Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) usually does a good job of keeping his private life out of the tabloids, but a wig and mysterious travel plans sparked rumors that he recently enjoyed a tropical getaway with actress Shu Qi (舒淇).
A reporter from the Liberty Times (our sister newspaper) saw Wang arriving at Taoyuan International Airport (桃園國際機場) sporting the fake tresses. On the same night, Shu was spotted flying into Hong Kong. Though there is no concrete proof that the two were vacationing together, intrepid netizens noted that their arrival times coincided with flights from Bali.
“After 10 years of disguising himself, this was the first time he failed,” commented the Liberty Times, referring to Wang’s ability to keep the press off his trail. While some of Wang’s fans mocked him on the Internet for his subterfuge, others were frothing at the mouth over the potential of a juicy new celebrity romance.
Photo: Taipei Times
“If it’s true, then announce it!” went one typical posting.
Rumors of a relationship have dogged the two ever since Shu appeared in one of Wang’s music videos five years ago. After shooting wrapped up, the two reportedly started seeing each other and the tabloids even said that they had been spotted in Tokyo department stores shopping for a diamond ring. Wang and Shu are said to have kept their alleged affair under wraps because his mother disapproves of the romance, but fans are now keeping their fingers crossed.
On Dec. 29, the Liberty Times received a tip-off from a reader about Wang and Shu’s arrivals in Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively. A reporter rushed to Taoyuan and managed to intercept Wang, who was wearing his disguise and looked surprised to have been discovered. When asked if he had been in Bali with Shu Qi, Wang did not respond.
The two have refused to confirm or deny reports of their trip, but fans keeping an eagle eye on all their blog postings believe there is enough evidence. Shu insisted that she had planned to go skiing over the winter holidays, but readers figured out that a photo she posted online of herself enjoying the slopes was actually a year old. Some fans also believe that Wang convinced a blogger to post a snap of a “chance encounter” with the singer in Beijing. They argue that the jacket he is wearing in the photo would have provided scant protection against the Chinese capital’s frigid winter temperatures, and therefore the report is fake.
The Liberty Times speculated that the two spent their rumored Bali trip celebrating the critical success of Chinglish, a theatrical production by Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang (黃哲倫) that uses 11 of Wang’s songs. Time magazine placed it at number three in its list of last year’s top 10 Broadway shows. Wang’s music was also included in How Can I Live on Without You (如果沒有你) by Cloud Gate Theatre (雲門舞集).
Shu issued a statement chiding the press for making a big deal out of nothing. “This is not worth responding to,” she told reporters. Managers for both stars said that their agencies had been closed for the New Year’s weekend and were therefore unable to confirm or deny the rumors.
Wang’s love life has long been the focus of intense speculation. When the singer recently uploaded a photo to his blog that he snapped while recording a song, some fans mistook the background for a home studio. While some sighed with envy over Wang’s luxurious bachelor pad, others lamented how lonely he looked in the picture and called for Wang to find himself a wife right away. The singer’s management company quickly sent out a clarification that Wang was at Platinum Studios (白金錄音室).
Even though their bitter separation and divorce topped the headlines for months on end last year, Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒) and Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) are now denying rumors that they are getting back together. Tse confirmed that he often sees his ex-wife, but explained that it was for the sake of their two small children. Tse and Cheung were recently spotted taking their oldest son Lucas to a feng shui master, but Tse wrote on his blog that they were just enjoying a family outing as parents. After spending a good part of last year duking it out over real estate holdings and custody arrangements, Tse said that he and Cheung “cooled down” after their divorce was finalized and are now open to being good friends — but no more than that.
June 9 to June 15 A photo of two men riding trendy high-wheel Penny-Farthing bicycles past a Qing Dynasty gate aptly captures the essence of Taipei in 1897 — a newly colonized city on the cusp of great change. The Japanese began making significant modifications to the cityscape in 1899, tearing down Qing-era structures, widening boulevards and installing Western-style infrastructure and buildings. The photographer, Minosuke Imamura, only spent a year in Taiwan as a cartographer for the governor-general’s office, but he left behind a treasure trove of 130 images showing life at the onset of Japanese rule, spanning July 1897 to
One of the most important gripes that Taiwanese have about the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is that it has failed to deliver concretely on higher wages, housing prices and other bread-and-butter issues. The parallel complaint is that the DPP cares only about glamor issues, such as removing markers of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) colonialism by renaming them, or what the KMT codes as “de-Sinification.” Once again, as a critical election looms, the DPP is presenting evidence for that charge. The KMT was quick to jump on the recent proposal of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to rename roads that symbolize
On the evening of June 1, Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) apologized and resigned in disgrace. His crime was instructing his driver to use a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon. The Control Yuan is the government branch that investigates, audits and impeaches government officials for, among other things, misuse of government funds, so his misuse of a government vehicle was highly inappropriate. If this story were told to anyone living in the golden era of swaggering gangsters, flashy nouveau riche businessmen, and corrupt “black gold” politics of the 1980s and 1990s, they would have laughed.
In an interview posted online by United Daily News (UDN) on May 26, current Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was asked about Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) replacing him as party chair. Though not yet officially running, by the customs of Taiwan politics, Lu has been signalling she is both running for party chair and to be the party’s 2028 presidential candidate. She told an international media outlet that she was considering a run. She also gave a speech in Keelung on national priorities and foreign affairs. For details, see the May 23 edition of this column,
RSS