The Public Television Service (PTS) yesterday began broadcasting three programs to commemorate the late Taiwanese singer-entertainer Frankie Gao (高凌風).
The programs feature a concert in Taipei by the singer, a PTS show in which Gao talked about his life and career, and a PTS recording of his music performances.
The concert was broadcast yesterday and will be broadcast again on Saturday; the interview will be broadcast on Sunday and the music performance today, tomorrow and on Saturday, PTS said.
Photo: CNA
Gao died of leukemia on Monday at the age of 63. He passed away at a hospital in New Taipei City (新北市)with his family at his bedside.
Dubbed the “Frog Prince” (青蛙王子), the singer was known for his flamboyant attire and energetic dance moves in the 1970s and 1980s. His hit songs included Burn, Phoenix, Burn (燃燒吧!火鳥) and Fire in the Winter (冬天裡的一把火).
Gao achieved local fame in the 1970s and became a household name in Taiwan after singing the theme song of the popular film Girlfriend (女朋友).
Gao turned to business in the 1980s at the height of his career, but the club that he opened was later forced to close down after a government crackdown on the sex industry.
He was also the target of a gangster shooting in the 1980s.
The controversial entertainer suffered a low period in his career that picked up again with his appearances on parody shows on TV from 2001, in which he impersonated well-known public figures.
In recent years, his appearances in the media were often related to quarrels with his ex-wife Chin Yu-chuang (金友莊), from whom he had a bitter divorce. Chin was Gao’s third wife.
Gao had been scheduled to hold a concert on March 8 to celebrate 40 years in the entertainment business.
Singer and former legislator Yu Tian (余天), a close friend of Gao, has expressed hope that a memorial concert will take place instead.
“How can someone so cocky be gone?” Yu said tearfully late on Monday night.
Taiwanese comedian Chu Ko Liang (豬哥亮) was also choked up, saying: “I respect him, he was brave... I am really sad,” after learning about the death of his long-time friend.
Chinese actress Zhao Wei (趙薇) and Taiwanese actress and TV hostess Lily Tien (田麗) were also among the celebrities who took to the Internet to mourn the death of the entertainer.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods