The multi-storey building hosts tribute performances and serves food inspired by the artist’s songs

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/22
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Teresa Teng (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A museum-cum-restaurant in Beijing has become a permanent tribute to Taiwan’s premiere pop star Teresa Teng.

The New York Times reports the shrine is a multi-storey building located in a western Beijing neighborhood among other bars and restaurants, but easily stands out due to the enormous portrait of Teng smiling and holding a white rose that adorns its facade.

Each night, The Times writes, performers in bedazzled gowns take to the stage to reel off some of her most famous hits, including songs like “The Moon Represents My Heart” to an adoring crowd.

Catchy melodies and simple yet sincere lyrics have made the singer a karaoke staple within the Chinese-speaking world and among new Mandarin learners, but her music seems to have a much deeper resonance with many in the Chinese capital.
[FULL  STORY]

The film’s confident style is kneecapped by an underdeveloped and unfocused story.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/09
By: CJ Sheu

Credit: Youtube Screenshot

On IMDB, ‘Looking for Kafka’ (Aishang Kafuka / 愛上卡夫卡) is listed as ‘Kafka’s Lovers.’ Despite the evident technical competence on display, this ambivalence is manifested in the film’s self-identity as well. From first-time writer-director Jade Y. Chen (陳玉慧), a novelist from Taiwan, ‘Kafka’ oscillates between two different films, never deciding on one, thereby truncating necessary story details.

The first film is in the vein of recent Taiwanese films of whimsy, starting with ‘Cape No. 7’ (2008) and including ‘Au Revoir Taipei’ (2010) and ’52Hz, I Love You’ (2017). Pineapple (Jian Man-shu, 簡嫚書) designs props for a theater troupe putting on an abstract modern dance performance of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ starring her ex-boyfriend, Lin Jiasheng (J. C. Lin, 林哲熹). The morning after Jiasheng’s current girlfriend, Julie (Julia Roy), arrives from Paris, he’s kidnapped by some gangsters to get his rich dad to pony up some dough. Pineapple takes Julie to search around for Jiasheng, while he in turn, er, waits for something to happen.

You can tell that the film isn’t going for naturalism because the kidnappers neglect to make a ransom call. Jian’s bubbly and upbeat performance (and creative hair) sets the tone, as Pineapple and Julie rather unhurriedly visit Jiasheng’s old haunts and past girlfriends (one of whom is played by Taiwanese transgender icon Kiwebaby, 張朵). It just so happens that each place they visit is representative of contemporary Taiwanese culture: coffee shop, nightclub, temple, and gazebo on a mountain trail – the unlikely location of Jiasheng’s guqin lessons. In one of the few highlights of the film, a visit to Jiasheng’s mother reveals her to be played by none other than Peking opera legend Wei Haimin (魏海敏), as a brain-addled version of herself forever convinced that she’s putting on a show. The film tries to avoid coming across as a tourism commercial by omitting things like travel routes and establishing shots, but the effect is to make each segment feel abstract and underdeveloped. A similar premise was much better developed in the Taiwanese film ‘The Most Distant Course’ (2007).

Jiasheng’s patience finally pays off as one of the gangsters (Yuki Daki, 大慶) steals him away from the others, and a car chase ensues. The chase is genuinely exciting thanks to Lee Chatametikool’s editing, with gunshots and drifting on mountain roads, but the tension is broken when an old cliché rears its head: The car runs into a roadside fruit stall. The gangster, an indigenous tribe member, takes Jiasheng to his tribal home (Yuki is of the Atayal tribe, and his tribe members play themselves) where, in another cliché, it’s revealed that he himself needs the money for his hemophiliac son (the film performs some plotting gymnastics to get around Taiwan’s universal healthcare). Pineapple and Julie get the money and exchange it for Jiasheng, who returns in time for his Kafka performance.    [FULL  STORY]

This ink wash painting come to life carries thematic complexity and a veiled political message.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/27
By: CJ Sheu

Credit: YouTube Screenshot

Centuries of Chinese literati have lost themselves in appreciative reveries when contemplating ink wash paintings of rivers and mountains. With “Shadow” (Ying / 影) – shooting the black-and-white rain-soaked production design (Horace Ma) in bleached color – director Zhang Yimou and cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding have allowed us the same experience. The staggering beauty of the film, only enhanced by the long takes, harmonious compositions, and subdued zither soundtrack, is impossible to convey in words, but Jessica Kiang at the trade publication Variety comes close:

Black ink drips from the tip of a brush and daggers into clear water, spiraling out like smoke; a Chinese zither sounds a ferocious, twanging note that warps and buckles in its sustain; rain mottles the sky to a heavy watercolor gray, forming pools on paving stones into which warriors bleed; whispery drafts from hidden palace chambers stir tendrils of hair and set the hems of luxuriant, patterned robes fluttering.

All this is impressive enough, but the film goes even further, presenting a plot in the grand wuxiatradition, written by Zhang and Li Wei (and adapted from a Three Kingdoms play by Zhu Sujin but leaving history behind), that is narratively and thematically complex but still flows like running water, thanks in no small part to Zhou Xiaolin’s superb editing. A surprise fourth act will leave you reeling, and then the film reveals its biggest shocker: It ends exactly where it begins.

The small mountainous kingdom of Pei has lost the city of Jingzhou to its more powerful neighbor, but the seemingly dissolute young King (Zheng Kai) prohibits any talk of avenging this national shame for fear of being wiped off the map. Commander Yu (Deng Chao), defying orders, returns from a secret trip to Jingzhou with a pledge from its current ruler, General Yang Cang (Hu Jun), to settle the city’s fate once and for all with a duel; he is immediately discharged from service. Captain Tian Zhan (Wang Qianyuan) is also discharged when he objects to the King’s plan to sue for peace by marrying off his royal sister (Guan Xiaotong) to be the concubine of Yang’s son (Wu Lei).    [FULL  STORY]

allkpop News
Date: Dec 10, 2018
By: KayRosa

BTS members have been involved in a minor car accident.

On December 9th, ‘China Times’ reported that a minor collision occurred on an expressway in Taiwan, which involved several vehicles including BTS’ van and a taxi. The accident had occurred right after BTS’ ‘Love Yourself’ concert at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium as the boys were heading back to their hotel.

More details have yet to be verified, but organizers of the tour from ‘Live Nation’ have confirmed that “no one was injured”. The members have safely moved back to the hotel, as other vehicles had been arranged for their speedy return.

Meanwhile, witnesses have yet to confirm whether the accident had any involvement with fans following the cars. As of now, the only remaining statement explains that an initial impulsion from the front had affected the vehicles behind it.

Stay tuned for more information.    [SOURCE]