Chinese-language media report that singer and racing driver Jimmy Lin (林志穎) has become a father. Girlfriend Chen Ruo-yi (陳若儀) gave birth to a son earlier this week in California, and a story in the United Daily News suggests that although the parents are, er, keeping mum about the illegitimate child, Lin will acknowledge paternity following the end of his current concert tour.
It is perhaps no coincidence that his soon-to-be-released album’s title translates as “low-profile love” (低調愛).
The vernacular media have been uncharacteristically backward in coming forward: the news that one of the Chinese-speaking world’s most eligible bachelors has a girlfriend and child hardly created a stir.
The fact that Andy Lau (劉德華) managed to retain his fan base despite being “outed” as a family man has likely paved the way for a younger generation of male celebrities to be more up front about their private lives.
Does this mean the rabid media scrum is exercising a modicum of self-restraint?
Not likely ...
The ubiquity of digital photography proved fertile ground for celebrity gossip this past week. While none of the following beat Edison Chen’s (陳冠希) magnum opus, a number of celebrities have been caught with their proverbial pants down.
Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒), based on a photo “provided by a reader” published in the United Daily News, is dating TV actor Lee Wei (李威). The damning and irrefutable evidence is a shot of Lee draping his arm round Hsiao’s shoulder. Both parties vehemently deny being an item.
In a different league, photos posted on the Internet may cause graver problems for Jamie Weng (翁家明).
Reports in March had Weng’s marriage to actress Grace Yu (俞小凡) on the rocks after revelations surfaced that he was having an affair with flight attendant Su Chia-man (蘇家漫). He subsequently flew to Shanghai where Yu was filming to beg forgiveness, and promised to stop playing away from home. Following a tip from a reader, who suggested that Weng had failed to keep his promise, diligent staffers at Next Magazine uncovered a photo of Weng and Su striking a pose of undisguised intimacy posted on Picasa. According to the magazine, the photo was posted at the end of last month.
Next Magazine laments that following these revelations, Weng has been keeping a low profile, which adds to the challenge of verifying the rumors, in the interests of truth.
Yu could exact revenge by hooking up with Chang Cheng-yue (張震嶽), who is back in play after splitting up from Miranda Lu (路嘉怡). Chang has been busy with a super group comprising venerable rockers Lo Ta-yu (羅大佑), Emil Chou (周華健) and Jonathan Lee (李宗盛), which has proved a shrewd move financially. He’s already made headlines by dating an unnamed woman who has been nicknamed “big-eyed chick” (大眼妹) by Next Magazine.
After breaking up with “foreign boyfriend” Paul soon after the release of her English album Self-Selected, Faith Yang (楊乃文) seems to have hitched up with David Wu (吳大維), a man whose list of former relationships reads like a who’s who of Taiwan’s celebrity firmament. Yang may face competition in the form of glamour model Hsiang Ying (湘瑩), who Next Magazine reports has been recently sighted with Wu.
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
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