Just when Pop Stop thought it was safe to buy the local rags again, their front pages were full of the world's richest publicity hound, Terry Guo (郭台銘). This time, however, he was in the papers for sound reasons. The Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman's younger brother tragically died of blood cancer recently and Guo announced he would donate NT$100 billion, half his personal estimated wealth, to fund research into the disease.
That's the good news; the best of the rest is as follows. Top of the charts is Taiwan's recently crowned beauty queen, the 18-year-old Chen Yi-wen (陳怡文). The cosmetology student who failed her university entrance exam was made Miss Taiwan after being judged on her resourcefulness (35 percent), appearance in formal attire (35 percent) and how good she looked in a bikini (35 percent). In addition to representing Taiwan in the Miss World contest, Chen walked away with NT$300,000, a scepter, cape and crown.
Unfortunately the Apple Daily spoiled the tearful celebrations somewhat by claiming her father was a sponsor of the event. For a beauty queen, she seemed a little under qualified (169cm, 49kg, 32B-24-35) the paper seemed to suggest. This scoop was possibly the result of some stunning undercover reporting from the daily's own Miss Congeniality, Ceng Pei-ying (曾珮瑛). The supplement writer had the brains, beauty and vital statistics (34E, 25, 35) to come fourth in the contest. Chen's victory was confirmed on Tuesday after a closed-door hearing decided her father was not a sponsor of the event, though he had backed other related beauty competitions.
How much would you pay to date Lin Chi-ling (林志玲)? If you're prepared to spend over NT$800,000, then you're paying too much. According to a story carried by Xinhua there's a Hong Kong mama san called Gu Hui-zhen (古惠珍) who can arrange dinner dates with the Chinese-speaking world's leading belles - for a price. Taiwan can pride itself on having some of the most expensive beauties for hire. Model Pace Wu (吳佩慈) came out on top, but laughed off her NT$1.25 million price tag by saying, "It looks like I made a lot of money." "Ice Cream" Lin won the silver medal.
This is small potatoes, however, compared to Hong Kong. According to China Times the HK actress Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) was offered NT$10 million through the same mama san to be the escort of a wannabe sugar daddy. The terms were more exacting than just dinner though as the contract was for a year, stipulated at least 30 meetings, but "not necessarily sex." All too conveniently pimp-to-the-stars Gu would not disclose whether Cheung took the Pretty Woman part.
Discerning Pop Stop readers will have noted how often life seems to follow movie roles in the world of gossip. Another lady who hopes to hitch a celluloid lift in her celebrity career is F4's Fanny. The big-breasted singer was cast in the betel nut girl-to-riches movie Just in Love (幫幫我,愛神). Directed by Lee Kang-sheng (李康生), it is to be shown at the Venice Biennale and Fanny wants to walk the red carpet. Her agent, however, has other ideas and wants the vocalist to stick to her marketing duties here and in China.
"She's not a leading actress, she's always talking crap," opined her agent in Apple Daily. Fanny responded by saying she's going anyway because she's saved NT$100,000 and doesn't want to miss the big opportunity. Go Fanny!
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
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist