Family values were at the fore this week with news about no less than five pop-star couples either having kids, expecting kids or tying the knot.
Taiwanese pop singer Richie Ren (任賢齊) announced this week that his long-time girlfriend Tina is now eight months pregnant and will give birth some time next month. They were mum on speculation that they were "first getting on the bus and buying a ticket later" -- meaning to have a kid and then get married. But The Great Entertainment Daily (大成報) claims to have knowledge that the pair were actually married two years ago, abroad, but simply haven't registered the marriage in Taiwan yet.
With all the hoopla over the rumored marriage between Faye Wong (王菲) and Li Yapeng (李亞鵬) as cover, Li's erstwhile girlfriend, singer/actress Zhou Xun (周迅) has reportedly quietly tied the knot between herself and her boyfriend of several years, the Taiwanese stylist Lee Da-chi (李大齊).
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Chang Fei's (張菲) favorite Belorussian, Margarita, with whom he has been filmed in all kinds of intimate poses and
situations, poured ice on the geri-curled ladies man's hopes by announcing this week that she is already married and has been now for four years. The husband is Taiwanese and the two no longer live together. Nevertheless, ever the gentleman, Chang said he would no longer put the moves on Margarita because he doesn't chase married women. "We're through," he's quoted as saying in the Apple Daily (
Hong Kong pop sensation Jackie Cheung (張學友) dropped a bomb this week by revealing to media that his wife had a baby daughter on March 8. Amazingly, Hong Kong's notoriously snooping media -- they've lately been camping outside his younger daughter's school hoping for pictures of her -- were shut out from any word of the birth until this week.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
And actress Lee Chien-rong (李篟蓉) took the rumor out of the talk of her second pregnancy by confirming that she's indeed expecting, but declined to say when the next member of the family would be making an appearance.
Today is the long-anticipated release of The Wayward Cloud (天邊一朵雲), Tsai Ming-liang's (蔡明亮) latest film. Pop Stop has heard through the grapevine that the movie is yet another self-indulgent piece of art-house masturbation, but that this time there's plenty of sex, which might explain why it will show on 40 screens all around Taiwan and has received more column inches of coverage than probably all his previous movies combined. This is in contrast to last year's Golden Horse winner Kekexili (可可西里), a truly masterful Chinese film, beautifully shot and with more powerful messages that was shown on a paltry two screens in Taipei (see reviews on page 17).
Forbes magazine released its annual list of richest and most famous people in China this week, with NBA star Yao Ming (姚明) at the top, followed by Zhang Ziyi (章子怡), then the Olympic hurdles cannonball Liu Xiang (劉翔), then Vicki Zhao (趙薇) and Faye Wong in fifth place.
PHOTO: AP
After an almost three-year absence, Coco Lee (李玟) is back with a new album, but not in Chinese this time. Back in her native US, the singer is releasing her second English-language album, this time with special editions set to be released in India and South Korea, each with tracks by stars from those countries.
Cheng Ching-hsiang (鄭青祥) turned a small triangle of concrete jammed between two old shops into a cool little bar called 9dimension. In front of the shop, a steampunk-like structure was welded by himself to serve as a booth where he prepares cocktails. “Yancheng used to be just old people,” he says, “but now young people are coming and creating the New Yancheng.” Around the corner, Yu Hsiu-jao (饒毓琇), opened Tiny Cafe. True to its name, it is the size of a cupboard and serves cold-brewed coffee. “Small shops are so special and have personality,” she says, “people come to Yancheng to find such treasures.” She
Late last month Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told the Philippine Senate that the nation has sufficient funds to evacuate the nearly 170,000 Filipino residents in Taiwan, 84 percent of whom are migrant workers, in the event of war. Agencies have been exploring evacuation scenarios since early this year, she said. She also observed that since the Philippines has only limited ships, the government is consulting security agencies for alternatives. Filipinos are a distant third in overall migrant worker population. Indonesia has over 248,000 workers, followed by roughly 240,000 Vietnamese. It should be noted that there are another 170,000
In July of 1995, a group of local DJs began posting an event flyer around Taipei. It was cheaply photocopied and nearly all in English, with a hand-drawn map on the back and, on the front, a big red hand print alongside one prominent line of text, “Finally… THE PARTY.” The map led to a remote floodplain in Taipei County (now New Taipei City) just across the Tamsui River from Taipei. The organizers got permission from no one. They just drove up in a blue Taiwanese pickup truck, set up a generator, two speakers, two turntables and a mixer. They
Hannah Liao (廖宸萱) recalls the harassment she experienced on dating apps, an experience that left her frightened and disgusted. “I’ve tried some voice-based dating apps,” the 30-year-old says. “Right away, some guys would say things like, ‘Wanna talk dirty?’ or ‘Wanna suck my d**k?’” she says. Liao’s story is not unique. Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics show a more than 50 percent rise in sexual assault cases related to online encounters over the past five years. In 2023 alone, women comprised 7,698 of the 9,413 reported victims. Faced with a dating landscape that can feel more predatory than promising, many in
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