Eason Chan (陳奕迅) is not having an easy time with his fans in China. Just last month Chinese fans threatened to boycott the singer after his wife Hilary Tsui (徐濠縈) posted comments about “rude Chinese” (沒有禮貌的中國人) on her blog. Tsui seriously lost her cool when people photographed Chan, herself and their daughter while on holiday in Canada, lashing out at people who take such liberties without so much as a by your leave. Her angry post did not garner much sympathy from the public, many of whom seemed to regard her outburst as worse than the original offense.
Tsui, who has featured extensively in the media for her expensive lifestyle and bad relations with her mother-in-law, explained that she was speaking as a Chinese who simply wanted Chinese people generally to rise to a higher standard of etiquette. This did not cut much ice with fans, some of whom claimed that if she despised Chinese so much, she should make a stand, and husband Eason should stop his lucrative gigs in China, while others threatened that if she did not make a sincere apology, her “long term meal ticket” (長期飯票), namely Chan, would suffer the consequences.
Almost as soon as the furor died down, Chan found himself in trouble with fans over a song in his most recent album ...3mm. The song, titled Indecent (非禮), has lyrics that are perceived to be, by some Internet observers at least, derogatory of Chinese from the mainland, even alluding to political tensions between Hong Kong and China. Chan has moved quickly to dispel any political connotations, even deprecating himself as a “political ignoramus” (政治白痴), according to the United Daily News. Chan has stated that the song is simply about people treating each other with respect and politeness, adding that “there is so much anger in society. I am not attacking anyone. I am Chinese, and Chinese people do not attack Chinese people.”
Photo: Taipei Times
Clearly there are plenty of people in this anger filled society who would disagree with Chan’s statement, and his soft pedaling of his song, which amounts to denying that it has any real content at all, makes one ask: “Wither rock’n’roll?” Then again, given Chan’s massive success in London in April (selling out the city’s massive O2 Arena in not much over 20 minutes), clearly Chan is a man who knows what the public wants.
Last month, Pop Stop reported that actress Shu Qi (舒淇), who has had more than her share of false starts in her quest for married respectability, might have hit the rocks once again after the mother of Stephen Fung (馮德倫) announced that she did not think the actress, with her past links with adult film, was a suitable partner for her son. Shu Qi is not to be so easily put off. She has moved out of her apartment in the swank Jardine’s Lookout area of Hong Kong to be closer to Fung and posted tender wishes on her Weibo (微博) microblog to wish him a happy 38th birthday. The two met 15 years ago, but back then the relationship didn’t go anywhere. Now that Shu Qi has another bite of the cherry, it looks like she is going to give it everything, even resorting to the supernatural. According to “observers,” Shu Qi has even set up her new apartment based on fengshui principles that favor the blossoming of romantic love.
In other romantic news, former 5566 boy band member Rio Peng (彭康育) continues to go from strength to strength. After leaving the band in 2005 and setting up his own company, he is now preparing to marry Tina Lin (林文晴), daughter of Lin Po-shih (林伯實), CEO of Taiwan Glass Industry Corporation. Marrying into money does bring its share of troubles, and Peng has had to fend off allegations that the marriage is only going ahead because Lin is knocked up.
And finally, after an uncertain start, it looks like another sex photo scandal is about to spread itself across the media. Justin Lee (李宗瑞), son of Yuanta Financial Holdings (元大金融控股公司) director Li Yueh-tsang (李岳蒼), was originally accused of having drugged and raped two starlets, with subsequent investigation bringing the tally of those involved up to 40, as of Tuesday. Adding to the titillation of this scandal, it seems that Lee videotaped these sexual assaults. While secretly taping sexual acts is probably not cool by any standards, a survey of media reports suggest that there is significant uncertainty about the level of consent involved in the sexual acts themselves.
The incident has been further complicated with a number of women allegedly involved claiming that they had no association with Lee. There are also suggestions that, among the starlets, bar girls and minor models who feature in Lee’s video collection, there are also a number of well-known celebrities, not all of whom are single. Lee vanished from the scene soon after the allegations emerged last week and was still being sought as of Tuesday. Some images have made it onto the Internet, but the first actual casualty of the scandal has been Lee’s father, who has been sacked from his position at Yuanta as a result of all the undesirable publicity.
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