Pop Stop reported last week that Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) was going to sue the Hong Kong edition of the Apple Daily, and its sister weekly Next Magazine, after both gossip rags said that she allegedly prostituted herself out to wealthy Chinese businessmen. Well, on Monday she made good on her word.
An article in the Apple last month alleged that Zhang “is a prostitute” and had sex with disgraced Chinese official Bo Xilai (薄熙來) and a wealthy associate for money, on numerous occasions, court documents showed.
The daily reported that the 33-year-old Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) and Rush Hour 2 star had sex with other top Chinese officials and had amassed a whopping fortune of close to NT$3.3 billion (US$110 million) as a result. Though the original story was removed from the tabloid’s Web site following Monday’s suit, pretty much every other media outlet in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China continue to report on it.
Photo: Taipei Times
Meanwhile, Chinese actress Fang Bingbing (范冰冰) has sued renowned Chinese playwright and film critic Bi Chenggong (畢成功) and a Guizhou-based news blog over allegations that she was the “mastermind” behind the Zhang sex scandal rumors.
Bi made a post on his microblog that suggested Fang was a notorious rabble rouser and had planned for months to spread the rumors before the release of Dangerous Liaisons (危險關係), a film starring Zhang that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival last month. Netizens speculated that the rumors were behind her absence from the festival.
Repeatedly denying the rumors, Fang has filed a defamation suit against Bi to the tune of NT$2.5 million.
Photo: Taipei Times
While some of Asia’s celebutantes are fighting off rumors of sexual impropriety (surprise, surprise), others are fighting off overzealous fans. S.H.E member Ella Chen (陳嘉樺) was stabbed by a female fan in France last week, reported the United Daily News.
The recently married Chen was in Paris with her cosmetics executive husband Alvin Lai (賴斯翔), who was on a business trip, when a fan approached the 30 year old while posting pictures of her trip on her Facebook account in a cafe.
The “lunatic,” as the popular singer later said, got angry when Chen refused to give her an interview or sign autographs, and lunged at her with a pen, stabbing her in the chest. She then drew on Chen’s left arm.
But Chen took it in her stride. Though shaken by the incident, warning other celebrities to “be careful,” she still took time out to meet up with fans for a photo session.
Crazy fans are something Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) knows something about. After arriving at an airport in Chongqing, China at the end of last month on her way to Beijing, the pop diva was accosted by an overzealous male fan.
“Jolin Tsai, I love you,” he bellowed as he attempted to wrap his arms around the songstress, according to NOWnews.
Though other assembled fans were clearly peeved by the fanboys’ presumptuous behavior, Tsai for her part laughed off the “attack.”
She was later quoted as saying that she was less concerned for her safety than the fan being blacklisted by other fans.
Meanwhile, the vernacular media have been reporting the possibility that bible-thumping chick magnet Van Ness Wu (吳建豪) might be getting hitched to on-again-off-again girlfriend Arissa Cheo (姚之寧).
The couple first hooked up in 2006 when Cheo helped Wu film a music video, but amicably broke up a year later. After getting back together in 2010, Wu allegedly proposed, only to be rebuffed by the Singaporean sweetheart’s parents because of his job as entertainer.
NOWnews reported that Wu had finally proposed to Cheo at the end of last month in Singapore. But he put the kibosh on the rumors this week.
“I’ll share the good news when it comes,” he said in a statement.
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
No one saw it coming. Everyone — including the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — expected at least some of the recall campaigns against 24 of its lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) to succeed. Underground gamblers reportedly expected between five and eight lawmakers to lose their jobs. All of this analysis made sense, but contained a fatal flaw. The record of the recall campaigns, the collapse of the KMT-led recalls, and polling data all pointed to enthusiastic high turnout in support of the recall campaigns, and that those against the recalls were unenthusiastic and far less likely to vote. That
A couple of weeks ago the parties aligned with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), voted in the legislature to eliminate the subsidy that enables Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to keep up with its burgeoning debt, and instead pay for universal cash handouts worth NT$10,000. The subsidy would have been NT$100 billion, while the cash handout had a budget of NT$235 billion. The bill mandates that the cash payments must be completed by Oct. 31 of this year. The changes were part of the overall NT$545 billion budget approved
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
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