For Lin Shao-hua (林少華), the strenuous physical training over the last two months all became worthwhile when he was named first runner-up in the “Mister Physique” category in the annual 2008 Manhunt International last Monday.
Lin, a 25 year-old gym instructor from the Atayal tribe, was the third Taiwanese man to win a prestigious award at an international male beauty contest.
Lin said yesterday that when contenders from other countries first saw him, they often mistook him as Latin American because of his sculpted muscles and tanned skin.
PHOTO: HSIEH WEN-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
“When I said I am from Taiwan, they often found it surprising,” Lin said, “because many foreigners still have the stereotype that Taiwanese male models are often tall, skinny and pale.”
Two months prior to the competition, Lin trained for three hours each day and maintained a strict high-protein low carbohydrate diet. To burn the extra fat off his body, Lin said he often did his jogging routine wearing heavy jackets and long pants so he would “sweat it out.”
Lin said he was able to shed 10kg using his self-designed regimen.
Manhunt International is the largest male-model beauty pageant in the world. The competition is made up of two phases. An online contest was held for voting on all contenders.
The top 15 winners from the online competition were then eligible to participate in the on-stage competition.
Lin did not get any votes at first, but won more than 23,900 votes and placed seventh after the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported on his endeavor to win the competition.
A senior at Yuan Ze University, Hsu Poh-hsiang (�?�), won the “best newcomer and best traditional costume” award in last year’s International Man Competition, and Hung Chi-feng (洪啟峰) of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, clinched the “Most Popular” award in the 2008 Mr. Universe Model competition.
Hsu, however, refused to accept his award because organizers tried to force him to participate as “Mr. China” instead of “Mr. Republic of China.”
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS