him.
 * Katana: Chien can proficiently wield a katana.

Arrow

 * "China White"
 * "Back from the Deadshot"

Behind the scenes

 * Chien Na Wei/China White was portrayed by Kelly Hu in the first, second and third seasons of Arrow. However, in the third season, she only appeared in flashbacks sequences.
 * A deleted scene from reveals that she had a promiscuous relationship with Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger.
 * During an interview with Spoiler TV, speaking about Wei's return in the flashbacks of the third season, Hu stated that, although her character was in jail at the moment in the series, she can return while her character will not die.

Trivia

 * Chien's Karambit Knives resemble Cold Steel Double Agent Knives.
 * Her relationship with Zhishan, beyond the mentor/apprentice bond, is somewhat of a mystery. He briefly scolds her for her failure to kill the Arrow, but he then reassures her (in his own way) that she will improve.