Happily married celebrities seem to be something of a rarity these days. And those who are can rest assured that, sooner or later, the paparazzi will seek to prove otherwise. The latest case in point is Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), better known as Little S (小S). The 31-year-old star made the front page of the Apple Daily and other publications this week as the alleged victim of domestic violence in her five-year marriage with Mike Hsu (許雅鈞).
Citing “a source,” Apple said that Hsu’s household had been classified as “high-risk” by the Taipei City Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault after a social worker investigated the star’s claims of abuse earlier this month.
Apple went on to speculate as to why Hsu’s marriage may be in trouble. One rather sexist theory the paper came up with is that her husband and in-laws are unhappy that she has failed to give birth to a male child. Another was that they’re embarrassed by Little S’ frequent teasing of male guests on the popular talk show Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了) she co-hosts with Kevin Tsai (蔡康永).
The star and her husband emphatically condemned the report as a pure fabrication and said on Sunday they would file a lawsuit against the newspaper, though as of press time they have yet to do so. The Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault issued a statement saying it had not conducted the abovementioned investigation.
Rumor has it that Jay Chou (周杰倫) and Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) are getting back together — only this time they’ll be doing it for money. The king and queen of Mando-pop met in January for an “ice-breaking” round of bowling, and according to media speculation Chou’s record company JVR Music (杰威爾音樂) is angling to sign Tsai after her contract with Warner Music (華納音樂) expires in July.
To prevent its cash cow from defecting to JVR, Warner is said to have offered Tsai NT$100 million to renew her contract.
Local entertainer Jiu Kong (九孔), real name Lu Kung-wei (呂孔維), has been the subject of an online kerfuffle between Chinese bloggers and Taiwanese bloggers for what people in China are calling his lackluster impersonation of Brother Sharp (犀利哥) on the popular television show The Largest Political Party (全民最大黨).
Brother Sharp is a homeless man in the city of Ningbo whose photo was posted on a Web site (bbs.fengniao.com/forum/1527056.html). Comments on the man’s good looks, modelesque bearing and stylish bohemian attire posted on the Tianya Web site last
month quickly made him a hot item in China. Netizens have been calling him the “Beggar Prince” (乞丐王子), “Supreme Vagabond” (極品乞丐) and, most frequently, Brother Sharp.
Different versions of the man’s life story have circulated on the Internet. According to some he is a former solider who has fallen on hard times. Others say he lost his mind after seeing his wife killed in a car accident. Those interested in Brother Sharp can check out his profile on Baidu (baike.baidu.com/view/1465055.htm), a Chinese online encyclopedia.
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