A kiss wasn’t just a kiss for Chinese fans of Alan Luo (羅志祥), aka Little Pig (小豬), who has been in Hangzhou filming the CTS drama series Hi My Sweetheart (海派甜心).
Admirers watching the shoot got into a tizzy during one scene in which co-star Rainie Yang (楊丞琳) forces Luo into a passionate kiss. Some of the 40 fans “wailed” and started to cry as they watched Yang plant her lips upon Luo’s. The reaction startled Yang, who tried to assure the distressed fans by telling them, “We’re just like siblings, please
don’t misunderstand.”
But it took Little Pig to bring about quiet on the set. “Be good,” he said. “Your husband [honey] (老公) is filming right now. You can’t get upset with Rainie over this.”
That soothed his admirers, who obediently fell silent, but not Yang. She was visibly “frightened” and made sure to apologize to the fans before later kissing scenes, according to the Taipei Times’ sister paper, the Liberty Times.
Rumors have resurfaced of a romance between actress and high society belle Terri Kwan (關穎) and pop star heartthrob Jerry Yan (言承旭), as the two were reported to have spent a romantic getaway in Koh Samui last week.
Mobbed by reporters at Taoyuan International Airport last weekend, Yan only smiled when asked if he and Kwan had “secretly met” in Thailand. Yan and Kwan’s managers also dodged similar questions.
Speculation has see-sawed about a Yan-Kwan relationship ever since the two met at the beginning of the year as co-stars of the TV drama series Starlit (心星的淚光). A Liberty Times report speculated that Koh Samui was a “reconciliation” trip after a supposed break-up in June that culminated in a heated quarrel in Yan’s car.
This wouldn’t be Kwan’s first hot-and-cold relationship. She dated male model Jerry Huang (黃志瑋) for more than four years before their romance fizzled in the midst of ongoing reports that her wealthy parents were urging her to find a partner with a more respectable pedigree.
As for Yan, who knows? The Liberty Times noted that he made a recent television appearance where he spoke at length about “a love letter never sent” to another rumored flame, supermodel Lin Chih-ling (林志玲).
It looks like hot-headed crooner Gary Tsao (曹格) has been at it again. Last Friday, the Malaysian Mando-pop star was reportedly banned from the posh Traders Hotel in Kuala Lumpur for smashing a television in a fit of rage during his stay there.
But at least Kuala Lumpur didn’t get it as bad as Hong Kong, where Tsao got blind drunk and beat the daylights out of his friend, Canto-pop singer Justin Lo (側田), during a night out on the town. The bad publicity forced Tsao to cancel a string of upcoming concerts and Hong Kong police are investigating the incident.
As for the smashed TV, Tsao’s manager has denied the story, while an exasperated Tsao remarked that even in Malaysia, “people were out to get me.”
In other news, the Chairman has died — once again, in a rumor.
A tipster pointed the Liberty Times to a Facebook group page with a discussion thread title
that read: “Indonesian media reports that Jay Chou (周杰倫) has died in a foreign country from a drug overdose.”
While it is true that Chou is in a foreign country, says his record label JVR, he’s alive and well in the US filming The Green Hornet, in which he plays the role of Kato.
The hoaxers were only slightly more imaginative this time. The first time Chou supposedly died was in 2004, when a Chinese Web site claimed that the pop star had been run over by a truck.
And it’s official — A-mei (阿妹) is dating. At least according to the Apple Daily, which finally caught the pop diva and her boyfriend of three years, basketball star Sam Ho (何守正) on their first “public” date. One of the paper’s crack photographers managed to sneak his lens into the couple’s private dining room at a Japanese bar and grill in Taipei’s East District.
Ho spotted the camera, and perhaps his basketball skills came in handy, as he promptly used his body to completely block A-mei from the view of the lens. The Apple Daily report noted how sweet and considerate Ho was for “protecting his flower.”
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