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.
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In our discussions of tourism in Taiwan we often criticize the government’s addiction to promoting food and shopping, while ignoring Taiwan’s underdeveloped trekking and adventure travel opportunities. This discussion, however, is decidedly land-focused. When was the last time a port entered into it? Last week I encountered journalist and travel writer Cameron Dueck, who had sailed to Taiwan in 2023-24, and was full of tales. Like everyone who visits, he and his partner Fiona Ching loved our island nation and had nothing but wonderful experiences on land. But he had little positive to say about the way Taiwan has organized its
The entire Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) saga has been an ugly, complicated mess. Born in China’s Hunan Province, she moved to work in Shenzhen, where she met her future Taiwanese husband. Most accounts have her arriving in Taiwan and marrying somewhere between 1993 and 1999. She built a successful career in Taiwan in the tech industry before founding her own company. She also served in high-ranking positions on various environmentally-focused tech associations. She says she was inspired by the founding of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in 2019 by Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and began volunteering for the party soon after. Ko
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
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