Hong Kong pop diva Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文) and Canto-pop heartthrob Andy Hui (許志安) are back together, but despite the media’s excitement, their future together is far from certain. The two singers have had an on-and-off relationship since the mid-1990s, and most recently split up in 2004.
Still, Hui was looking “radiant with happiness,” according to the Apple Daily, as he confirmed the rekindled romance to reporters earlier this week during a press conference held to promote an upcoming concert.
The announcement came days after the Apple Daily’s photographers in Hong Kong spotted the pair in a cafe enjoying a “romantic” afternoon tea.
Photo: Taipei Times
“She and I have recently come to an understanding,” Apple quoted Hui as saying. “We have come to an agreement to let everyone know that we are back together, and are getting to know each other again.”
Cheng, on the other hand, remained tight-lipped despite being hounded by reporters. Instead, she posted an essay on her microblog at t.sina.com.cn (新浪微博), the Twitter of the Chinese-speaking world, in which she confirmed the two were starting over, but said she felt wary because of the media’s portrayal of their relationship as a “fairy tale” with a “perfect ending.”
“I am afraid of this kind of pressure,” she wrote. “I don’t want a earth-shaking romance. I just want to build a normal relationship.”
Cheng also complained about being bombarded with questions about when they were planning to get married (rumors have already been doing the rounds about a wedding in the south of France next year) and when they were going to start a family.
“In the past 10 years, we’ve only run into each other several times,” she wrote, before pleading for “space” to let their new relationship to take its course.
Another public figure taking to the microblogging soapbox is Richard Chang (張承中), fiance of Selina Jen (任家萱) from popular girl band S.H.E. Chang, a 38-year-old lawyer, has gone from being the shy, reclusive boyfriend to becoming the de facto spokesman for Jen, who continues to recover from a severe burns injury sustained when an explosion scene went awry on the set of a TV series being shot in China last year.
Lately, Chang has been making a number of TV talk show appearances. During one interview several weeks ago, he accused the TV show’s director Chen Ming-chang (陳銘章) of attempting to evade responsibility for the accident.
Now he’s taken to the blogosphere. The China Times reported that Chang attracted nearly 20,000 followers on t.sina.com.cn soon after launching his account (t.sina.com.cn/n/Diong-Diong) last week.
“Selina’s recovery has been hard, and she wanted me to start the account so we could have some fun together. I want to make her a little happier and I can also say what I want to say,” he said in a television interview earlier this week.
Chang weighed in on the Taichung pub fire that killed nine people last weekend, which clearly hit home for him and his fiance. “Yet another joyous occasion unprepared for a fire,” he wrote on his microblog. “At the minimum, those held responsible must face up to the authorities.”
Meanwhile, Ella Chen (陳嘉樺), Jen’s S.H.E bandmate, has found a new flame. The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported last week that Chen has been dating Alvin Lai (賴斯翔), a 35-year-old Malaysian marketing executive at a cosmetics company, for two months.
Chen’s fans appear to be impressed, with blogs marveling over Lai’s comparatively towering presence (he stands 180cm tall; she’s 163cm).
“Alvin Lai is not bad compared to that other guy,” the Liberty Times quoted one fan as saying. The fan might be referring to singer Tommy Chao (趙士懿), who got busted by Next Magazine (壹周刊) last year escorting a “hot chick” (辣妹) to a fancy hotel while he was reportedly dating Chen.
But Lai has already been put on notice: a large number of Chen’s fans have been posting on his sina.com account, warning him to watch his step or else face their wrath.
One fan wrote, “You’d better treat [Chen] well. If you put up anything like the unfaithfulness she faced in the past, you can be sure that all of her fans will give you a severe scolding.” Another fan urged Lai to be a one-girl kind of guy and forget about all of those “Malaysian models.”
Last Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) detected 41 sorties of Chinese aircraft and nine navy vessels around Taiwan over a 24-hour period. “Thirty out of 41 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern ADIZ (air defense identification zones),” it reported. Local media noted that the exercises coincided with the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Taiwan. During the visit of then-US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022, the largest number of sorties was on Aug. 5, “involving a total of 47 fighter aircraft and two supporting reconnaissance/patrol aircraft.
Xu Pengcheng looks over his shoulder and, after confirming the coast is clear, helps his crew of urban adventurers climb through the broken window of an abandoned building. Long popular in the West, urban exploration, or “urbex” for short, sees city-dwelling thrill-seekers explore dilapidated, closed-off buildings and areas — often skirting the law in the process. And it is growing in popularity in China, where a years-long property sector crisis has left many cities dotted with empty buildings. Xu, a 29-year-old tech worker from the eastern city of Qingdao, has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers for his photos of rundown schools and
At times, it almost seems that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is out to sabotage the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). As if on cue, with the recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers in full swing, Ma thought it would be a good time to lead a delegation of students to China and attend the 17th Straits Forum (海峽論壇) and meet with Wang Huning (王滬寧), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member entrusted by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to be his second in command on Taiwan policy and to run the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in charge of subverting enemies,
There is no politician today more colorful than Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯). The recall vote against her on July 26 will test the limits of her unique style, making it one of the most fascinating to watch. Taiwan has a long history of larger-than-life, controversial and theatrical politicians. As far back as 1988, lawmaker Chu Kao-cheng (朱高正) was the first to brawl and — legend has it — was the first to use the most foul Taiwanese Hokkien curse on the floor of the legislature. Current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) has become famous
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