Results tagged “celebrities”

Hint: Tiger Woods is not one of them. Check out the whole list here.

Edison Chen is putting his infamous sex scandal behind him and starring in movies again, to the chagrin of all of us who willfully believed he would in fact quit showbiz. The 28-year-old star will feature in an English-language comedy "Almost Perfect" alongside Chinese-American actress Kelly Hu (of Sammo Hung's Martial Law fame).

Oh Sharon Stone. The actress once again apologized for her "bad karma" comments, which got her dropped last year from her lucrative China Dior contract. "I'm sorry that my comments caused pain to a nation and a people. I hope my apology will be accepted and finally fully understood," she said. She loves China, she told Hong Kong Prestige. She loves its hospitality and Chinese culture as a whole. But you know what's especially great about China? It's got a fine philosophy on aging, which is about "really accepting yourself and loving your age." China's great because it embraced this concept, she said, adding "it's not the Botox capital of the world." Well true in that most of the population can't really afford Botox. Those that can... well, let's just say Sharon Stone ought to read up on the latest plastic surgery news over here. Source: SCMP

The Shanghai International Film Festival dropped by over the weekend and with it came the standard swarm of celebrities. Most of the sitings were more or less expected - Chinese actresses Fan BingBing and Zhang Ziyi (pictured) were there, as well as freedom hater Jackie Chan and director John Woo (no doubt promoting the uber-sucessful Red Cliff) - but big names from the Hollywood elite also made guest appearances. Halle Berry walked the carpet in a Marchesa lilac gown, and Clive Owen spoke during some sort of press conference. Danwei caught some of the opening ceremonies on Youku and called them "cheesy," but - honestly - what opening ceremony in China isn't? If you want celebrity galleries, check out the one on People's Daily Online.

So now not only are you not allowed to pose as a fake doctor (sadly killing off most expat men's chances of appearing on Chinese television), you're also not allowed to endorse a product without knowing if it actually works. A law that makes celebrities liable if their endorsed products turn out to be fake or dangerous has gone into affect today. According to the newest interpretation by the Supreme People's Court, “If these people know the nature of fake and inferior drugs but still help promote them, they will be dealt with as accomplices of producers and dealers of the products.” It doesn't really state how the courts plan on making sure celebrities knew their products were harmful before they started endorsing them, which calls into question how effective the law will actually be. Depending on how far the courts take this, it'll either have a chilling effect on celebrities appearing at all on ads, or everything will stay exactly the same. Source: China Daily

Doing nothing to put ends to the stereotype that Asians do all look the same, Tianya has an incredibly popular thread right now that compares East Asian pop stars that seem to have been separated at birth.

    

Source: CRI Talk China

Well, at least no one can say that he isn't versatile. After years of playing bad-ass gangsters and Kung Fu masters, Chow Yun-Fat has most recently popped up in Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and the soon-to-be-released, anime-turned-movie Dragonball Evolution. Soon, however, he'll have all eyes on him in a movie chronicling the life and times of Confucius.

Forbes has released its list of the Top 10 Chinese celebrities, which surveys the who's who of China to rank them based on personal income, public influence, internet reach and commercial value.

Hong Kong singer Gillian Chung, one of many starlets embroiled in the Edison Chen photo scandal last year, broker her silence on Saturday. In an interview with TVB, she demanded an apology and explanation from Edison, and revealed that she had thought about killing herself when the pictures leaked. Gillian is the second star to be interviewed, after Cecilia Cheung appeared on television last week lambasting Edison for failing to protect or console the women whose lives he'd inadvertently ruined. Interest in the case was recently renewed when Edison appeared in a Canadian court to give testimony against the man who stole the photos. Source: Electric Paper

Even as the dust settles over last week's Academy Awards, anti-censorship advocates and gay activists across Asia continue to lambast their local television stations for the censorship of two 'Milk' acceptance speeches — one made by Sean Penn, winner of the Best Actor award, and the other by Dustin Lance Black, who picked up the award for Best Original Screenplay. Both speeches were heavily censored in 53 countries all over Asia from India to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Disgraced Hong Kong pop star Edison Chen, whose naked photos were leaked to the Internet last year, will be making his first appearance since February 2008 - in a Canadian courtroom.

Not sure how long this clothing store has been in existence on the northwest corner of Shaanxi Nan Lu and Changle Lu, but we just noticed it on Sunday. The Chinese characters on the sign — 兴昌祥服饰 — means "auspicious, prospering and flourishing clothing." Mr. Deniro's entry into the Shanghai market is further proof of what Shanghaiist has been writing about the actor ever since his 1965 debut: He's been riding Liv Tyler's coattails his entire career.

At the star-studded wedding between Hong Kong celebrity Dickie Cheung and Chinese actress Zhang Qian recently in Manila, Han Hong, the hefty butch Tibetan-born crooner who sports short cropped hair and men's suits and who's long been rumoured to be a lesbian, was seen getting a little emotional during the church service. When asked why, she described herself as "yearning for love" and awestruck at "what a beautiful thing marriage is". The intrepid reporter ventured on to ask Han Hong who her ideal husband was, and the singer said without thinking twice that she's been long full of admiration for Nicholas Tse -- the Hong Kong bad boy whose wife Cecilia Cheung got into a bit of trouble last year. Oh... what about all these rumours of Han Hong getting married swirling about and all the other rumours of her supposed romantic liaison with Andy Hui, the reporter asks. Han Hong dismissed all rumours and said Andy Hui was just like a sworn brother to her, but not exactly her type. We just love how clueless Chinese journalists can get or pretend to be sometimes.

