With newfound stardom comes heartbreak, at least for singer Hsu Chia-ying (徐佳瑩), aka Lala Shu, who became a household name after winning the third season of CTV’s One Million Star (超級星光大道) talent show. The 25-year-old split up with her beau of two years, fellow aspiring singer Born Lee (李伯恩), after seeing an incriminating text message from another woman on his mobile phone.
It wasn’t a case of snooping, though. The Apple Daily helpfully detailed her unceremonious discovery of Lee’s infidelity: The two were out having breakfast several weeks ago, fresh from celebrating her five nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards. Hsu’s cellphone ran out of power, so she borrowed Lee’s iPhone, whereupon she saw a “suspicious” text message from “Catherine,” an up-and-coming actress from a TV talk show for college students.
An Apple Daily reporter cornered Hsu after spotting her shopping at Taipei 101, where she denied the text message was the sole reason for the breakup, although “it was the last straw.” Asked if there was any chance of reconciliation with Lee, who was Hsu’s fellow contestant on One Million Star and once declared his love to her on the program, she answered, “Impossible.” But she said she has no regrets and the relationship has led to some “soul-searching.”
Perhaps Hsu should follow A-mei’s (張惠妹) example, after all, the diva well knows that celebrity romance isn’t easy, but the perks of stardom do offer some solace.
The pop star headed to Los Angeles earlier this week for three concerts and is making the most out of her trip: first-class air travel, five-star hotel, and a trip to Las Vegas during her two-week stay in the US. The Apple Daily reports that an American company, Amway, is spending a total of NT$13.5 million on bringing the Mando-pop queen to LA.
A-mei has set aside NT$330,000 for a road-trip to Las Vegas with her entourage, which Apple suggests is a good chance to heal after breaking up with basketball star Sam Ho (何守正).
Not letting the grass grow under her feet, A-mei already has a new crush, so says Chinese pop singer Na Ying (那英), who claims that her friend and labelmate at Warner Music is interested in a fellow acquaintance from Beijing. Na accidentally spilled the beans last week at press conference in Taipei, where she is slated to perform next month. Our sister paper the Liberty Times later pressed Na for more details, but she wouldn’t budge, except to add that the prospective Prince Charming is not a wealthy businessman or an athlete.
One story racking up hits on the Internet this week is the court battle between actress Alyssa Chia (賈靜雯) and her ex-husband Sun Chih-hao (孫志浩). Chia recently won custody of their five-year old daughter in the US, where she had been living with Sun’s family. Sun has retaliated in the Taiwanese courts by suing Chia for custody of “Sister Wutong” (梧桐妹), as their daughter is referred to in the press, her half of a shared apartment in Shanghai and NT$26 million in cash.
Sun says this hefty sum is to reclaim the NT$5 million he gave to the Chia family when they got married, as well as further monthly payments of NT$100,000. Chia and her lawyer have balked at the suit and countered that the money had already been returned several years ago, and that Sun has failed to pay any of their daughter’s living expenses. And it’s not as if Sun needs the cash. The Apple Daily says Sun rakes in NT$230,000 a month through his father’s cargo transport firm and his family holds over NT$100 million in real estate assets, which include properties in Shanghai, Los Angeles and Taipei.
Spectacular failure seems to go hand-in-hand with celebrity romances, at least on the gossip pages, but here’s a happy beginning: Selina Jen (任家萱) of the popular girl group S.H.E received a surprise marriage proposal from her boyfriend Richard Chang (張承中) on stage during a concert at Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋).
The stunt, which Chang conceived after consulting with Jen’s bandmates and their record label, didn’t exactly go as planned, according to the China Times. After picking up a microphone and rambling on about his well wishes for the group in front of a cheering audience of 10,000, Chang became flustered. Instead of getting down on bended knee to ask for her hand in marriage, the lawyer blurted out “My wife, I love you.” Jen had already gotten the message anyway, and was in tears.
Recently the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its Mini-Me partner in the legislature, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), have been arguing that construction of chip fabs in the US by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is little more than stripping Taiwan of its assets. For example, KMT Legislative Caucus First Deputy Secretary-General Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) in January said that “This is not ‘reciprocal cooperation’ ... but a substantial hollowing out of our country.” Similarly, former TPP Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) contended it constitutes “selling Taiwan out to the United States.” The two pro-China parties are proposing a bill that
Institutions signalling a fresh beginning and new spirit often adopt new slogans, symbols and marketing materials, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no exception. Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), soon after taking office as KMT chair, released a new slogan that plays on the party’s acronym: “Kind Mindfulness Team.” The party recently released a graphic prominently featuring the red, white and blue of the flag with a Chinese slogan “establishing peace, blessings and fortune marching forth” (締造和平,幸福前行). One part of the graphic also features two hands in blue and white grasping olive branches in a stylized shape of Taiwan. Bonus points for
March 9 to March 15 “This land produced no horses,” Qing Dynasty envoy Yu Yung-ho (郁永河) observed when he visited Taiwan in 1697. He didn’t mean that there were no horses at all; it was just difficult to transport them across the sea and raise them in the hot and humid climate. “Although 10,000 soldiers were stationed here, the camps had fewer than 1,000 horses,” Yu added. Starting from the Dutch in the 1600s, each foreign regime brought horses to Taiwan. But they remained rare animals, typically only owned by the government or
“M yeolgong jajangmyeon (anti-communism zhajiangmian, 滅共炸醬麵), let’s all shout together — myeolgong!” a chef at a Chinese restaurant in Dongtan, located about 35km south of Seoul, South Korea, calls out before serving a bowl of Korean-style zhajiangmian —black bean noodles. Diners repeat the phrase before tucking in. This political-themed restaurant, named Myeolgong Banjeom (滅共飯館, “anti-communism restaurant”), is operated by a single person and does not take reservations; therefore long queues form regularly outside, and most customers appear sympathetic to its political theme. Photos of conservative public figures hang on the walls, alongside political slogans and poems written in Chinese characters; South
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