Pop Stop

After shying away from media attention for a

while, Hong Kong pop diva Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文) returned to

cover pages last week with some noisy speculations about her suffering from the deadly illness lymphoma. The rumor started when pictures of her abnormally swollen face got out during the shooting of the latest film by director Stanley Kwan (關錦鵬), Chang Hen Ge (長恨歌, Song of Everlasting Sadness), in which Cheng played the leading lady and regarded this opportunity as a major

breakthrough in her acting career.

According to the Great Daily News (大成報), the star has declined an invitation from the

Shanghai International Film Festival (上海電影節) to represent Chang Hen Ge and also canceled a press conference set up by her label company. Her agent said it was for personal reasons that

Cheng was kept from attending these events there was absolutely nothing wrong with her body or her lymph nodes. At the moment the star is not available to comment on the news of her possible disease because she is not in Hong Kong, said the same agent.

It should be a great comfort for Cheng to know, however, that according to a poll done by MTV, she is one of the pop singers that the public never wants to retire from the stage. The top honor goes to Taiwan's pride and joy

Chang Hui-mei (A-Mei, 張惠妹) because ``she needs to let the whole world hear the most beautiful voice in Taiwan.''

Jay Chou (周杰倫) was second-place in the poll because: ``If he stops putting out new albums, then record sales in Taiwan will immediately fall by half.'' Surprisingly, Faye Wang (王菲), who is having a one-year break from the entertainment industry, came last in the rankings. Perhaps the star can finally let go as she wishes and enjoy the life of a retiree.

The newly emerged hot duo, Hu Qing-wen (胡晴雯) and Tang Zhi-ping (唐治平), might be a fake relationship after all. Tang has gained a lot of exposure since his "beauty book" was put out last week. And as if his seductive

body didn't get enough attention already, the man was then spotted making intimate contact with the fluttering Hu on the street, a few days after his books hit the shelves. However, the validity of their rumored romance was quickly under suspicion because the two have acted like two total strangers and have pretended it never happened ever since their make-out photos got published. Both parties have denied the whole episode is a mere publicity stunt.

The controversial remarks made by Jackie Chan (成龍) in Cannes has gotten the big guy

into political turmoil. The local media interpreted his refusal to come back to Taiwan until the term of the current president ends as a gesture that ``hurt all of the Taiwanese people's feelings.'' The international superstar thought his words had been terribly twisted and misused, and decided to clear his name by issuing a statement last

week, saying he has always felt close to Taiwan and anything he said about this land, good or bad, is always out of love and in good will.

The Taiwanese band May Day (五), on the other hand, is determined to stay away from anything that might get political. They have repeatedly refused to apprear in a music-based TV program named Taiwan ROC. Their record label said polictics was not the

reason for their absence but did admit that they were not particularly fond of the name of the show.