Starting with Taiwan's "international top model" Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), who was in the news practically every day this summer despite her not having done anything newsworthy, local media have kicked up what it now refers to as a "model fever"(名模熱) that's sweeping across the land. But since poor Chi-ling has already been deemed cold toast, it's now open season on the rest of Taiwan's contingent of runway models to justify more pictures of beautiful women on their pages and on TV.
The two ladies who stumbled into the media crosshairs this time are Lei Hung (洪曉蕾) and Lin Chia-chi (林嘉綺). And Hung may have already emerged as the prime target, as evidenced by her being the cover story two weeks in a row in Next Magazine (壹週刊) -- last week for doing the "splits" with four rich old men, and this week for having taken half-naked glamor pictures 11 years ago when she was 18. The best that Chia-chi could offer in the way of salacious stories was her kissing her longtime boyfriend and, this was actually part of a headline in The Great Daily News (大成報), rubbing his back. Clearly, Chia-chi is not going to generate titillating headlines for long.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Hung's agent, meanwhile, rose to the bait on Wednesday to denounce the publication of the old semi-nude photos and delivered a promise to sue the magazine, making sure that there will be more reports about Hung to come.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Last Sunday having been Double Ten Day, the usual tension over who will be the lucky/daring person to take the stage in front of the Presidential Office to host the national day festivities was more muted than in previous years, presumably because the government has given up asking popular stars to take part. Much had also been made beforehand of the toning down of the celebrations' "Chineseness" and nowhere was that more apparent than in the final choice of variety show host Peng Chia-chia (澎恰恰) and the self-proclaimed sexy obasan Chen Mei-feng (陳美鳳) to serve as MCs. Both being local icons, especially for the 40-and-up crowd, they drove the point home that there's a new wind blowing through town.
And speaking of blowing wind, Lee Hom Wong (王力宏) spoke in rare harsh tones to the media this week for reporting on criticisms of a song he produced for A-mei's (阿妹) new album that described the track as sounding like a person on the toilet grunting and groaning. Lee Hom said he wanted artists to be respected and for media to avoid "low-class" criticisms that demean the artists and their producers.
In Hong Kong last week, pop singer Eason Chan (陳奕迅) became a father when his girlfriend gave birth to a healthy 3.5kg baby girl. The couple named the baby Constance. The two have been out of reach from the media, but friends have visited the new family and said Constance looks like the father, with one friend remarking the two were so similar that even the baby's farts sounded like the Eason's.
Taiwan’s English education system is being pulled apart by three opposing forces. Bilingual Nation 2030 pulls students toward English and global communication. Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness pulls them toward digital judgment, verification and AI-mediated work. But Taiwan’s old exam culture pulls them back toward memorization, grammar drills, timed reading and correct answers. If the education system keeps using old exams to define success, it risks producing graduates who are neither genuinely bilingual nor genuinely AI-ready, but trained for tasks machines can already perform. The first force is Bilingual Nation 2030. Launched in 2018, the policy aimed to “help Taiwan’s workforce connect
It seems every few days one bumps into one of those “real man” comments in which Taiwan is urged to “face reality” or similar, and “make a deal,” with the speaker implying that soon it will be too late. “Deal” advocates always present themselves as having a superior grip on reality, and the manly ability to make the “hard choice.” Their testosterone-laden language often echoes that of Taiwan sellout advocates. Note that such commentary always specifies a process (“make a deal, work with, make progress”), never the end state of what occupation by a violent authoritarian colonialist state will entail. In
June 1 to June 7 "If all Taiwanese were as afraid of dying as you, then what would happen?” Physician Shih Chiang-nan (施江南) reportedly said this to his wife Chen Chiao-tung (陳焦桐) after she urged him to stop intervening on behalf of Taiwanese soldiers stranded overseas after serving in the Japanese Army during World War II. Shih had clashed with high-ranking officials over the issue, engaged in several heated arguments with Taiwan governor-general Chen Yi (陳儀) and allegedly shouted at general Ko Yuan-fen (柯遠芬), chief of staff of the Taiwan Garrison Command, over
“Taiwan’s Opposition Leader Comes to US With a Message Straight Out of Beijing” read a May 31 headline in the Wall Street Journal. Top US administration officials and members of Congress almost certainly read the WSJ, and if there was a bullet point takeaway that people in Washington should absorb ahead of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) arrival in DC on June 9, that headline is it. The last few columns have discussed this very topic, and the timing is not coincidental. While those top officials likely do not read the Taipei Times, judging by the number
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