Retired actor Hou Chieh (侯傑), who reportedly has senile dementia, was last week found by police officers wandering Taipei’s streets in a state of undress, the Taipei City Police Department’s Daan Precinct said on Wednesday.
Hou, 70, gained fame as an actor in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) television shows and an A-list film actor.
Hou’s past work includes the series Finding Love Again (把愛找回來) on DaAi TV, for which he received a Golden Bell nomination for the best supporting actor in 2005. He was also Taiwan Television’s favorite when casting Hoklo-speaking roles.
Police said they found Hou on Jinshan S Road on Tuesday last week at about 10pm, following a call that an old man appeared to be lost and in need of assistance.
Police officers Hsu Te-kuang (許德光) and Huang Yeh-chin (黃業勤) who responded to the call, said that they found the man in a state of confusion and without pants. The temperature outside was about 9°C and it was raining, the officers said.
Although the man had difficulty articulating his words, Hsu and Huang discerned that he lived in a New Taipei City nursing home and was looking for his brother, officers said.
While the officers kept the man from walking into traffic, a woman passing by brought a pair of pants for Hou, they said.
After searching for missing persons information matching the man’s description, Hsu and Huang escorted him to the police station.
In the station police found a bracelet on the man’s wrist identifying him as Hou Chieh and found contact information of Happy Buddha Vegetarian Home for the Elderly.
The nursing home dispatched a staff member to collect Hou, police said.
They said they later learned that Hou had been an actor and that his brother once lived with him in the nursing home.
Police escorted Hou back to the nursing home.
Hou has been a resident of the nursing home since last July, and has diabetes, moderate dementia and a history of multiple strokes, nursing home superintendent Lee Chuang-tse (李椿澤) said.
His dementia has worsened in recent months and he is believed to have an estranged daughter with whom he has not spoken in a decade, Lee said.
Hou gets along with the staff and enjoys watching television, Lee said, adding that the actor seemed to relive his memories of acting when he did so.
Taipei City Performance Artists’ Union Chairman Kang Kai (康凱) said the union knew of Hou’s condition, but has not received details about the latest developments, adding that his office would contact the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to arrange help for the actor.
Additional reporting by Weng Yu-huang
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese