Fugitive funnyman Chu Ke Liang (豬哥亮) has come out of hiding and returned to showbiz to pay off the huge gambling debts that caused him to disappear for more than a decade. The 60-year-old entertainer’s first gig is a television commercial for consumer electronics retailer Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co (3C, 燦坤) that began airing this week.
Chu Ke Liang plays five characters in the commercial — including a grandmother and seven-year-old boy — all wearing his trademark “toilet-lid” (馬桶蓋)hairstyle and is reportedly being paid US$60,000 for his efforts. Apple Daily reports that Chu Ke Liang has received offers to do more commercials and appear on or even host a few television shows, and estimates that the comedian’s earnings from these projects could add up to US$840,000. That’s a fraction of the US$8.7 million to US$14 million he reportedly owes.
While Chu Ke Liang is making money, Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) is spending it. The actress, one of the prime victims of the Edison Chen (陳冠希) sex photo scandal, enjoyed a luxurious, five-day visit to Taipei last week, wining, dining and shopping, and going to amusement parks with her son, Lucas.
Cheung received a warm welcome from her Taiwanese celebrity friends including sister duo Big S (大S) and Little S (小S); Chen Jien-chow (陳建州), better known as Blackie (黑人); and Chen’s girlfriend, singer Fan Fan (范瑋琪). The paparazzi dutifully tailed the gang and provided gossip readers with day-to-day accounts of their itinerary, from one exclusive Japanese restaurant to another, and lavish spending on products made by a certain American shoe company.
“I am crazy about kids and want to have more,” Cheung was quoted as saying in the Apple Daily. “I have no wish to return to the movie business at the moment. My plan is to use Nicholas Tse’s (謝霆鋒) money for a while longer.”
Though Hong Kong’s Cheung isn’t interested in making a comeback anytime soon, 23-year-old singer Hsu Sung (許頌)is getting plenty of attention as Cheung’s doppelganger. She hit the celebrity radar after winning a talent show in China’s Anhui Province and is now being called a shan chai (山寨版) version of Cheung. Shan chai, which translates roughly as “bandit stronghold,” was coined recently to describe fake goods made in China, which rip off a brand’s image like bandits steal from people.
When asked how she felt about missing the chance to meet the real Cheung, Hsu, who was in Taipei to promote her new single this week, said, “It’s a pity. We may enjoy the thrill of seeing each other’s mirror image.”
In other music news, alt-rock star Faith Yang (楊乃文) is scheduled to perform live in concert at Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋) next month, with erstwhile sweetheart Lin Wei-tse (林暐哲) on board as the music director. ABT pop star Jeff Huang (黃立成), another Yang ex, made a video clip that was played at a press conference held last week in which he wished Yang luck.
When the subject of her old flames was brought up at the media event, the conversation between Yang and journos went something like this:
The press: “Can you compare Lin and Huang?”
Yang: “One is my first, the other [is also] an ex. One is thin, the other chubby. One can do a back flip, the other can’t.”
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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