In fairy tales, prince and princess live happily ever after. In real life, the happy days rarely last a lifetime, and in the case of Winston Wang Junior (王泉仁) and Lee Ching-ching (李晶晶), they last about a year and a half.
Next Magazine dropped a bombshell this week when it reported that Wang Junior, the son of tycoon Winston Wang (王文洋), and Lee, a transportation fortune heiress, have separated after 18 months of marriage. The husband is reported to have insisted on a divorce one week after the couple celebrated their baby daughter’s first birthday in June.
Devoted celebrity gossip fans might recall the couple’s nuptials in January last year. The sumptuous ceremony was dubbed “the wedding of the century” by local media as it signaled the union of the empires of Formosa Plastics (台灣塑膠公司) and Capital Bus (首都客運).
Photo: Taipei Times
According to Next Magazine, the reasons for the couple’s split-up are predictable: Both husband and wife are spoiled rich kids, so they refuse to make concessions when disagreements arise and sometimes resort to outbursts of anger. The report also attributes the separation to Wang Junior’s “decisive” temperament when it comes to handling relationships, noting that he and Lee held a lavish engagement party only one month after he dumped model Kelly Po (柏妍安) in 2008.
The reportedly estranged husband and wife have yet to respond to the news.
On a more upbeat note, Mando-pop man-of-war Jay Chou (周杰倫) may face fewer public sneers after his rumored girlfriend Hannah Quinlivan (昆淩) finally celebrated her 18th birthday on Friday last week. Tagged by the press as “the tenderest mixed-blood J-girl” (最嫩混血J女郎) — “J-girl” refers to female stars who have been romantically linked to Chou — the model of Taiwanese and Australian parentage has been hailed as the Chairman’s sweetheart since she was spotted leaving a party at Primo nightclub in Chou’s car in January.
The most up-to-date evidence of the two dating comes from Apple Daily, which reported on Sunday that one of its sources saw the couple strolling the streets of Paris last week. With Quinlivan publicly wishing to spend her birthday in Europe, the pomaceous gossipmonger reckoned the trip was Chou’s birthday gift to his younger girlfriend.
To the delight of local gossip media, Chou never directly denies dating Quinlivan, saying coyly that “I will admit it if you have photographs.”
Also, the 32-year-old Chou’s recent statement about how his mental age makes him more suitable for 18-year-old girls has been taken by gossip journos as confirmation of his rumored cradle-robbery.
The Chairman may be able to learn a lesson or two from senior entertainer Frankie Kao (高凌風). An infamous lothario during his youthful days, the 61-year-old Kao is now trying to win back the heart of 40-year-old wife Chin Yu-chuang (金友莊) after she was rumored to have had an extramarital affair with divorced businessman Chang Chih-chien (張志堅). Chin and Chang were spotted having an intimate moment in a car on Lover’s Day (七夕, aka Chinese Valentine’s Day) earlier this month.
When the news broke, Chin went into hiding for eight days in Kaohsiung. She returned to Taipei on Tuesday and denied having an affair with Chang, but said that her 16-year marriage to Kao has not been a smooth ride.
“He is quite demanding and a male chauvinist,” Chin was quoted as saying. “I’m running out of patience. All I ask for is the right to equality.”
In an attempt to persuade his wife to stay, the former lady’s man has listed eight “wife-loving rules” (愛妻守則) that he promises to follow, including gems like: “Don’t boss others around”; “Don’t think of myself as the most important person in the world”; “Don’t make the wife do things she doesn’t like”; and “The wife is at liberty to hang out with friends.”
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