The biggest news this week is the imminent breakup of the nine-year marriage between Harlem Yu (庾澄慶) and Annie Yi (伊能靜). This has been building for some time after Yi was caught on camera in China holding hands with Victor Huang (黃維德) in November last year. It may simply have been the last straw to something bigger behind the scenes, judging from leaks about married life in the Yu household that emerged this week. After the couple spent a strained Lunar New Year holiday in Hokkaido, Yi has stated that the relationship is beyond saving, and all that remains is to complete the paperwork. Yu has neither confirmed nor denied this, refusing to discuss the affair with the media.
The couple have kept relatively quiet since November when the incident with Huang emerged, but now with things coming to a head the rumor mill is working overtime. Yi is reported, in the Apple Daily, to have told friends that she was “never accepted into the Yu household,” and that her relationship with Yu’s mother and sisters had always been difficult. She is reported to have said that Yu, as a filial son, had always taken his mother’s side in arguments. To add insult to injury, Huang has scooted off to China to finish work on the TV series Three Kingdoms (三國), and has been widely reported to have patched things up with his former girlfriend Hsiao Lu (小陸).
To get to the nub of the issue, Apple Daily interviewed fortune-teller Lin Chen-yi (林真邑), who has revealed that Yi is unlikely to have much luck either in love or work this year. Her advice: the outlook improves toward the end of 2011.
Shu Qi’s (舒淇) romantic prospects also look far from rosy, and she too has sought mystical assistance. Last week she went to visit the White Dragon King (白龍王), a spiritual adviser, in Thailand. (Internet rumor has it that the WDK was an electrician or possibly a bicycle repairman before discovering that he was actually a reincarnation of a dragon king.)
Unfortunately, the WDK was too busy fending off the massive crowds of fans and didn’t have time for Shu’s romantic difficulties, and the Apple Daily reported that the sage simply ignored her, which left her despondent. Perhaps he felt he had already given all the advice he had to give. On a previous visit, Apple Daily reported that he had advised Shu to take things as they come and not try and rush romance. But she has been unwilling to wait, and since breaking up with actor Leon Lai (黎明) four years ago, has been romantically involved, according to gossip rags, with numerous men, including singer Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) and actor Chang Chen (張震), but to no great effect.
It would seem that former boyfriend Lai has also paid heavily for ignoring the WDK’s advice. Six years ago, together with Tony Leung Chiu-wai (梁朝偉) and Andy Lau (劉德華), he became a disciple of the WDK, who warned him about getting involved with women. At this time his relationship with Shu was already the stuff of heavy speculation. The Apple Daily suggests that his refusal to drop Shu on the advice of the WDK may be the reason why his career failed to reach the same exalted heights of stardom as that of this two friends. Pop Stop wonders if the WDK is paying the Hong Kong-based publishing group a retainer for such testimonials. Unfortunately, even though he has now broken with Shu, it is unlikely that even his most recent role in the massive two-part biopic of opera singer Mei Lanfang (梅蘭芳) will boost his career. Ignore dragons at your peril.
For all the fans of CTV’s One Million Star (超級星光大道) “reality” talent show, the good news is that Momoko Tao (陶子) will definitely be back for Season Five, putting an end to the rather unedifying spectacle of a rotating roster of hosts including pop diva Ah-Mei (張惠妹) — she should stick to singing — and a tag team made up of Little S (小S) and Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) — who despite their vast experience as show hosts, have been widely criticized for not hitting the right note with the show. Producers are trying to get Tao back to give the finals of Season Four her magic touch on March 14, but the new mother said she will be focusing on losing weight and breast feeding. Recent additions to the roster of hosts, Tammy Chen (陳怡蓉) and Phoebe Huang (黃嘉千), have earned praise in the blogosphere for their comedic talents. The two are currently stars of CTV’s super-successful The Story of Time (光陰的故事), and have brought some of the allure of the soap to the floundering One Million Star series.
The Taipei Times last week reported that the rising share of seniors in the population is reshaping the nation’s housing markets. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, about 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident. H&B Realty chief researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨), quoted in the article, said that there is rising demand for elderly-friendly housing, including units with elevators, barrier-free layouts and proximity to healthcare services. Hsu and others cited in the article highlighted the changing family residential dynamics, as children no longer live with parents,
It is jarring how differently Taiwan’s politics is portrayed in the international press compared to the local Chinese-language press. Viewed from abroad, Taiwan is seen as a geopolitical hotspot, or “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth,” as the Economist once blazoned across their cover. Meanwhile, tasked with facing down those existential threats, Taiwan’s leaders are dying their hair pink. These include former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), among others. They are demonstrating what big fans they are of South Korean K-pop sensations Blackpink ahead of their concerts this weekend in Kaohsiung.
Taiwan is one of the world’s greatest per-capita consumers of seafood. Whereas the average human is thought to eat around 20kg of seafood per year, each Taiwanese gets through 27kg to 35kg of ocean delicacies annually, depending on which source you find most credible. Given the ubiquity of dishes like oyster omelet (蚵仔煎) and milkfish soup (虱目魚湯), the higher estimate may well be correct. By global standards, let alone local consumption patterns, I’m not much of a seafood fan. It’s not just a matter of taste, although that’s part of it. What I’ve read about the environmental impact of the
Oct 20 to Oct 26 After a day of fighting, the Japanese Army’s Second Division was resting when a curious delegation of two Scotsmen and 19 Taiwanese approached their camp. It was Oct. 20, 1895, and the troops had reached Taiye Village (太爺庄) in today’s Hunei District (湖內), Kaohsiung, just 10km away from their final target of Tainan. Led by Presbyterian missionaries Thomas Barclay and Duncan Ferguson, the group informed the Japanese that resistance leader Liu Yung-fu (劉永福) had fled to China the previous night, leaving his Black Flag Army fighters behind and the city in chaos. On behalf of the
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