We all know that Jay Chou (周杰倫) fancies himself something chronic, but his most recent automotive acquisition really takes the cake. Not content with his already considerable collection of luxury sports cars, the Chairman (周董) has recently taken delivery of his very own Batmobile.
According to a report in the United Daily News, the custom-made auto is based on the one used in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. The car, which takes up to three parking spaces and cost NT$5 million, is not just a collector’s item. Chou said he might have the chance to take it on the road one day. “We’ll see if the paparazzi will be able to keep up with me then,” he said.
Chou’s new toy is an innocent diversion compared to what other celebs have been getting up to, most notably Ethan Ruan (阮經天), who has been caught, once again, with his pants down.
Pop Stop reported last week that Ruan’s girlfriend Tiffany Hsu (許瑋甯) had changed her Facebook status from “In a relationship” to “It’s complicated” after the star was spotted at a hotel in Taichung with an unidentified woman.
Since then, additional details have been pouring in of his louche behavior.
At the time of the alleged indiscretion, Ruan was supposed to be on leave from the publicity tour for hit film Monga (艋舺), in which he starred, to attend his grandfather’s funeral.
Photos submitted by a member of the public to Next Magazine suggest that he might have had a date with a “long-haired hottie” (長髮辣妹) whose going price, according to the rag, is NT$30,000. There is still plenty of controversy as to exactly what might, or might not, have happened, as the dates and locations of the photos are disputed.
Rather less controversial, though equally eye-catching, is Stanley Huang’s (黃立行) most recent romantic involvement. Huang, who is no stranger to speculative gossip, has generally managed to keep a fairly tight lid on the details of his private life.
There has, nevertheless, been intense speculation about a possible new courtship following the breakup of his three-year involvement with singer Dominique Tsai (蔡詩蕓). According to Next Magazine, his new inamorata is model Hu Jia-ai (胡嘉愛). Up to now, Hu has been very much in the minor league, but perhaps now she’ll have a chance to move up from the D list.
Someone else who’s going places is Wang Ying (王瀅), niece of singer Harlem Yu (庾澄慶).
Wang is getting hitched to Jimmy Yang (楊立傑), scion of the Nankuo Construction (南國建設) family.
Suggestions that the whirlwind romance, which is leading to marriage after only six months, is being driven by a pregnancy are providing a rich vein for the gossip rags to mine.
From romance to finance: Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽) is romancing a “long-haired hottie” of his own. The singer is riding a wave, and apart from having nothing to hide (when asked who she was, he simply replied that he had plenty of women friends), his participation in Super Band (縱貫線), together with veteran rockers Lo Ta-yu (羅大佑), Emil Chou (周華健), Jonathan Lee (李宗盛), has proven a huge success.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) estimates the band’s 52-show concert tour (six gigs were added on to meet demand), grossed NT$4.3 billion, with each of the performers pulling in NT$100 million.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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