Last week, the results of the 2009 Miss Asia Pageant were announced and the dust is yet to settle over the upset that saw favorite Erica Liu (劉伊心) relegated to fourth place. To add insult to injury, she was pipped to the post for a top-three place by rival Hsu Chia-huei ( 許嘉惠), who took third. Hsu, 21 years old and still a student, had been defeated by Liu in the Taiwan district qualifiers.
Liu, a professional model and winner of the 2007 International Bikini Queen competition, wept when the results were read out. Apple Daily quoted her as saying, “I have always won first or second in the past.”
First place was taken by Chinese contestant Xu Ying (許瑩), with second place taken by 26-year-old Hong Kong/Macau contestant Wang Xiyao (王希瑤). Allegations of breast enhancement surgery have been made against Wang, in response to which Liu said her own 34Ds were the real deal.
Both the first and third place winners were less well endowed than Liu, a fact that seems to have utterly bowled over Taiwanese media. Could it be that cup size isn’t the ultimate arbiter of beauty?
Last week, Taipei councilman Hou Kuan-chun (侯冠群) made accusations of sexual harassment against a police officer who had conducted a Breathalyzer test on a then unnamed celebrity. On Tuesday, Kelly Kuo (郭靜純) identified herself as the person whom the policeman had asked, presumably salaciously, to “get down and give it a blow” (妳先下來吹一下).
Kuo said that as a married woman she had been unwilling to be identified, but had subsequently felt that she was not the only woman to face this kind of harassment, and by getting the incident noticed in the media, she could help prevent this happening to others.
The shock waves from Mark Chao’s (趙又廷) unexpected victory at the Golden Bell Awards (金鐘獎) continue to reverberate this week with the accusation that his tearful acceptance of the award, which had been expected to go to Vic Chou (周渝民), the more experienced member of the Black & White (痞子英雄) cop shop duo, had all been an act. If so, it is tempting to suggest that it was a much better one than anything seen on set.
Rumors that Chao’s friendship with Chou had suffered following the awards ceremony and that the planned feature film version of Black & White is in jeopardy starring the two original leads only fed speculation. Midweek reports in the United Daily News and other media suggested that the two were in contact via MSN, but their relationship is under close scrutiny for any signs of further tension.
Moving from work to play, it seems that while starlet Pei Lin (裴琳), now out of rehab, might have kicked the magic dragon, Next Magazine confirms with a slew of grainy late-night photos that she’s still a girl who wants to have fun. These days, though, the high jinks are fueled by alcohol. The magazine says that she has already lost two jobs, one as a co-host for Go Go Japan and the other on the TTV drama Niang Jia (娘家), because of alcohol-related issues. Scenes of simulated sex on the roadside and a vicious physical attack against a suspected romantic rival for the attentions of Go Go Japan host Toku (李育德) have done nothing for her reputation, but certainly have ensured plenty of column inches.
Another celebrity who can’t seem to keep on the straight and narrow is Suzanne Hsiao (蕭淑慎), who is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. While many of the stars caught up in the spate of celebrity drug busts in late 2007 have bounced back to achieve even greater success in the entertainment industry, Hsiao has kept a low profile, but is now suspected of drug use once again. Next reports that the former beauty, now 11kg heavier than in her glory days, tested positive for Class 2 drugs after visiting a clinic for tests following an abortion last month. She claims the positive drug tests are the result of using anti-depressants, but if this claim proves as hollow as previous excuses, she’ll be looking at some real jail time for what would be her third drug offense.
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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