name | James Soong Chu-yu宋楚瑜 |
---|---|
honorific-suffix | M.A., Ph.D. |
Order | 1st Chairman of People First Party |
Term start | 31 March 2000 |
order1 | Governor of Taiwan Province |
term1 | 20 March 1993 - 20 December 1994 |
predecessor1 | Lien Chan |
successor1 | Chao Shou-po |
order2 | Head of Government Information Office |
term2 | 25 January 1979 - 24 August 1984 |
order3 | Presidential candidate for the 2000 election (Independent) |
vicepresident3 | Chang Chau-hsiung (candidate) |
majority3 | 36.8 % |
order4 | Vice Presidential candidate for the 2004 election (People First Party) |
president4 | Lien Chan |
majority4 | 49.89 % |
birth date | March 16, 1942 |
birth place | Xiangtan, Hunan |
party | People First PartyKuomintang |
alma mater | National Chengchi UniversityUniversity of California, BerkeleyCatholic University of AmericaGeorgetown University |
occupation | Politician |
spouse | Viola Chen |
website | }} |
James Soong Chu-yu (; born March 16, 1942), is a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan. He founded and chairs the People First Party, a smaller and more conservative party in the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Pan-Blue Coalition.
Born to a Kuomintang military family of Hunanese origin, Soong began his political career as a Secretary to Premier Chiang Ching-kuo and rose to prominence as Director-General of the Government Information Office from 1979 to 1984. Upon Chiang's death Soong was instrumental in silencing conservatives in the KMT from blocking the ascendancy of Lee Teng-hui as KMT leader. Soong was the only elected governor of Taiwan province from 1994 to 1998. He placed second in the 2000 presidential election; his independent candidacy split the pro-Chinese reunification vote between himself and the KMT candidate Lien Chan leading to the ascendency of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian. In the 2004 presidential election, he ran as vice president on the ticket of KMT chairman Lien Chan; they narrowly lost to Chen Shui-bian.
Soong travelled to the United States for graduate school and received an M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 and an M.S. in library science from The Catholic University of America in 1971. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Georgetown University in 1974.
While at Berkeley, Soong met his future wife Viola Chen (陳萬水). They later had a son and a daughter.
Soon afterwards, President Chiang promoted Soong to become the youngest Director-General of the Government Information Office, in which he served from 1979 to 1984.
Soong established himself as one of the few mainlanders who were also loyal to Lee. In support of Soong, Lee coined the term "New Taiwanese" to describe a person born in mainland China, raised in Taiwan, who calls Taiwan home. Lee moved swiftly to promote Soong to KMT Secretary-General, a position Soong held from 1989 to 1993. In 1993, Lee appointed him Governor of Taiwan Province.
Despite his Mainlander background, Soong proved to be a popular politician among all ethnic groups on Taiwan, in part because he was one of the first KMT politicians to attempt to use the Taiwanese language in political and formal occasions.
After Premier Lien Chan was elected vice president in 1996, the premiership was to be vacated. Soong felt that as Governor of Taiwan, he was the natural successor to Lien, but Lee believed that Soong should serve out his term. Lee appointed Vincent Siew, whom Soong considered a subordinate, and this act led to the split between Soong and Lee.
The position of Governor of Taiwan was eliminated in 1998 following a National Development Council meeting in 1996, when it suggested that the administrative structure of the Taiwanese government be streamlined. Soong and his supporters believe this to have been a political move by Lee to cut off Soong's power base, but proponents of the downsizing called it a pragmatic move to eliminate contradictory administrative territory. Soong tendered his resignation on December 31 of the same year, but Lee did not accept it.
The KMT responded by expelling Soong and his supporters from the party. In the final months leading to the 2000 elections, the KMT, then under Lee Teng-hui's leadership, sued Soong for theft, alleging that as party Secretary-General, he stole millions of Taiwan dollars in cash intended for the family of the late President Chiang Ching-kuo and hid the money in the Chunghsing Bills Finance Company. In defense he stated that the money in those bank accounts was in fact all from the KMT, and he insisted that the money transfer was authorized by then-KMT chairman, Lee Teng-hui. These statements have been substantiated by an internal KMT memo signed by Lee which were published by the court many years later.
The scandal hurt Soong's clean image. Initially leading in the polls, Soong narrowly lost the election with 36.84% of the vote to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party with 39.3%. Lien came in a distant third with only 23.1%. One common belief from the pro-blue camp in Taiwan is that Lee Teng-hui favored the unpopular Vice President Lien Chan over the highly popular Soong in a deliberate effort to sabotage the Kuomintang and was secretly supporting Chen, despite the fact that Lee is supposed to favor Kuomintang's own nominee Lien. Some believe Lee feared Soong would expose the corruption in his administration, and undermine his legacy.
After losing the election, Soong's supporters protested in front of the KMT party headquarters and blockaded the building for a few days. They succeeded in pressuring Lee Teng-hui to resign as KMT Chairman in favor of Lien Chan. Within weeks, Soong and his supporters formed the People First Party (PFP), considered a spin-off from the KMT.
Prosecutors later dropped all charges against Soong in the Chunghsing Scandal. In 2003, the investigation was reopened, with former President Lee (now expelled from the KMT and the "spiritual leader" of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union) testifying against Soong in court. However, with the KMT allied with the People First Party for the 2004 presidential election, the KMT aided Soong in his defense, providing documents signed by Lee. KMT Chairman Lien Chan claimed the KMT was misled into filing the lawsuit against Soong. The KMT dropped the charges and is still trying to collect the money that had been returned and was deposited in the court by Soong.
