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.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built