One of the longest media stakeouts finally came to an end this week when photos of Andy Lau (劉德華) and Carol Chu (朱麗倩) holding hands hit the front pages of the Chinese-language tabloids. Chu has long been rumored to be Lau’s secret love, but the relationship had never been publicly acknowledged by either party. The image of Lau and Chu, hands firmly clasped, in Kuala Lumpur’s airport on their way back to Hong Kong, was one press photographers had been waiting to capture for 24 years.
The occasion of this revelation was the funeral of Chu’s father. To avoid disruption to the funeral, all references to Lau’s decades-long connection with the family were omitted from the event, but Lau, for reasons that are still unclear, decided that it was time for the secret to be conclusively let out of the bag, making his first public appearance as Chu’s partner.
Rumors of the relationship have long been present in the media, with many pointedly referring to Chu as Mrs Lau
(劉太太), although the couple have not married. Lau’s reluctance to have an acknowledged partner is closely linked with his image as one of the Chinese-speaking world’s biggest male sex symbols. Based on comments left on Lau’s many fan sites, it seems that fans have been overwhelmingly supportive of the star’s decision to give Chu what many regard as her rightful status.
Lau’s relationship with the media has never been easy given the huge interest his slightest action creates. Under pressure from Chu’s family to regularize the relationship, it was reported that Lau intended to marry Chu in April, even going so far as handing over a house worth more than NT$30 million as a dowry. Leaks to the press about the forthcoming nuptials angered Lau to such an extent that he called the marriage off, making the particularly hurtful comment that he wasn’t sure if he loved Chu enough to make the commitment of marriage.
Lau is not the only superstar who has worked hard to keep a long-standing relationship secret. Jackie Chan’s (成龍) relationship with Joan Lin (林鳳嬌) was only acknowledged quite recently (though they married in 1982), partly as a result of son Jaycee Fong (房祖名) emerging as a celebrity in his own right. In 2000, Taiwan’s own Jackie Wu (吳宗憲), who had long been thought to be single, was exposed as not only having a wife, but also four children, all of whom he had kept out of the media limelight. While both Wu and Chan were notorious for their numerous extramarital affairs, a situation that may have prompted their reluctance to open up about their domestic lives, Lau has never been strongly associated with any woman other than Chu. There is ongoing speculation as to whether Lau already has a child by Chu.
Meanwhile, A-mei (張惠妹), or rather A-mit (阿密特), as she is now known after the release of her new experimental album, is basking in the glow of success. Although struggling to hang on to a place in the wrong half of the Top 20, the announcement last week that her new album will be re-released with a number of cuts after the original was given an 18+ rating for the nudity and sexual content of the accompanying DVD, will give her plenty of kudos. The refrain “It’s bullshit” will be removed from the song Black Eats Black (黑吃黑) in the new edition. In compensation, a new song with Taiwanese lyrics will be added, capitalizing on the huge popularity of the Wu Bai (伍佰) inspired Come If You Dare (好膽你就來), which also features on the album. A-mei has clearly arrived as an artist pushing at the boundaries of the acceptable in Mando-pop, though watching the unexpurgated tracks on YouTube, it’s hard to see anything particularly transgressive, and A-mei’s take on female domination and sex as a power game is unlikely to shock anyone but a government censor.
In other music news, Sodagreen (蘇打綠) is hemorrhaging money in the making of its upcoming album Summer.Wild (夏．狂熱) after producer Will Lin (林暐哲) lost NT$900,000 in cash he was carrying while taking care of post-production in London. Hopefully the band will be able to make some of this money back in its concerts at Taipei Arena on Sept. 19 and Sept. 20.
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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