In Taiwan, the term “quality idol” (優質偶像) (referring to someone who is good-looking, talented, has a good education, and is almost too good to be an entertainer) usually summons up images of Wang Leehom (王力宏). Now, another name is set to join the ranks of the quality idols: William Wei Li-an (韋禮安).
Winner of the first season of the now-defunct music show Happy Sunday (快樂星期天), Wei entered the public eye just before the One Million Star (超級星光大道) reality talent show started churning out its own torrent of minor celebrities. As one of the first of this current batch of TV-created idols, Wei will present a themed evening entitled Climbing the Wall to Become an Idol (爬上這牆當偶像), in which he will pay tribute to the different generations of idols in pop history. Wei will perform songs by Taiwanese idol Jimmy Lin (林志穎) and Usher, in addition to tunes he wrote himself.
With his matinee idol good looks and as a bona fide singer-songwriter, Wei captured the admiration of many fans upon his television debut in 2006. After his Happy Sunday triumph, Wei avoided the conventional route of immediately releasing an album, opting instead to return to his studies at National Taiwan University. He has spent the past two years performing at live house venues, writing songs for the likes of Rene Liu (劉若英) and Angela Chang (張韶涵), and releasing his first EP Waiting Slowly (慢慢等) in March this year.
In a phone interview, Wei explained his decision to put his career on hold: “I was exhausted after the half year in competition. It was both the stress and the attention. I wanted a break.”
Wei said he managed to return to a normal life quite quickly as he did not go out of his way to be recognized. “I think all the packaging for an idol can make them very vulnerable and they can break easily,” he said. “I wanted to build a firm foundation [before embarking on a full career].”
Wei’s period of hibernation will soon end. His compositions on the indie music site tw.streetvoice.com have for the past two years ranked in the top 10. Waiting Slowly, the title track from his EP, debuted at No. 2 on www.kkbox.com.tw without much promotion. Wei is scheduled to release his first full-length album during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Audiences can expect songs that ride high on emotionally poignant lyrics and infectious melodies, the hallmarks of Wei’s music.
“I enjoy pop and lean towards music that is melody driven. My music has broadened from early emotional experience to observation of social events these days.”
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
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In late December 1959, Taiwan dispatched a technical mission to the Republic of Vietnam. Comprising agriculturalists and fisheries experts, the team represented Taiwan’s foray into official development assistance (ODA), marking its transition from recipient to donor nation. For more than a decade prior — and indeed, far longer during Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule on the “mainland” — the Republic of China (ROC) had received ODA from the US, through agencies such as the International Cooperation Administration, a predecessor to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). More than a third of domestic investment came via such sources between 1951
For the past century, Changhua has existed in Taichung’s shadow. These days, Changhua City has a population of 223,000, compared to well over two million for the urban core of Taichung. For most of the 1684-1895 period, when Taiwan belonged to the Qing Empire, the position was reversed. Changhua County covered much of what’s now Taichung and even part of modern-day Miaoli County. This prominence is why the county seat has one of Taiwan’s most impressive Confucius temples (founded in 1726) and appeals strongly to history enthusiasts. This article looks at a trio of shrines in Changhua City that few sightseers visit.
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