Soong ran as Vice Presidential candidate under Lien Chan in the 2004 elections. Some believe that the PFP's lack of experienced candidates in the December 2002 mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung (the PFP supported the KMT's candidates), and the PFP's poor performance the city council elections in those cities at the same time were major setbacks to Soong's chances of being the KMT-PFP candidate for president. There were widespread rumors that Soong agreed to take the Vice-Presidential post in exchange for a pledge by Lien to give him significant power including the Premiership. Many KMT members opposed the linkage as they considered Soong an opportunist and traitor. Soong's supporters pointed out that he was more popular than Lien, as consistently demonstrated by polls, and the results of the 2000 presidential elections. Though both men garnered a combined 60% of the vote in 2000 (compared to Chen's 39%) they lost to Chen in 2004 by a mere 0.22% of the vote and never conceded.
In the 2005 KMT chairmanship election, Soong, who retains significant following within the KMT, despite initially instructing party officials not to support either Ma Ying-jeou or Wang Jin-pyng, endorsed Wang at the last minute. The endorsement appeared to backfire, however, as Ma defeated Wang by a rather large margin of 72% to 28%.
On July 22, 2005, Soong, unopposed, was reelected chairman of the PFP.
On November 17, 2005, Soong was awarded NT$10 million in a defamation suit against former President Lee Teng-hui, who had alleged that Soong was playing mahjong while his supporters were protesting on the streets in April 2004. A three-judge panel of the Taipei District Court ruled that Lee must apologize and compensate Soong, saying that Lee's "groundless" remark had damaged Soong's reputation. In addition, the court ordered Lee to publish a half-page apology in major newspapers for three consecutive days.
Soong's whirlwind 9 day, 5 city "Bridge Laying" tour began on May 5, with a trip to the traditional Chinese capital of Xi'an. There, he visited the tomb memorial for the Yellow Emperor, a near-mythical historical figure from whom the Chinese believe they are descended. He then visited Nanjing, the former capital of the Republic of China, where he visited the tomb of ROC founder Sun Yat-sen. After a brief visit to Shanghai, Soong made an emotional return to his ancestral home in Hunan province. Soong and his family visited and honored the grave of his maternal grandmother buried in Xiangtan in a widely televised emotional ceremony. Choosing to appear as familiar as possible to his mainland hosts, Soong spoke his greetings in the local dialect in each of the cities that he visited.
Beyond sentimental visits, the important political aspect of his tour comes from his visit to Beijing. There, he shook hands with the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao and exchanged presents with him; Soong gave Hu a work of glass art from Liuli Gongfang, and received a piece of Jingdezhen pottery from Hu. Soong was only the second major political figure from Taiwan to ever do so. The carefully scripted red-carpet ceremony was identical to the previous greeting for KMT Chairman Lien Chan. The key out-come of the meeting was the publication of a shared political platform between the Communist Party and Soong's People's First Party. Finally, Soong lectured at Tsinghua University, an echo of Lien's lecture at Peking University four weeks prior.
Soong's visit was designed to emphasize his belief in common shared roots for the Chinese people, a reflection of his pro-unification sentiment. He specifically chose to honor the historical ancestor of the Chinese people, the contemporary father of the Republic of China, and then his own direct ancestors in that precise order. His public comments addressed this continuous theme as well, receiving rapturous support from his mainland audience. The political consensus borne of the visit between the PFP and the CPC called for practical actions towards establishing links between Taiwan and mainland China, while firmly resisting Taiwanese independence.
Soong has been a staunch opponent of Taiwan independence. He publicly opposed Taiwanese language education in his early political life and criticized that multi-lingual education would lead to "''Lebanonization of languages''" and create communication chaos in the nation. He also criticized President Chen for staging a referendum. He strongly opposed the major military weapon procurement from the US and actively participated in the anti-weapon-purchase protests. He maintained the purchase would be part of a military race across the strait and would not enhance Taiwan's ability in self-defense. He made these claims while the US government encouraged Taiwan to procure the weapons for self-defense.
His base of support includes strong supporters of Chinese reunification, some rural voters (particularly in northern and eastern Taiwan, who were grateful for the selective economic development undertaken while he was governor) and some urban middle class voters who see him as a cleaner alternative to the KMT. Soong is well known for using his body language, publicly kneeling and shedding tears, as a gesture to plead for constituency support. Though many criticize it as false and histrionic, most of Soong's supporters see it to be candid and sincere. Among his critics, Soong is widely seen as a competent administrator with a sure popular touch, but lacking in any serious political ideology and completely self-serving and corrupt.
;Taipei campaign On Wednesday October 18, 2006 Soong formally announced and registered his candidacy for the Mayoralty of Taipei City, Taiwan's capital and largest city, in the local government elections to be held in December 2006. Soong registered as a "non-partisan" candidate without a party affiliation, declaring that he had taken a leave of absence from his post as Chairman of the PFP.
After his defeat in Taipei Mayoral Election on the 9th of December, 2006, he won only 4% of cast ballots, James Soong announced that he will retire from politics, which entailed giving up the chairmanship of his party, the PFP. With this announcement and with no clear goal, the PFP face an uncertain future which could speed up any merger with the Kuomintang.
;Chen's claims Chen claimed in an interview with a cable TV channel in May 2005 that Soong met Chen Yunlin in the United States in February that year.
