Jay Chou's (
Over the past three years, even stridently pro-Taiwan performers have hot potatoed invitations from A-bian. Commenting on this issue, the Liberty Times (
Whether record labels are going to be moved by the paper's high-minded patriotism or any other political consideration is doubtful. But Jay's bosses have probably read the tea leaves and realized that he essentially can do whatever he wants, because so many business interests in China rely on Jay that even the Communist Party couldn't shut him out. And this doesn't even take into account the hundreds of millions of teenie boppers who might take to arms if their hero is barred from the country. So, chances are, Jay can wave an A-bian flag and still earn some Renminbi.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Jay also gets to wear the crown this year for being the top-selling artist in Taiwan, having moved 333,000 copies of his Ye Hui-mei (
Since Jolin's heavily publicized flash-in-the-pan fling with Jay, she's found herself tangled in several relationship webs, the latest of which is her connection to TV show host Little Pig (
A similar drama unfolded in Hong Kong last week when Leon Lai (黎明) and Shu Qi (舒琪) were reported to have separated for the n-th time -- on this occasion because Faye Wong (王菲) and Leon were rumored to have hooked up since the Mando-pop diva's breakup with Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒) a few weeks ago. According to China Times Weekly (時報周刊), Shu Qi hasn't been able to win a long-term commitment from Leon because his father disapproves of her history as a celebrated soft-core porn actress and refuses to even meet her.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby