The biggest extravaganza taking place in Chinese-speaking showbiz circles this week is TV hostess Momoko Tao (
Tao's close friend, Chinese singer Na Ying (那英) reportedly blurted out her true feelings via a private phonecall with Tao. "You really have the guts to ask for wedding money as far away as Beijing?" Na is quoted as saying in a Chinese-language daily.
Family values are back in fashion with stars tying the knot and having babies all over the place. Sexy mom Chen Xiao-xuan (
Curiously, the former victim of domestic violence Wang Jing-yin (
Roving reporters turned their attention to the sexy mom's erstwhile boyfriend, TV host Jackie Wu (
But Wu didn't keep his month shut about his former buddy Hu Gua's (
As rumors of Hu's cheating at an illegal gambling joint mount, his market value seems to be rapidly going down. The scandal has so far cost him millions of dollars in missed opportunities to host year-end TV shows and wei ya (
Mando-pop queen A-mei(
A-mei's agent said the star's fee for wei ya shows will stay the same despite increasing market demand, that is, NT$3 million for a single show. Simple math suggests the star's year-end bonuses from local enterprises could easily exceed hundreds of millions of bucks.
A-mei proved a hit at the gay bar Funky on Hangzhou S Rd, Taipei (
Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun (
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
Indigenous Truku doctor Yuci (Bokeh Kosang), who resents his father for forcing him to learn their traditional way of life, clashes head to head in this film with his younger brother Siring (Umin Boya), who just wants to live off the land like his ancestors did. Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟) opens with Yuci as the man of the hour as the village celebrates him getting into medical school, but then his father (Nolay Piho) wakes the brothers up in the middle of the night to go hunting. Siring is eager, but Yuci isn’t. Their mother (Ibix Buyang) begs her husband to let
The Taipei Times last week reported that the Control Yuan said it had been “left with no choice” but to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the central government budget, which left it without a budget. Lost in the outrage over the cuts to defense and to the Constitutional Court were the cuts to the Control Yuan, whose operating budget was slashed by 96 percent. It is unable even to pay its utility bills, and in the press conference it convened on the issue, said that its department directors were paying out of pocket for gasoline
For the past century, Changhua has existed in Taichung’s shadow. These days, Changhua City has a population of 223,000, compared to well over two million for the urban core of Taichung. For most of the 1684-1895 period, when Taiwan belonged to the Qing Empire, the position was reversed. Changhua County covered much of what’s now Taichung and even part of modern-day Miaoli County. This prominence is why the county seat has one of Taiwan’s most impressive Confucius temples (founded in 1726) and appeals strongly to history enthusiasts. This article looks at a trio of shrines in Changhua City that few sightseers visit.