Following this claim, on February 15, 2007 Taipei District Court ruled Thursday that President Chen Shui-bian must pay James Soong NT$3 million (US$91,183) in damages and apologize in the top three newspapers for his allegation that Soong met secretly with China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Director Chen Yunlin in 2005. The court said President Chen failed to carry out necessary verification before making his allegation. "The president exercises overall control over the executive sector resources and his responsibility to verify information must be weighted," a court spokesman said.
PFP spokesman Lee Hung-Chun called the judgment "comforting" but said it came too late. "It took more than a year for the first judgment to come out," he said, adding that this meant the public did not get the chance to learn the truth during a time when the political situation was changing rapidly. Chen's counsel said he will appeal to the High Court.
Claiming that his remarks were based on "intelligence," Chen also said Soong promised during the meeting to oppose a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for popular referendums on future constitutional amendments, in exchange for Beijing's approval for Soong to visit China.
Soong filed a defamation suit against Chen in June 2005, demanding a symbolic NT$1 in compensation and a published apology in four major local newspapers for three consecutive days. After Chen repeated his claim in another TV interview in October that same year. Soong later extended his compensation demand to NT$50 million and asked Chen to publish an apology in four internationally famous newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Japan, as well as in three local ones.
According to the written judgment, Chen said that the intelligence about Soong's activity was submitted to him by Bureau of Investigation Director-General Yeh Cherng-maw. However, Yeh told the court that he had warned Chen that the intelligence, some of which he admitted was drawn from media speculation, was difficult to check.
The judgment said that as president, Chen must have understood the weakness of the information and could have ordered the national security system to conduct further verification, but decided not to bother.
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Category:1942 births Category:Leaders of political parties in Taiwan Category:Living people Category:People First Party (Republic of China) politicians Category:Georgetown University Law Center alumni Category:The Catholic University of America alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan Category:People from Xiangtan Category:Republic of China politicians from Hunan Category:Chairpersons of the Taiwan Provincial Government Category:Independent presidential candidates of Taiwan Category:National Chengchi University alumni
zh-min-nan:Sòng Chhó͘-jû id:James Soong ja:宋楚瑜 zh:宋楚瑜This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | Ma Ying-jeou |
---|---|
Office | President of the Republic of China |
Premier | Liu Chao-shiuanWu Den-yih |
Vicepresident | Vincent Siew |
Term start | May 20, 2008 |
Predecessor | Chen Shui-bian |
Office2 | Chairman of the Kuomintang |
Term start2 | October 17, 2009 |
Predecessor2 | Wu Po-hsiung |
Term start3 | July 27, 2005 |
Term end3 | February 13, 2007 |
Predecessor3 | Lien Chan |
Successor3 | Wu Po-hsiung |
Office4 | Mayor of Taipei |
Term start4 | December 25, 1998 |
Term end4 | December 25, 2006 |
Predecessor4 | Chen Shui-bian |
Successor4 | Hau Lung-pin |
Birth date | July 13, 1950 |
Birth place | Kwong Wah Hospital, Yau Ma Tei, British Hong Kong |
Nationality | |
Party | Kuomintang |
Alma mater | National Taiwan UniversityNew York University School of LawHarvard Law School |
Spouse | Christine Chow |
Website | Official website }} |
Ma earned his LL.B. from National Taiwan University in 1972. He pursued further studies in the United States, first earning an LL.M. from New York University Law School in 1976 and then an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1981.
After receiving his LL.M., Ma worked as an associate for a Wall Street law firm in New York and as a legal consultant for a major bank in Massachusetts before completing his doctoral studies. In 1981, Ma returned to Taiwan and started working for President Chiang Ching-kuo.
Ma is married to Christine Chow, and the couple has two daughters. Lesley (Ma Wei-chung, 馬唯中) was born in 1981 in New York when Ma was attending Harvard. She completed her undergraduate studies in life sciences at Harvard University and then her graduate studies at New York University. Ma's younger daughter is Kelly (Ma Yuan-chung, 馬元中), who was born in Taiwan and completed her undergraduate studies at Brown University in Rhode Island.
As a youth, Ma was baptized as a Roman Catholic, but is considered a "lapsed Catholic" today, as he is not in regular communion with the Church. After winning the presidential election, Ma received congratulations from Pope Benedict XVI.
Ma and his wife sponsor children of low-income families in El Salvador through World Vision. On an official trip to Central America in June 2009, Mrs. Ma was able to meet with one of her sponsored children, an 11-year-old boy in San Salvador.
Chai also noted that First Lady Christine Chow's birthplace was listed as "Nanking, China," even though she is listed as also being born in Hong Kong.
Chai continue to charges that, since Ma was born after 1949 and in Shenzhen, he is legally a citizen of the People's Republic of China. Presidential Spokesperson Yu-chi Wang (王郁琦) responded to Legislator Chai's charges by reaffirming that all information from the President's Office regarding the President's birth is accurate. Wang also informed that Ma, on his December 11 visit to Hong Kong, was able to obtain records of his birth at Kowloon's Kwong-Wah Hospital and Ma also keeps the original of his birth certificate issued by the Registrar General of Hong Kong, thereby confirming once again his birth in the former British colony instead of the Communist state. Copies of Ma's birth certificate have also been previously shown to the public. Wang also dispelled rumors that Ma had received affirmative action in his applications to Jianguo High School (建國高級中學) and the National Taiwan University with an "overseas Chinese" status.
