Tattletale flames old and “new” have been spewing up grist for the rumor mill over the past week.
Pop idol-turned-B-list actor Wing Fan (范植偉) climbed into bed with the China Times Weekly (時報周刊) for a pillow talk session, the results of which were published two weeks ago, and got more than he bargained for — or maybe not.
Fan reminisced about his past romance with pop idol Cyndi Wang (王心凌), which ended five years ago, and gave her dirty laundry a thorough public airing.
With unusual candor, Fan confessed to subjecting Wang to domestic violence on two occasions. And if that weren’t enough to persuade his most ardent of fans that the man’s a complete cad, when the interviewing journo asked if the two had lost their virginity to one another, seeing as they married young (Fan was 19, Wang 17), Fan replied: “I had two girlfriends before her so it was not my first time. I thought it would be her first time, but it wasn’t. I was a bit disappointed and surprised, because after all she was only 17.”
Wang, acknowledged as the founder of Mando-pop’s Cult of Sweetness (甜心教主), reportedly cried for two days and went into hiding.
In the face of snowballing criticism, Fan cut off contact with the media. But before making a French exit, he publicly apologized to Wang and said that he was gravely mistaken in trusting a reporter during a “casual chat.”
Far be it from Pop Stop to suggest that, with a new album coming out, Fan’s disclosure could be yet another Mando-pop attempt at creating a succes de scandale.
Amid the brouhaha, Wang’s first love, C-list actor Ou Ting-hsing (歐定興), reaped some media exposure. When interviewed by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), Ou said he had only got to first base with Wang when they dated. And since Wang started seeing her former husband after they broke up, Ou speculated that Wang lost her virginity to Fan.
Meanwhile, starlet Hu Jia-ai (胡嘉愛), who quickly rose from the D-list to gossip rag headline material because of her rumored romantic involvement with pop star Stanley Huang (黃立行) — though he dismissed her as a mere acquaintance — continues to fuel speculation about the pair’s true status.
After Hu claimed on popular television show Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了) that she hangs out at Huang’s house watching movies and playing with his “bird” — not a euphemism, but a real one, apparently — Next Magazine recently published English-language text messages sent between Hu and a guy, alleged to be Huang, on March 1.
Judge for yourself:
Hu: Take shower already
Huang: Hehe Can I see?
Hu: No
Huang: Okok ... Can I touch?
Hu: Yes next time take shower with u haha
Huang: Don’t have too much dirty of a dream! save it for later haha
When asked about how the messages could have ended up in the media, Hu said she had lost her cellphone, rather conveniently, a few days previously.
As for whether or not the message sender is the star in question, Hu said she has many friends named Stanley.
One of the biggest sore spots in Taiwan’s historical friendship with the US came in 1979 when US president Jimmy Carter broke off formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan’s Republic of China (ROC) government so that the US could establish relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan’s derecognition came purely at China’s insistence, and the US took the deal. Retired American diplomat John Tkacik, who for almost decade surrounding that schism, from 1974 to 1982, worked in embassies in Taipei and Beijing and at the Taiwan Desk in Washington DC, recently argued in the Taipei Times that “President Carter’s derecognition
JUNE 30 to JULY 6 After being routed by the Japanese in the bloody battle of Baguashan (八卦山), Hsu Hsiang (徐驤) and a handful of surviving Hakka fighters sped toward Tainan. There, he would meet with Liu Yung-fu (劉永福), leader of the Black Flag Army who had assumed control of the resisting Republic of Formosa after its president and vice-president fled to China. Hsu, who had been fighting non-stop for over two months from Taoyuan to Changhua, was reportedly injured and exhausted. As the story goes, Liu advised that Hsu take shelter in China to recover and regroup, but Hsu steadfastly
You can tell a lot about a generation from the contents of their cool box: nowadays the barbecue ice bucket is likely to be filled with hard seltzers, non-alcoholic beers and fluorescent BuzzBallz — a particular favorite among Gen Z. Two decades ago, it was WKD, Bacardi Breezers and the odd Smirnoff Ice bobbing in a puddle of melted ice. And while nostalgia may have brought back some alcopops, the new wave of ready-to-drink (RTD) options look and taste noticeably different. It is not just the drinks that have changed, but drinking habits too, driven in part by more health-conscious consumers and
On Sunday, President William Lai (賴清德) delivered a strategically brilliant speech. It was the first of his “Ten Lectures on National Unity,” (團結國家十講) focusing on the topic of “nation.” Though it has been eclipsed — much to the relief of the opposing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — by an ill-advised statement in the second speech of the series, the days following Lai’s first speech were illuminating on many fronts, both domestic and internationally, in highlighting the multi-layered success of Lai’s strategic move. “OF COURSE TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY” Never before has a Taiwanese president devoted an entire speech to