Kao Kuo-hua (高國華). Chen Tzu-hsuan (陳子璇). Tsai Yu-hsuan (蔡郁璇). If you don’t know who these three people are, congratulations! You’re one of a select few who have yet to be tainted by the media frenzy surrounding cram-school mogul Kao, his lover Chen, and his estranged wife/ news anchor Tsai. The hullaballoo started a month ago when the then-not-so-famous Kao was papped playing an away game with cram-school teacher Chen in his Mercedes-Benz. Since then, media outlets have been tripping over themselves to scoop each other, television talk shows have fought to be the first to interview the concerned parties, and the Apple Daily has made not one but 15 News-In-Motion (動新聞) (http://zzb.bz/eKRR6) videos on the affair.
This, obviously, is an issue of great national importance. Thus, in the interest of the public good, Pop Stop has combed through the gossip media’s archives and provides the following highlights of this ongoing real-life soap opera.
Aug. 23
Eighteen days after news of the affair broke, Tsai breaks her silence and threatens to sue Chen for wrecking her marriage. Kao counterattacks — well, sort of — by noting that Tsai was “the other woman” who broke up his first marriage.
Aug. 25
The 54-year-old lothario changes his mind and says he is still deeply in love with his 31-year-old wife.
Aug. 27
During a television interview, Tsai says her daughter’s elementary schoolmates called Chen an “ugly cow.”
Aug. 28
A text message Kao sent to Tsai earlier this month is made public. It sees the wayward husband begging for forgiveness and describing his 37-year-old lover as “old and ugly.” After showing the message to the paparazzi, Tsai says she will take care of Kao even if he ends up penniless. Huh?
Aug. 29
Tsai tells the paparazzi that, in addition to popping sleeping pills and antidepressants, she tried to commit suicide when she found out about her husband’s extracurricular activities in July.
Aug. 30
Kao and Tsai are officially divorced. Kao calls Chen his “true love.”
The Apple Daily devotes an entire News-In-Motion episode to Liu Yi (劉毅), revered as a doyen in Taiwan’s cram-school, or buxiban (補習班), industry and said to be a business rival of Kao. Liu was also Chen’s mentor and employer for eight years before she left his school to work for Kao. An infuriated Liu calls Kao a shameless liar, but promises to extend a warm welcome to Chen — who he says is currently “possessed” — when she returns to her senses.
Hopefully, after the media circus subsides, some journos will also come to their senses and question why they should care so much as to whether or not Tsai lost her virginity to her college sweetheart, or if Kao is bald and wears a wig, and why they should present these findings as “news” to a national audience.
In other news, rumor has it that director Ang Lee (李安) will make a business trip back to the country this month for the Fox-financed US adaptation of Life of Pi, a fantasy adventure penned by Canadian writer Yann Martel about a boy who survives a shipwreck and spends 227 days on a lifeboat with a tiger, a hyena and a zebra.
Media speculation points to Taichung’s Shuinan Airport
(水湳機場) as a possible location chosen by the director to shoot the 3D movie, which reportedly has a budget of more than NT$2.2 billion (US$70 million). Though Ang Lee’s brother Khan Lee (李崗) is staying tight-lipped about the director’s new project, actors including Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), Guey Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) and Mark Chao (趙又廷) have already expressed keen interest in participating in the Hollywood flick.
The government released figures for October showing that, year on year, exports increased 49 percent to a record US$61.8 billion for the month. The dramatic increases were partly due to fall being the high season, but largely due to the AI boom driving demand for exports, which many investors fear is rapidly turning into a massive bubble. An editorial in this newspaper last month warned that the government should be ready in case the boom turns to bust. In previous boom-bust cycles, from shoes and textiles, through computer parts and accessories, to tools, bicycles and sporting goods, Taiwan has survived in
Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 It is said that those who refused to vacate Kipatauw’s upper settlement were knocked unconscious by Japanese agents and dragged to fingerprint the deeds. The Japanese coveted the site’s valuable white clay for Beitou District’s (北投) growing ceramics industry, and they were determined to acquire it by any means. The Indigenous Ketagalan settlement of Kipatauw had withstood centuries of external pressures and cultural erosion. Despite gradually losing much of their territory to Han settlers, they remained distinct into the early 20th century. By 1895, three communities persisted: the upper settlement near
The second floor of an unassuming office building in central Bangkok is a strange place to encounter the world’s largest rodent. Yet here, inside a small enclosure with a shallow pool, three capybaras are at the disposal of dozens of paying customers, all clamoring for a selfie. As people eagerly thrust leafy snacks toward the nonchalant-looking animals, few seem to consider the underlying peculiarity: how did this South American rodent end up over 10,000 miles from home, in a bustling Asian metropolis? Capybara cafes have been cropping up across the continent in recent years, driven by the animal’s growing internet fame.
How the politics surrounding President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) supplementary special defense budget plays out is going to be very revealing. It will also be nerve-wracking, with political, geopolitical and even existential stakes in play that could change the course of history. Lai broke the news of the eight-year, multilevel national security plan in the Washington Post, describing the centerpiece of it this way: “I am also accelerating the development of ‘T-Dome,’ a multilayered, integrated defense system designed to protect Taiwan from [People’s Republic of China (PRC)] missiles, rockets, drones and combat aircraft.” For more details and
RSS