Ma was deputy secretary-general of the KMT from 1984 to 1988, also serving for a period as deputy of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), a cabinet-level body in charge of cross-straits relations. President Lee Teng-hui appointed him ROC Justice Minister in 1993. Ma was relieved of his post in 1996. His supporters claim that firing was caused by his efforts at fighting corruption among politicians and the police. Despite his efforts at anti-corruption, he remained a supporter of the Kuomintang, rather than supporting the New Party formed by KMT supporters who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. Ma returned to academia and most people at the time believed his political career to have effectively ended.
Ma was able to repair the political damage and, in December 2002, became the leading figure in the KMT by easily winning reelection as mayor of Taipei with the support of 64% of Taipei voters while DPP challenger Lee Ying-yuan received 36%. His solid victory, especially in light of opposition from both President Chen and former President and KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui, led many to speculate about his chances as the KMT candidate for the 2004 presidential elections, although nothing came of it.
Ma again dissuaded angry Pan-Blue supporters from protesting, following the very close re-election victory of President Chen in 2004 after the 3-19 shooting incident. Ma chose not to join in calls to challenge or contest the election. Ma also avoided associating himself with claims that the assassination was staged.
Ma suffered some political damage as a result of the SARS epidemic in early 2003 and was criticized for not mobilizing the Taipei city government quickly enough and for keeping Chiu Shu-ti, the public health director, who was previously criticized for her lack of concern for the outbreak. Flooding in metropolitan Taipei in 2004 also led to public questioning of his leadership and caused Ma's approval rating to slide.
During his time as Taipei's mayor, Ma had many conflicts with the central government over matters such as health insurance rates and control of the water supply during the drought. Ma also was implicated in a scandal of Taipei Bank stock releases in 2003. However, the case was dismissed after an investigation by the Taipei prosecutor. He was strongly criticized by the DPP for not allowing the ROC national flag to be flown along with a PRC flag during Asian Women's Football Championship held in Taipei. Ma responded that he was merely following Olympic protocol, which only officially recognizes the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag and forbids ROC national flags from being shown in an Olympic Game Stadium.
His initiatives in administering the city of Taipei include changing the transliterations of street names and the line and stations of the Taipei Metro to Hanyu Pinyin, as opposed to Tongyong Pinyin. Ma has expressed mild support for Chinese reunification and opposition to Taiwan independence. He opposed the 2004 referendum, which had been widely criticized by the U.S. and PRC. Nevertheless, his opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, while other leaders of his party remained silent on the issue, led to him being banned from visiting Hong Kong to make a public speaking tour in 2005. He also criticized the PRC for the Tian'anmen crackdown.
Ma's cross-political following has led some to note him as a rare example of relative civility in the notoriously rough and tumble world of Taiwanese politics. Ma has generally avoided being accused of using the vitriolic and sometimes offensive rhetoric common in Taiwanese political debate. His academic background and bearing have helped cultivate the image of Ma as an honest, dispassionate technocrat. Despite this reputation, and his wooden speaking style and shy demeanor, Ma is also considered a charismatic figure and is popular among women and youth. On the other hand, Ma's critics claim that Ma, overeager to appear unbiased and/or neutral, is overly indecisive and lacks bold vision. Ma is often accused of avoiding being out in front on some of the more vigorous or controversial criticisms of President Chen or opposing parties, or involving himself in intra-party disputes. Among these critics, Ma has been referred to as a "non-stick pan" or "Teflon-man." Recently, there has also been some criticism of his stumping for election candidates suspected of and later indicted for corruption charges. Many in the Pan-Green Coalition expressed opinions that Ma misled voters by lending his clean charismatic image to unscrupulous candidates in his own party.
In recent years, Ma has increasingly employed Taiwanese (Hoklo) in public speaking, perhaps to avoid backlash for his parents' mainland China origins, and he has called himself a "child of Bangka (Wanhua)", identifying himself with the historic district of Taipei where he grew up. Others claim that Ma's mainland Chinese ancestry will further alienate members of the KMT who are "light-blue" vs. the pro-unification "deep-blue."
One of Ma's most satisfactory mayoral construction was the Maokong Gondola. However, the frequent breakdown of the gondola earned the residents' distrust of the new transportation system. One poll showed only 14% of the Taipei City residents were satisfied with it, and it even led to protests. The Taiwan Environmental Information Center (台灣環境資訊協會) states that the choice to use a gondola intended for temperate zones in a tropical zone shows the failure of the Taipei City government led by Ma.
At the same time, rumors surfaced that former party chairman Lien Chen would run in the presidential election of 2008. The incident may have affected the clean image of Ma and his political future. The next day, Ma admitted one of his aides forged receipts to claim Ma's expenses as Taipei mayor, and apologized for the latest political scandal. However, Ma argued that he, like most other government officials, regarded the special expense account as supplemental salary for personal expenses undertaken in the course of official duties and that his use of this account was legal.
On February 13, 2007, Ma was indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of allegedly embezzling approximately NT$11 million (US$339,000), regarding the issue of "special expenses" while he was mayor of Taipei. The prosecutor's office said that Ma had allegedly used government funds for personal use, such as paying for one of his daughter's living expenses while studying abroad and paying for his household utilities. Before that, Ma had admitted personal usage and claims that the special funds were simply a part of his salary but had used all funds for public use or public benefit (charity donations).
Shortly after the indictment, he submitted his resignation as chairman of the Kuomintang in accordance with party rules which prohibit an indicted person from serving as KMT chairman The resignation was initially rejected but then accepted by the party's Central Standing Committee before amending a clause that barred members from running for office if charged with a crime. Shortly after the resignation, however, Ma announced his presidential candidacy.
