When Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (
"Allow me to keep it a secret for now," she told reporters at the time. "Let me just say that it is going to be a male entertainer and a female singer. I promise it will be a huge surprise!"
But what was meant to be a surprise turned into an unexpected cat-out-of-bag incident. Lai was upset yesterday to find out that local media had unveiled the "secret" before she did.
A report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday said that Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), who won the Golden Melody Award for best female Mandarin pop singer last week, has been selected to be the bureau's new tourism spokesperson in Southeast Asia.
The report also mentioned that Tsai and film director Wu Nien-jen (
It also said that the bureau would pay Tsai NT$8 million (US$242,400) per year for the deal.
The bureau's contract with A-mei ended this year. During the past three years, the diva participated in tourism-related promotional events in Southeast Asia, from meeting with fans to leading them on an around-the-nation tour.
The momentum A-mei generated encouraged the Tourism Bureau to consider choosing another popular singer to be the new spokesperson this year.
Lai ordered her staff yesterday to investigate the leak and find out why the news was released to the media before the scheduled date, which was today.
The incident was reminiscent of the Golden Melody Awards' problems, as both events have had their lists of winners leaked to the media before the organizer could make an official announcement.
To increase tourism each year, the bureau has recruited popular idols as part of tourism promotion package. Last week, it announced that the boy-band F4 had become the bureau's emissaries in Japan and South Korea.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS