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.
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
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
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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