Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it — but are Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹, aka A-mei, 阿妹) and Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) doing it? The Apple Daily drew attention earlier this week for speculating on a “renewed” romance between the two.
Chang and Wang, rumored to be an item years ago, were spotted greeting each other with a warm embrace at the wedding of pop singer Christine Fan (范瑋琪) and TV personality Charles “Blackie” Chen (陳建州).
Both are currently single — Wang has managed to stay off the media radar over the past few years when it comes to dating, and A-mei recently broke up with basketball star Sam Ho (何守正).
Photo: Taipei Times
Seeing Wang and A-mei together in public led the Apple to reminisce about their past. Back in 2004, A-mei and Wang were photographed holding hands at the Channel V Music Awards ceremony in Hong Kong and around that time they had shared the stage together at various shows. Wang reportedly co-wrote a duet with A-mei that never saw the light of day because it didn’t pass muster with their record companies. After their “breakup,” things have reportedly been “awkward” between the two on the occasions they’ve been seen in public together.
But that hug last weekend may have rekindled the fire, the report said. After the wedding, there was an online exchange between the two Mando-pop stars on Weibo (微博, the Chinese-speaking world’s version of Twitter).
Wang, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Tuesday, posted on his Weibo account: “I’m curious. How many [of my friends] will be wishing me a happy birthday?”
According to Apple, A-mei replied within a half hour: “My dear ... happy birthday! Sisters, let’s sing it!” And sing it they did, as A-mei reportedly rounded up Fan and Chen, the newlyweds, and a few other friends to serenade Wang on the phone.
But before anyone gets too excited over the prospect of a romance among Mando-pop royalty, let’s listen to the pop star’s voice of reason: the agent. A-mei’s manager, Edward Chan (陳鎮川), poured cold water on the notion of romantic feelings between the two.
A-mei calls everyone “dear” (親愛的), he said. “They’ve always been good friends and every year they wish each other a happy birthday. If there was anything happening, they certainly wouldn’t be posting it on Weibo!”
Speaking of past flames, it appears Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) has made her peace with fellow Hong Kong actor and Canto-pop singer Edison Chen (陳冠希).
Pop Stop readers will recall the infamous scandal of 2008 when photos showing Chen and Cheung in flagrante delicto circulated widely on the Internet.
Chen and Cheung, who were also in Taiwan for Fan and Chen’s wedding, were spotted sitting next to each other on a flight back to Hong Kong.
The Apple Daily reported that the two ran into each other on the flight, and that Cheung asked to change her seat so they could sit together.
Their conversation was jovial and the two were snapping photos together with their mobile phones, the Apple reported, citing accounts from nearby passengers.
The paper noted that this appears to be a big turn-around for Cheung. In an interview in 2009, she lashed out at Chen, calling his public apology “phony” and saying he never apologized to her directly for the scandal.
Chen’s manager confirmed last weekend’s happenstance reunion, with the China Times quoting him as saying, “[Edison Chen] knew that there would be a day that they’d run into each other again, and so he naturally said hello and chatted.”
Cheung, who’s married to actor Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒), hasn’t confirmed the meeting.
Unsurprisingly, Jay Chou (周杰倫) is all over the Golden Melody Awards this year, having bagged seven nominations for his album The Era (跨時代).
But other big-name stars didn’t fare as well. Conspicuously absent from this year’s list of nominees for best Mandarin female singer were Chou’s former sweetheart Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and Tien Fu-chen (田馥甄), aka Hebe Tien of the girl band S.H.E.
Tien’s omission from the category has been particularly controversial among fans, who are seething after a Golden Melody Award judge reportedly said that she wasn’t nominated for the best singer category because she relied too much on technology to shore up her vocals.
Tien responded mildly at a press conference, according to the China Times, saying that she accepted the judges’ decisions.
But she also defended herself, saying that “Everyone uses computers to polish their music,” and also quipped, “I’m not sure about the judges’ tastes.”
Though she’s not in the running for one of the Golden Melody’s most coveted awards, her album, To Hebe, did pick up four other nominations, including best album and best music video.
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Last week the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced that the legislature would again amend the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) to separate fiscal allocations for the three outlying counties of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu from the 19 municipalities on Taiwan proper. The revisions to the act to redistribute the national tax revenues were passed in December last year. Prior to the new law, the central government received 75 percent of tax revenues, while the local governments took 25 percent. The revisions gave the central government 60 percent, and boosted the local government share to 40 percent,
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