Since rumors first emerged in February that Jay Chou (周杰倫) was dating 17-year-old Australian-Taiwanese model Hannah Quinlivan (昆凌), the parties on both sides haven’t confirmed whether the two are romantically attached. Chou famously stonewalled inquisitive reporters by demanding that they produce photographic evidence.
But Next Magazine has finally obtained evidence: a photo of Chou and Quinlivan, who turned 18 on Aug. 12, arm-in-arm on a boat in Marseilles, France. The Chairman set off on a 13-day holiday on Aug. 8, and there was furious speculation that he would meet Quinlivan to celebrate her birthday overseas. Now that the two have been caught together, Chou will have a hard time denying the relationship. The hugely successful musician and producer has had no shortage of romantic relationships in the 12 years in which he has been in the media limelight, so much of the excitement in the press is really about Next media getting one up on Chou, who has not always been as open and up front about his private life as the local media could wish.
With the emergence of one celebrity relationship, another flounders. Media personality Sisy Chen (陳文茜), in another story to break in Next Magazine, has ended her seven-year relationship with the well-known plastic surgeon Sung Cheng-yu (宋正宇). This revelation emerged after three weeks of intense scrutiny from the magazine, who say that in the past, Sung would always pick up Chen after she finished recording her hugely popular television show.
Photo: Taipei Times
Now, Chen has thrown herself into socializing with the rich and famous, and has recently
swapped her Mini Cooper for a BMW Series 7, while Sung gets around town on the MRT, heading home alone after work. Rumors as to why the relationship has hit the rocks abound, with revelations that things started to go wrong after a minor traffic accident when the two where holidaying on the North Coast. Friends have said that Chen felt unwell after the incident and worried that it might be the result of an injury that Sung was unconcerned about and failed to show proper consideration.
There are no doubts anymore about the fact that Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) and Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒) are splitting up, with the interminable rumors and squabbling of the past months culminating in a joint statement issued earlier this week saying that the two will be getting divorced. They will retain joint custody of their two children, but no details were provided as to the financial arrangements between the two.
Under Hong Kong law, neither party can remarry in the next five months, but immediately rumors have begun to circulate that Cheung may be getting together with former lover Daniel Chan (陳曉東). Chan was in Taiwan this week, but when approached for comment during a recording session, he retreated to the changing room, his manager insisting that the divorce proceedings did not concern Chan in any way.
According to the Apple Daily, the break up has not harmed either Cheung’s or Tse’s careers. The paper stated that Cheung has already received three offers for film roles that could be worth NT$200 million, and that Tse remains heavily in demand, and will appear with Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) in Yuen Woo-ping’s (袁和平) new martial arts drama Wu Dang (武當), and is currently in negotiations for eight other projects.
If you are a Western and especially a white foreign resident of Taiwan, you’ve undoubtedly had the experience of Taiwanese assuming you to be an English teacher. There are cultural and economic reasons for this, but one of the greatest determinants is the narrow range of work permit categories that exist for Taiwan’s foreign residents, which has in turn created an unofficial caste system for foreigners. Until recently, laowai (老外) — the Mandarin term for “foreigners,” which also implies citizenship in a rich, Western country and distinguishable from brown-skinned, southeast Asian migrant laborers, or wailao (外勞) — could only ever
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In recent weeks news outlets have been reporting on rising rents. Last year they hit a 27 year high. It seems only a matter of time before they become a serious political issue. Fortunately, there is a whole political party that is laser focused on this issue, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP). They could have had a seat or two in the legislature, or at least, be large enough to attract media attention to the rent issue from time to time. Unfortunately, in the last election, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) acted as a vote sink for
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