Is Viann Zhang (張馨予) an absentminded person, or a crafty starlet staking out her territory so as to boost her career in the entertainment business? These two narratives — the former espoused by Zhang, the latter by pretty much everyone else — have been fodder for gossip rags and the blogosphere after the busty 24-year-old Chinese model and actress posted an intimate photo of herself on the microblog of Hong Kong actor Ron Ng (吳卓羲) a few weeks back.
The United Daily News and the Oriental Daily reported that angry Netizens have kept up a barrage of attacks on Zhang, who has only played minor roles in movies over the past year, claiming that the post was a stunt to garner attention. Zhang said she didn’t intend to create a furor.
Ng came to her defense, and said he believed Zhang had “mistakenly” posted the photo on his blog while he was partying it up at a karaoke bar with, ironically enough, Hong Kong actor Raymond Lam (林?). Pop Stop readers will recall how Lam became material for gossip rags in April when his then girlfriend, Chinese model Mavis Pan (潘霜霜), leaked photos showing the pair together in bed — a ruse according to media reports to improve Pan’s waning popularity. If it was a ploy to gain attention, it didn’t work, and Pan eventually broke up with Lam because she found racy photos of him with other women on his mobile phone.
Photo: Taipei Times
The coincidence wasn’t lost on some members of the media, who speculated that Ng was in the process of dumping Zhang. Was she pulling a Pan?
“I’m totally unfamiliar with her,” Zhang said.
Ng, for his part, has kept his mouth zipped shut by refusing to comment on whether or not they are still a couple. He said he had spoken to Zhang and that she had “learned her lesson.”
But salacious photos of a naked Zhang and an ex-boyfriend soon appeared online, confirming for many that she’ll do anything to gain attention. Adding fuel to the fire, Xinhuanet (新華網) reported that Zhang had once been married to a wealthy Chinese businessman, but later divorced him to date a film director so she could land plum roles. Zhang called the rumors ridiculous.
The spectacle reached a denouement over the weekend, when Netizens cursed one of Zhang’s friends for defending her in an online post. “Give my friends a chance to have a nice Christmas, OK?” Zhang said.
Higher up on the celebrity food chain, Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) is experiencing her own photo issues, reported NOWnews. At a music awards ceremony, she told the assembled media that she didn’t mind gossip hounds following her and boyfriend Vivian Dawson (錦榮), but asked them to “please print better looking photos.”
In other showbiz news, some celebrities got into the Christmas spirit by giving to charity. The China Times reported that Taiwanese singer-actor Jerry Yan (言承旭) celebrated the completion of a hostel for low-income students built with his own funds and those donated by his fans. Meanwhile, Selina Jen (任家萱) auctioned off 50 signed copies of her recently released album, Dream a New Dream (重作一個夢), with the proceeds going to burn victims.
Other celebrities, however, were not so generous. The United Daily News reported that Hong Kong actor Benny Chan (陳浩民) has yet to fulfill a promise he made to donate to charity after he was accused of sexually harassing 19-year-old actress Rose Chan (陳嘉桓) .
In addition to blubbing apologies at a press conference and publishing mea culpas in newspapers in Hong Kong and China, Benny Chan promised to donate money to the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation (護苗基金). However, actress Josephine Siao (蕭芳芳), who established the foundation in 1998, said at an event on Friday last week that he had yet to make good on his pledge.
Defending himself at a press conference, Benny Chan said that the donation is just a “problem of time.”
“I said that I’ll donate and I’ll donate. I’m already a father and want to show that I’m a role model for my daughter,” he said.
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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