Imprint has come across one of the few interviews of the late Bruce Lee. Soon after the release of his first film, Hong Kong mega-hit , Lee sat down to talk about his life philosophy, super stardom, and of course, martial arts with Canadian television personality, Pierre Berton.

Status Tee, an indie design shop in Beijing, bases a hunk of its t-shirt designs off of Chinese Internet culture. It has now released two shirts commemorating the first sex scandal of the year. The fronts have a character advocating privacy, while the backs feature the now infamous beach photos of the lovely Zhang Ziyi and her fiancée, Vivo Nevo. Oh, the internet is a cruel mistress. Source: 56minus1.

Bryanboy, the campy, witty, bitchy Filipino fashion blogger who says he's "so gay I sweat glitter" is in Beijing right now. While in the Jing, Bryanboy has been tramping around town in his Dior moon boots, visiting posh hotels, shopping at American Apparel and Uniqlo, visiting haute couture exhibits, and molesting cute boys. With so much to do, it's no wonder Bryanboy's blogging activity has been light, but he did take some time off to educate his readers on what Chinese toilets look like. Baboosh!

Of the 22.6% of the country that now has access to the Internet, 162 million blog, while 234 million log on to read up on the news.

The Straits Times reports that actress Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) has made her first public appearance since pictures of her canoodling topless with her Israeli fiance Vivi Nevo at a beach hit the interwebs. According to the report, Zhang had a "forced smile" at the show. Also:

She avoided reporters by shunning the red carpet but, in a speech on stage, she appeared to allude to being indifferent to online criticism that she had shamed China by sunbathing topless with Israeli investor Vivi Nevo.

Continue reading "Zhang Ziyi makes first public appearance since beach photo scandal"

Michael Phelps (菲尔普斯) has signed the biggest ever endorsement contract for a Western celebrity in China, claims DMG Entertainment group, the agency that reportedly signed him to a seven-figure deal with Mazda.

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian square off in New Jersey Monday night. Notice how the I Heart China gang was there in full force. [H/t to John Shabe of NJ.com!]

The only two Chinese players currently in the starting lineup for NBA teams will face off in New Jersey Monday night, at 7:30 p.m. EST (8:30 a.m. Tuesday Beijing time). It is the third meeting, and the first this year, for Yao Ming (姚明) and Yi Jianlian (易建联). The game will air live on CCTV's sports channel.

Dashan (大山), everyone's favourite Canadian and a "bona-fide domestic celebrity" in China (at least according to Wikipedia), is getting some long-deserved recognition back home. Mark Henry Rowswell received the Order of Canada last Saturday, an award that recognizes "a lifetime of outstanding achievement". Rowswell's appointment to the Order of Canada was originally announced in 2007, but the formal award ceremony did not take place until this past weekend.

Actress Gong Li (巩俐) appeared recently as glamorous as ever in Beijing for a L'Oreal event in what was likely her first public appearance in China since she took on Singaporean citizenship. At a press conference she revealed that she's been receiving lots of offers from Hollywood lately, and when asked if she had any plans to return to Chinese cinema, she said, "I've always had, I've always had." But when the question moved on to her citizenship, Gong Li promptly turned around, spoke to her minders and made a quick exit.

In the latest Google Zeitgeist rankings which aggregates billions of search queries and ranks top search queries around the world, Edison Chen and Sarah Palin took top honours in China and the world respectively. The Beijing 2008 Olympics would have been the fastest rising search term hands down but was edged out by Edison Chen in the China category, and Sarah Palin in the Global category.

Hung Huang, the "Oprah of China" (looks like quite a few women share that title with her), will be coming to town this week to speak about NGOs and non-profit organizations within the country. Hung is one of China's most influential media moguls; she's currently the CEO of China Interactive Media (publishers of TimeOut magazine), a writer for the NY Times and a prominent Sina.com blogger, having already conquered different roles within the film and fashion industry. The daughter of a former Chinese Foreign Minister and Mao's personal translator, Hung's Chinese upbringing and North American education have made her a key cross-cultural figure.

After a week-long trip to see doctors in the U.S., Chinese gold medal hurdler Liu Xiang (刘翔) has returned to Shanghai with his coach Sun Haiping and is set to undergo an operation soon. Prior to this trip, a conservative approach had been advised for the Achilles injury that led to Liu's shock withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics and Sun had always maintained that surgery would be a "last resort". Medical experts in the U.S. have advised that surgery is not just safe, but necessary to remove the three calcifications that have occurred between his bone and tendon, and Liu himself has said (through his coach) that he is willing to do "whatever it takes" to ensure he gets back on track.

By Jellymon

Since rumours of a miscarriage began making the rounds last month, Chinese pop diva Faye Wong has been spotted for the first time in public leaving a hotel in Beijing and then driving home alone. Gone are the days of her wild partying and crazy temperament. Faye Wong is now a devoted mother who has been more than happy to stay out of the limelight. This baby would have been Faye Wong's third child. Her first daughter was born to singer Dou Wei and her second daughter with current hubby Li Yapeng was born with a cleft lip — news that were lapped up by entertainment journalists around the region.