This week’s tabloids were dominated by rumors of romantic reunions and new affaires d’amour. On home turf, Jay Chou (周杰倫) and Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) continue to make headlines after their sultry duet at the end of the Mando-pop king’s Taipei concert on June 13. Local tabloids have since generated plenty of titillating content for gossip hounds to chew on. One story that seems to have gained the most traction involves a diamond ring from a well-known luxury brand and an alleged marital proposal from Chou to Tsai after the concert.
Fans have greeted the Double-Js’ (雙-J) rumored reunion with great enthusiasm. A composite photo showing the pair cuddling together circulated on the Internet and was quickly picked up by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) and the Apple Daily.
Both Tsai and Chou say the reports are rubbish. According to the Liberty Times, Chou responded to the question of why he chose to perform with Tsai by saying, “I just wanted to freak everyone out.” Meanwhile, Tsai was quoted as saying: “Getting back together? Thanks, but I’m not crazy.”
One man who is surely freaked out by the possibility of the two getting back together is Tsai’s agent Chen Tse-shan (陳澤杉). The Warner Music (華納音樂) impresario has not been on good terms with the Chairman after the two bickered over a chart-rigging controversy last year. Chen risks losing his cash cow to Chou’s record company, JVR Music (杰威爾音樂), if the Double-Js get really friendly with each other.
Having recovered from two year’s of depression and found Jesus, erstwhile Hong Kong pop diva Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文) is making a comeback with a Mandarin-language gospel album, Faith (信). Chinese-language media outlets also report that Cheng’s old flame Andy Hui (許志安) is back in the 38-year-old star’s life.
A series of snapshots and a chart published by the Liberty Times last Friday detailed Hui and Cheng’s itineraries in Taipei last week, which involved them staying at the same hotel, shooting music videos at the same studio and flying back to Hong Kong on the same plane. But according to their agents, the two are just good friends.
In other celebrity romance news, Chinese heartthrob Huang Xiaoming (黃曉明) and 21-year-old model Angelababy have become the hottest new item on the tabloids’ front pages after Huang publicly acknowledged their relationship in front of the media in Shanghai last week.
Hailed as Hong Kong’s new “sex goddess” (性感女神), Angelababy, whose real name is Yang Ying (楊穎), has quickly risen to stardom in the last couple of years based on nothing more than her looks.
A widely circulated batch of photos seems to indicate that Yang Ying had to go through plenty of revamping before she became the Angelababy we know now. But this has done nothing to dim Huang’s ardor. His public confession of love included an admission that he pampers his woman “as if she were a princess.” China’s most bankable actor is also reported to have introduced his sweetheart to Hong Kong entertainment mogul Peter Lam (林建岳), who, according to rumors, is planning to make Angelababy the next Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝).
After being arrested on drug-related charges for the third time, Taiwanese entertainer Da Bing (大炳), real name Yu Bing-hsian
(余炳賢), was baptized at the Home of Christ church in Taipei last Saturday. The disgraced entertainer said he wants to find inner strength through God’s love.
But will his sexual orientation get between him and God? Da Bing was quoted by the Apple Daily as saying, “That’s between God and me.”
In Pop Stop’s opinion, the quickest way for Da Bing to resolve this issue is to join the Tong-Kwang Light House Presbyterian Church (同光同志長老教會), Taiwan’s first church for gays and lesbians.
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
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