On August 14, 2007, the Taipei District Count found Ma not guilty of corruption. Ma's defense is that he viewed "Special Expenses" as essentially "Special Allowance", originally designed to compensate for mayor's "social spending" without actually raising salary. On December 28, 2007, the Taiwan High Court found Ma again not guilty of graft charges.
On April 24, 2008, The Supreme Court cleared Ma of corruption charges, delivering a final ruling in this matter before his inauguration on May 20, 2008. The island's highest court said Ma had neither collected illegal income nor tried to break the law. Ma's secretary, however, was found guilty and faced a year in prison for his own failures in administrative duties.
Led by Ma Ying-jeou, the Kuomintang made a resounding win in the three-in-one election held on December 3, 2005. The KMT gained six more seats in the mayoral/magistratical race, from eight seats in the last election, to a total of fourteen seats. Before the election, Ma swore that he would quit the chairmanship if his party could not win over half of the seats, which was a first for a KMT chairman. It was a decisive win for Ma Ying-jeou as well, since he took over the party chairmanship only 110 days before. In the election, the KMT won back the counties of Taipei and Yilan, and the city of Chiayi, which had been the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s strongholds for over twenty years. It was the first time in many years that the KMT regained popularity as far south as Cho-Shui River (Zhuo-Shui River). Repeating his famous quote, Ma said, "we should only be excited about it for one evening."
Ma led a visit to India and Singapore in June 2007 to increase bilateral exchanges as well as to gain legitimacy and experience for his 2008 presidential bid.
Ma's vice-presidential running mate was former premier Vincent Siew, Lien Chan's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
During a campaigning event in an aboriginal community, Ma made a controversial remark. Responding to a question from an aboriginal woman, Ma said, "If you come into the city, you are a Taipei citizen... Aborigines should adjust their mentality -- if you come into the city you have to play by its rules." This statement was thought to be extremely inappropriate.
A week before the presidential election, incumbent President Chen Shui-bian vowed to quit if Ma could provide legal documents of the invalidation of his green card. The DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh also said that he was willing to withdraw from the race if Ma could prove, using official documents, that his green card was invalidated twenty years ago. Ma responded the next day to the president that he should work on improving Taiwan's economy instead of caring about the election so much; earlier, Ma also provided copies of US non-immigrant visas issued to him during the 1980s and 1990s, claiming the card was invalid, as such visas are not issued to green card holders.
During his presidential campaign, Ma participated in one of the debates that discussed many topics, including environmental protection. The Taiwan Academy of Ecology evaluated the policies of both candidates Hsieh and Ma, and the secretary of its workstation in Taipei said that both candidates failed their expectations, but they had more hope for Hsieh than Ma because Ma's environmental concepts lack considerations of reality. In February 2008, several environmental groups created a list of commitments for the two candidates to sign. DPP candidate Frank Hsieh agreed to all the items on the list and signed it in March. Ma did not and emailed the group instead. The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) criticized Ma for ignoring important issues and not having the guts to sign the commitments.
After Ma was elected president on March 22, 2008, the Green Party Taiwan expressed its fear that president-elect Ma would focus too much on improving the economy and would ignore many critical environmental issues. The head of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation also emphasized the importance of environmental protection as one of the factors of economic development.
style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;" rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
President | |||||
Ma took office on May 20, 2008. The inaugural ceremony took place in the Taipei Arena in Taipei. A state dinner took place in Kaohsiung the same day.
Ma was named among the 2008 Time 100 in its "Leaders & Revolutionaries" section. He is described by ''Time'' as "one of those rare politicians who have an opportunity to shape the destiny not only of their own nation but also of an entire region."
On August 12, 2008, Ma embarked on his first foreign trip as President. Ma's visit centered upon improving relations with Taiwan's Latin American allies. He attended the inaugurations of both Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay. Ma also made a stop at Panama and met with President Martin Torrijos. There was an emphasis that there would be no new aid packages during the visits; if any new economic aid were to be announced, they would be announced from Taiwan and not from abroad. The trip included U.S. stop-overs in Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco. Ma's trip across the Pacific was via commercial flight and only chartered a smaller jet from the United States; he was accompanied by an 81-member delegation.
An article published in the August 11, 2008 edition of ''Time Magazine'' said that in less than three months' time, "relations between Taiwan and PRC have arguably seen the most rapid advancement in the six-decade standoff between the two governments. Ma launched direct weekend charter flights between PRC and Taiwan for the first time, opened Taiwan to mainland Chinese tourists, eased restrictions on Taiwan investment in mainland China and approved measures that will allow mainland Chinese investors to buy Taiwan stocks." He has also loosened bans on "Chinese brides," leading to social unrest over Chinese women who marry old veterans but file for divorce after they obtain citizenship.
Ahead of a visit by Chen Yunlin on November 3, 2008, chairman of the Beijing-based the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARAT), the opposition Pan-Green Coalition criticized the visit as "taking steps toward eventual reunification" and damaging Taiwan's sovereignty. Opposition to the visit by the chairman of the ARAT also sparked massive peaceful rallies and protests organised by the opposition DPP party on October 25, 2008. Preliminary estimates place the number of protesters at around 500,000. Protesters accused Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou "of making too many concessions and moving too fast in relaxing restrictions on trade and investment with China." Government's polls have suggested that Chen Yunlin's visit and the government's policy of normalising cross-strait relations have support of 50% to 60% of the Taiwanese population. However, many have questioned the validility of such polls.
