It has been years since the demise of the “Double J” (雙J) romance, but Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) and Jay Chou (周杰倫) still can’t even be in the same space together without sending the media and fans into a frenzy.
The two pop idols arrived separately at Hit FM’s awards ceremony in the Taipei Arena last week. Backstage, Chou said his former girlfriend looked more beautiful than ever after falling in love (with new flame, Singaporean-New Zealander model Vivian Dawson (錦榮)). When onlookers chided the famously laconic Chou for being “too sour” (太酸), he replied that he was being perfectly sincere. “I even wanted to ask her why [Dawson] didn’t come to the ceremony,” Chou said.
When the two received the awards for most popular male and most popular female performer, fans hoping for a repeat of their infamous surprise duet at one of Chou’s Taipei concerts in June last year were disappointed. Even though the awards were presented one after another, the two managed to avoid appearing on stage or being photographed together. Tsai later laughingly said that the two exchanged congratulations in the dressing room and that she’d been willing to make a joint onstage appearance, but the presenter, Jacky Wu (吳宗憲), was too “conservative.”
Photo: Taipei times
While Chou was dubbed the most popular male singer, Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) took home the award for best male singer. When the two showed up together for the backstage press conference, they discovered that they were wearing very similar outfits. Chou made a few good-natured wisecracks, which led one reporter to ask him “Are you in a good mood because you saw your ‘good friend’ Jolin Tsai today?” Taking the teasing in stride, Chou joked back, “I’m usually in a good mood, it only turns bad when I see the paparazzi.”
Tsai recently embarked on her latest gig: She’s the new spokeswoman for Taiwan Beer. The libation’s latest slogan is “don’t be afraid,” which opened the door for reporters to question Tsai about what exactly she is afraid of.
When asked if she’s afraid of romantic relationships going bad, Tsai gamely replied that it worried her when she was younger, but now she can handle it. “Breaking up is a process. As long as both people are mature, they can continue to be friends,” she said. Of course, gossip rags assumed this meant that she has truly gotten over the heartbreak of her relationship with Chou.
This is the first time that Tsai has served as a spokeswoman for an alcoholic beverage and she revealed that, compared with most women, she can hold her liquor well. Tsai said that even her mother has asked her, “Why are you so good at drinking?” When asked if she was worried that advertising Taiwan Beer would get her labeled a taimei (台妹, “Taiwan girl”), Tsai replied that not only did she not think that was a bad thing, but that she is also learning how to bake beer-flavored cake. Sounds like Dawson is in for a treat!
Speaking of baked goods, Ella Chen (陳嘉樺) of S.H.E has a new boyfriend, a Malaysian by the name of Alvin Lai (賴斯翔), but the Taiwanese press insists on calling him “the Malaysian cake.” The pair was recently spotted shopping at Xinyi Eslite (信義誠品) by a spy for the Liberty Times, the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
Though their relationship was outed in the media just last month, the Liberty Times reporter wondered if their perusal of home accessories and decorating magazines meant that the two were setting up a “love nest.”
Ongoing marriage rumors led Chen to send a joking open message to her mother on her blog, using her mom’s nickname: “Old Clam (老蚌), my classmate [her nickname for Lai] wants to know how you are doing, he says he wants to ask if he can propose.”
During their jaunt to the bookstore, Chen flipped through a home decorating magazine while the Malaysian cake hovered protectively over her. The Liberty Times noted that Chen’s taste in reading materials ran toward fashion periodicals, while her beau preferred business and financial news. The two then looked at home accessories. The newspaper wondered if Chen was planning to beat her engaged bandmate Selina Jen (任家萱), who is still recuperating from severe burns sustained while filming in October, to the altar.
Chen later commented through her record company that the furnishings were for her home in Pingtung County. Asked if she was buying them for a love nest, Chen merely replied, “Thanks for your ongoing concern.”
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
RSS