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Chen Chun-chen is now NT$2 million richer after suing Next Magazine. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

Anita Mui (梅艷芳) was buried on Monday, closing the final chapter in the life of one of the Hong Kong entertainment industry's brightest luminaries. The funeral was attended by over 600 friends and relatives, including Andy Lau (劉德華), Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊), David Tao, Tony Leung (梁朝偉), Jackie Chan (成龍) and over 1,000 fans who crowded outside the Hong Kong Funeral Home starting from the wee hours of the morning to sing Mui's songs and chant prayers.

Anita's 81-year-old mother Tam Mei Kam attended her daughter's wake, but disappointed reporters hoping for news on the roiling controversy over the distribution of Mui's considerable wealth by not saying anything during her entire visit.

The funeral took on an unexpected political tone when one of the mourners at the funeral was former Tiananmen democracy movement activist Wuer Kaixi (吾爾開希), who made his first visit to the Chinese territory since fleeing his home country after the crackdown on the protests in June, 1989, according to the BBC. After stowing away to Hong Kong, Wuer Kaixi became a close acquaintance of Mui, who, along with Jackie Chan, was a vocal supporter of the students on the square in Beijing in the spring of 1989. Wuer Kaixi now lives in Taiwan.

Yin Ling made car racing sexy in Taiwan. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

Next Magazine (壹週刊) got off relatively lightly last Thursday when it was ordered to pay NT$2 million in damages to star pool player Chen Chun-chen (陳純甄) for a story it ran in its Aug. 9, 2001 issue under the headline "Open-air Ecstasy Sex Party" (露天搖頭性愛派對). The story featured Chen, Little S (小S), Mavis Fan (范曉萱) and Aya (阿雅), along with their boyfriends at a home in Beitou lounging by a pool in the middle of the night. The story's accompanying photos had captions that read like: "removing clothes, touching herself," "stretching leg, moaning with pleasure" and "burying head in crotch."

Hong Kong singer Nicolas Tse, right, and Anita Mui's cousin hold a picture of the Canto-pop diva and actress Anita Mui outside the Collision crematorium after her funeral service in Hong Kong, on Monday. PHOTO: AP

Chen sued Next for NT$5 million and a half-page printed letter of apology in a major news publication, but the judge in the case, according to the Apple Daily's (蘋果日報) Friday issue, said the story's photos were taken from a public street and therefore did not constitute an invasion of privacy. As for ecstasy use, the judge ruled that the report was based on outward signs of drug abuse which do not constitute sufficient evidence and so the magazine must pay up.

The Japan-raised car-racing babe Yin Ling (垠凌) is looking to capitalize on her popularity in her native Taiwan by forming a new band which goes by the name (roughly translated) Sex Toy (情趣玩具), the Liberty Times (自由時報) reported Tuesday. Yin has appeared as a model at exhibitions and trade shows in Taiwan in her racing gear and is credited with starting a trend of featuring racy women. Pictures of her in various stages of undress will make up most of the new album's booklet. She is the singer in Sex Toy and the band will release its first album titled Love of Fools (愚民之戀) within the next few months.

This being the season for company weiya's, or Chinese New Year's feasts, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (台積電) celebrated yet another year of strong sales with a party at the Hsinchu Sports Arena that included entertainment from A-mei (阿妹) and eVonne (許慧欣) for 7,000 of its employees last weekend. Apple Daily reported on Monday that A-mei got a handsome NT$3 million for her appearance, whereas eVonne was paid a paltry NT$300,000.

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