Chen's visit was the highest level visit from China to Taiwan that had taken place since the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Chen was expected to meet with his Taipei-based counterpart, Chiang Pin-kung beginning on November 4, 2008. The two sides signed four agreements on November 5, detailing the loosening of restrictions with regards to air, marine, and postal links as well as better regulations on food safety. The Ma government refused to disclose the treaties only until days before they went into effect.
During Chen's visit in Taipei, he was met with a series of strong protests directed at himself and Ma Ying-jeou, some of which were violent, with Molotov cocktails being thrown by the protesters at riot police. A series of arrests were made after the protests, with a secret letter being sent from the police to a member of the media. Local police reported that 149 of its officers were injured during the opposition protests. Chen referred to Ma simply as "Mr. Ma," not as "President". However, this is consistent with the previous convention in 2008, when KMT ex-politician Lien Chan met Hu Jintao in Peru. Lien did not call the PRC President Hu Jintao "President," but instead used his title "General Secretary" as the head of the Chinese Communist Party.
Overall, the Chen visit was seen as a test for Ma's commitment to keep Taiwan a sovereign nation and many critics have reason to believe he failed dismally. First, national flags were ordered to be taken away in all places that Chen set foot on. Footage of an officer violently tearing a flag on a highway overhead was disclosed by the media. Second, Ma allowed Chen to refer to him as "you" or "Mr. Ma," but did not mention the words "president" or "country." Third, Ma ordered massive crackdowns on peaceful protestors, including students, senior citizens, and women, leading to the most violent police assault since Taiwan embraced full democracy.
After the chaos during and after Chen's visit, college students and professors launched a peaceful sitout, known as the Wild Strawberry student movement (Chinese: 野草莓運動), demanding a more reasonable assembly law and a stop to police violence. A few days into the sitout, the prime minister Liu Chao-shiuan accidentally spoke of his opinion during an interview on air that he did not think the movement would last more than three days, angering students, professors, and the general public. In the end, the sitout lasted one month. Then, it moved into an organizational direction. However, the polls in two of Taiwan's biggest newspapers after the visit still reported that about 70% of the Taiwanese public considered Chen's visit to have a positive effect on Taiwan's development, while 22% of the respondents thought the effect would be negative, with the remaining 8% not expressing an opinion. The opposition Pan-Green caucus have continuously claimed this result being a form of media manipulation by the KMT. However, other major polls in Taiwanese newspapers and news websites have shown similar results regardless of political alignment.
In early September, Ma, in an interview with a Mexican newspaper, admitted that he would not be able to achieve his "633 Plan" promises before the end of his first term.
The economic downturn caused about 2,000 companies in Taiwan to go bankrupt in the six months following Ma's inauguration, according to a governmental commercial office in Taipei. The Taiwan Stock Exchange also fell to two-year lows in September 2008., hoping that closer economic cooperation and relationship with the mainland would save Taiwan's economy from moving closer into default.
On September 11, 2008, Ma's cabinet unveiled a $5.6-billion USD ($180-billion TWD) economic stimulus package. Among the items of the package were infrastructure projects, economic incentives to small businesses, and other tax cuts. Stock transaction taxes were also halved for the next six months. Taiwan's economy was projected to grow 4.3% in 2008, down from 5.7 in 2007, according to Fitch Ratings.
Although an economic stimulus plan was introduced, Taiwan stocks still closed lower on September 11, 2008. The Financial Times describes Taiwan's economic downturn as results from "downward pressure driven by global factors." Analysts also point out that, "during its first 100 days in office, the government has made a series of bold steps to deregulate economic ties between Taiwan and China. But as these policies coincided with the global downturn and foreign investors had already bought Taiwan stocks heavily before the election, betting on the reforms, the island's market has seen a sell-off worse than the regional average." Taiwan's government reported that the economy slumped 8.36 percent during the last three months of 2008.
Taiwan's economy has experienced significant growth since then, growing 10% in 2010, due to strong demand from China and tourism from China.
Shipping companies, because of shorter voyages and time-savings, can also save up to US$120 million (TWD $4 billion) each year. Previously, shipping companies from both sides of the strait were required to reroute their ships into third-country waters. The two sides also agreed that neither the ROC nor the PRC flag will be displayed when a ship enters port.
In July 2009, Ma refused to open airspace of the Taiwan Strait to accommodate higher passenger traffic, citing the Taiwan Strait airspace's importance to Taiwan's security.
After thorough criticism, Ma was forced to apologize publicly for his government's failure to respond swifter with rescue and recovery efforts. Ma has cancelled 2009's Double Ten Day national celebrations and his state visit to the Solomon Islands for the Third Taiwan-South Pacific summit. A probe was launched to investigate why government response was slow and inadequate, and vice foreign minister Andrew Hsia tendered his resignation to Ma's premier, Liu Chao-shiuan. On September 10, Liu and the rest of cabinet resigned en masse under pressure.
Another scandal in the disaster's aftermath involved a document leaked from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refusing aid from all foreign nations, while contemplating receiving aid from China. Vice Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia made an unconvincing explanation, saying that it was meant to say "temporarily" refuse aid, but nevertheless took the blame and offered to resign. However, critics are convinced that Hsia's resignation was only part of the cover-up and believe that Ma gave the order.
