Taiwan's veteran Mando-pop diva Chang Hui-mei (
"I was performing a concert in Chongqing at the time of the announcement and everyone, whether they knew each other or not, was hugging each other. I was truly honored to be there on stage with everyone shouting, `We got the Olympics!'"
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
When the topic of her latest encounter with Chinese nationalist protesters in Hangzhou was raised, the interviewer asked whether the event had left her with any lasting impressions and whether she had learned that "there are things you can do and things you can't do?"
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
She replied: "Of course. ? I know that my influence goes beyond those around me to many more people, so I need to be more cautious. I know what I should do." Indeed, if her albums don't sell any more in Taiwan, better to pave the way for a smooth future in China.
Back in Taiwan, last weekend at the Formoz Festival it wasn't performers facing the heat from the powers that be, but rather the other way round. In a manifestation of the punk spirit in Taiwan, the nation's President Chen Shui-bian (
Meanwhile in Hong Kong over the weekend, Jay Chou (
Last week Pop Stop also had a random encounter deep in the mountains of Hsinchu County with Chiang Wei-wen (
Last week Pop Stop reported on Alex To's (
And in China, authorities have nixed one of the songs on the album for lyrics that translate like this: "Where'd you learn that? Touching me so I get so swollen ? I just want it all, and if you can't do it for me, I won't love you anymore."
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
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
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