All over the news this week is the official breakup of One Million Star (超級星光大道) talent show producer Chan Jen-hsiung (詹仁雄) and wife of two years "sexy mom" Vicky Chen (陳孝萱). Back in December 2005, Pop Stop was all over the NT$1.2 million party that the high-profile producer threw for his wife's two-month-old baby Tie Ti (鐵弟). The couple doesn't even seem to be able to agree over the curtains these days, and now the split is official, information from inside the dysfunctional marriage has hit the press big time.
In addition to the usual allegations of flirtatious behavior on Chan's part, Next has also produced "evidence" that he swings both ways. The magazine claims Chan was caught by paparazzi taking male bonding in exciting new directions. Surely this is no more than expected behavior for a mover and shaker in the showbiz firmament.
And despite the big party back in 2005, Chan is reported to have kept his wife short of cash, even as he went about putting together a multi-million NT dollar collection of designer watches, and furnished the house with top-tier Italian furniture. Chan is all set up to be the bad guy, except for suspicions that Chen flirted with bigamy when she switched from former lover (or husband?) Howie Huang (黃文豪) to current ex. All this provides plenty of fodder for the innuendo peddlers and ensures the couple plenty of column inches in days to come.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
While some people can't wait to get out of their matrimonial situation, Big S (大S) just can't wait to jump in. Such is the pressure she is putting on current beau, Vic Chou (周渝民), that he is losing weight and has given the starlet a diamond ring. Now there's a tip from a true master for all the gold-diggers out there.
Speaking of getting rich, Jay Chou (周杰倫) continues, in the most recent Next report, to fend off the competition as the most financially successful artist in Taiwan. He is probably spurred on by the fact that his closest rival, Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), is, reportedly, a former lover, so instead of sharing a home, they simply see who can buy the biggest and most expensive one. Chou has ensured his lead recently after dropping NT$315 million on a new pad.
Keeping up interest in the mammary development of the nation's stars, Tang Wei (湯唯) has, for the moment at least, reversed the bigger is better trend in cup size. After her turn in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (色戒) and her elevation to superstar sex kitten, she has shown that repressed desire can hit the mark just as surely as simply being big and bouncy. In her most recent venture "The Red Lips File" (紅唇檔案), Ada Pan (潘慧如) has reined in her "exploding tits" (爆奶) in an attempt to see if this will be a substitute for being able to act.
And finally, TV host Tuo Tsung-kang (庹宗康), having only recently recovered from the bad vibe relating to being collared for marijuana use, is now back in the press due to a new romantic attachment with a 23-year-old Chinese-American Kiki that he inadvertently leaked through his MSN. The total inconsequentialness of this news has Pop Stop reeling, but it is good to see that Tuo, on the verge of 40, still appeals to the very young.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
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It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
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