Ma clarified later that the current KMT policy of retaining the status quo has not changed and has reiterated this position several times; further, he has also reiterated his party's support of the one-China policy. Ma has defined the status quo as the "Five No's." During a visit to the United States in March 2006, he proposed a "proactive" approach to cross-strait relations which he called the "Five Do's."
On March 17, 2008, Ma threatened to boycott the Beijing Olympics if elected, should the 2008 unrest in Tibet spiral out of control. After he was elected president, he refused to let the Dalai Lama visit Taiwan, citing the timing as inappropriate, but approved a later visit for the Dalai Lama in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot in August 2009.
In April 2009, President Ma made himself the first ROC president to pay homage in person to the legendary Yellow Emperor, believed to have founded China as a nation more than 5,000 years ago. Accompanied by all his government leaders, the president sang the ROC's national anthem as the starter. Ma then burned joss sticks, laid a wreath, and offered fruit, cloth, and wine to the mythological national founder. He read a eulogy before he concluded the rites by bowing three times to the west, where the Chinese mainland is located. Ma's spokesman said the president wanted to pay his respects to the Yellow Emperor on National Tomb-Sweeping Day in person to stress the importance of China's ancestor-worshipping tradition. However, others saw the precedent-making ceremonies at the Martyrs' Shrine as meant to be a show by President Ma of his unprofessed commitment to maintain a close relationship between Taiwan and mainland China.
Since then, Ma Ying-jeou has repeatedly mentioned the "1992 Consensus" as the existing basis for constructive dialogue and exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan. On 12 April 2008, then Vice-President-elect Vincent Siew formally met with Hu Jintao at the Boao Forum in Hainan, China.
On September 2, 2008, Ma declared that the relations between Taiwan and mainland China were "special", but "not between two states", meaning that they are relations based on two areas of one state. Taiwan considers that state as the Republic of China, while mainland China considers that state as the People's Republic of China. While the governing authorities on mainland China and Taiwan cannot recognise each other as a legitimate government due to legal and constitutional reasons, Ma seeks that they would refrain from denying the other side being the ''de facto'' governing authority of one area of the state. On October 18, 2008, Ma said he hoped that a cross-strait peace accord could be reached during his term in office.
Ma has received criticism from the DPP, the opposition party, for praising the PRC on human rights, especially during the 20-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests. Departing from his usual critical view of the mainland China's handling of the 1989 protests, Ma made a statement praising the PRC for its recent improvements in human rights. That same day, he also asked the PRC government to face its history directly and honestly.
Within a week of his remarks on Tiananmen, Ma voiced support for the acceptance of Simplified Chinese for written text and the continued use of Traditional Chinese for printed text. Ma had to clarify his remarks regarding simplified characters at in a 15-minute speech before the sixth International Conference on Internet Chinese Education on June 19, 2009. Ma reiterated his policy of urging the Chinese to learn the traditional system; his previous call was for the ability of Taiwan's population to recognize simplified characters and not for simplified characters to supplant the traditional system in Taiwan.
In 2009, Ma spoke at a leadership conference in Taipei and called for peace with Beijing and for Taiwan's greater participation in international affairs. He said: "The Chinese civil war of the 1940s must never happen again. Peace never comes easily, because over 1,000 missiles deployed by Beijing are still aimed at Taiwan.”
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Category:1950 births Category:Presidents of the Republic of China on Taiwan Category:Current national leaders Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Living people Category:Mayors of Taipei Category:Kuomingtang presidential nominees Category:National Taiwan University alumni Category:New York University alumni Category:Taiwanese Hakka people Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:Taiwanese Ministers of Justice Category:Chairpersons of the Kuomintang
ar:ما يينغ جيو zh-min-nan:Má Eng-kiú ca:Ma Ying-jeou da:Ma Ying-jeou de:Ma Ying-jeou et:Ma Yingjiu el:Μα Γινγκ-Τζέου es:Ma Ying-jeou eo:Ma Ying-jeou fr:Ma Ying-jeou gl:Ma Ying-jeou gan:馬英九 hak:Mâ Yîn-kiú ko:마잉주 io:Ma Ying-jeou id:Ma Ying-jeou it:Ma Ying-jeou hu:Ma Jing-csiu ms:Ma Ying-jeou my:မာရင်းကျို nl:Ma Ying-jeou ja:馬英九 no:Ma Ying-jeou oc:Ma Ying-jeou pl:Ma Ying-jeou pt:Ma Ying-jeou ru:Ма Инцзю fi:Ma Ying-jeou sv:Ma Ying-jeou tr:Ma Ying-jeou ug:ما يىنجىئۇ vi:Mã Anh Cửu war:Ma Ying-jeou yo:Ma Ying-jeou zh-yue:馬英九 zh:馬英九This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | Leon Lai BBS, MH |
---|---|
Chinesename | 黎明 |
Pinyinchinesename | Lí Míng |
Jyutpingchinesename | Lai4 ming4 |
Birth name | Lai Chit (黎捷) |
Ancestry | Meixian, Guangdong, China |
Origin | Hong Kong |
Birth date | December 11, 1966 |
Birth place | Beijing, China |
Occupation | Singer, Actor, Record Company Manager |
Genre | Cantopop, Mandopop |
Instrument | Singing |
Label | 1990 - 1998 PolyGram1998 - 2004 Sony Music2004 -Amusic |
Yearsactive | 1986 - Present |
Spouse | Gaile Lok |
Website | www.amusic.hk |
Hongkongfilmwards | Best Original Film Song1999 ''City of Glass'' |
Goldenhorseawards | Best Original Song1997 ''Eighteen Springs''Best Actor2002 ''Three Going Home'' |
Ntsawards | 1986 Second Runner-Up |
Alma mater | }} |
Together with Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok, Lai was among the four most popular male singers during the 1990s, when the media referred to them as Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings ().
In the early stages of his career, he mainly sang cantopop, but due to the influence of producer Mark Lui, he expanded his repertoire to include popular electronic songs with compelling music videos. In 1990 he won his first 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He also followed up to win the "Most Popular Male Singer" award in 1993 and 1995 for TVB Jade Solid Gold. In 1996, he collaborated with composer-producer Steve Barakatt on his album "Feel". Two years later in 1998, he became the first HK singer to reach the Top 10 K-pop chart with the song "After loving you". In 1999 he announced that he would no longer accept any more awards in Hong Kong.
In 2002 he was selected to sing "Charged up", the 2002 FIFA World Cup theme song for the Greater China region. In 2004 he became the first Hong Kong singer to represent the territory at the first Asia Song Festival held in South Korea.
Lai was selected to be the ambassador of the 6th Winter Asian Games to be held Changchun in 2007. He sang the Games' theme song and took part in the torch relay. He then joined Michael Wong and Janice Vidal held a three day "Magic Live" charity concert at Star Hall, Hong Kong from 9th Nov to 11th Nov, 2008.
In order to bring in new excitements for his music, Lai invited a famous music producer Jonathan Lee from Taiwan in 2005 to produce his new mandarin album "A Story". However, by doing so he had to give up the opportunity for a lead role in a big budget Taiwan movie "Gui Si" due to conflicts in his schedules.
Lai returned to the Hong Kong Coliseum on April 13, 2007 to perform in his one night only ''Leon 4 in Love Concert'' where he performed not only his own hits but also hits of the other three heavenly kings. He performed a total of 18 songs, all of which are newly arranged by Mark Lui. He subsequently released an album titled "4 In Love" on May 3, 2007, comprising 16 of the 18 songs he had performed in the concert.
After the New Talent Singing Awards, he had some opportunities to star in a few TV series. On one occasion, he went for filming of a romantic serials titled, ''Fengyun era'', in Taiwan. There was a stark contrast in height between Lai and the popular lead actress who is only 160 cm in height. The actress then demanded that Lai squatted while filming so as to make up for the height differences. Lai had to act through all the scenes with the actress while squatting but he had to endure it as he was not popular at the time. Not long afterwards his new TVB series, ''The Breaking Point (1991 TV series)'' turned out to be a resounding success and propelled him to widespread fame in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In 1996 Lai was nominated for the ''Best Actor'' award at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the film ''Comrades: Almost a Love Story''. The next year in 1997, he managed to win the award for ''Best Original Song'' for the film ''Eighteen Springs'' both at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards. He was again nominated for the ''Best Actor'' and ''Best Original Film Song'' award for the film ''City of Glass'' in 1999, but he only managed to win the award for ''Best Original Film Song'' which he shared with Albert Leung and Dick Lee.
Lai was considered by Lee Ang to act as ''Li Mu Bai'' in the film ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'', however he had to turn down the offer as he had advertising contract and live concert about to start which would not match his shaven head as was required for the role.
He collaborated with Cecilia Cheung in 2001 for the first time in the Wong Jing directed romantic comedy film, ''Everyday Is Valentine''. In the film, Lai played a serial liar.
In 2002 Lai took the spotlight at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language version of the Oscars in Taiwan. He won ''Best Actor'' for ''Three: Going Home''. Lai played a minor role as ''Superintendent Yeung Kam Wing'' in ''Infernal Affairs III'' in 2003. In 2004 Lai starred with Faye Wong in the romantic movie ''Leaving Me, Loving You'', the story of which he co-wrote with Wilson Yip and he was also the creative/production controller of the movie. However, the movie was a flop raking in HK$ 10,529,501 in the box office. Still in that same year he was ranked 8th on the China Celebrity 100 list released by the Chinese edition of Forbes.
In 2005 Lai acted as one of the seven warriors in the Tsui Hark directed wuxia film, ''Seven Swords''. In the same year in the film ''Moonlight in Tokyo'', Lai unexpectedly acted as a Chinese retard who pretend to be a Korean gigolo in Japan and thus shedding his idol image. He won the ''Golden Deer Best Actor Award'' from Changchun China Film Festival for his portrayal in ''Leaving Me, Loving You'' in 2005.
In 2006 Lai starred alongside Fan Bingbing and Rene Liu in a love and horror, thriller film titled ''The Matrimony'' where he played a cinematographer ''Shen Junchu'', the love interest of ''Manli'' and ''Sansan''. ''JunChu'' was pressurised into marrying ''Sansan'' after the untimely demise of his true love ''Manli'' in an accident. The film was released on 8 February 2007. In the same year, Lai wrote and directed a musical film titled ''A Melody Looking'' which was shot in New York. It features Lai and the rest of the Amusic family of singers namely Janice, Jill, Emily, Charles and Chapman. This film marks his debut as a director.
In 2007 Lai starred alongside Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen and Guo Xiaodong in the Ching Siu-tung film An Empress and the Warriors. He acted as a woodland medicine man whom have a romantic relationship with a princess. Lai and Kelly Chen sang the theme song, "''Fly With Your Dreams''" written by Albert Leung and composed by Mark Lui.
He underwent training in Peking Opera for playing the lead role as ''Méi Lánfāng'' in the biographical film ''Forever Enthralled'' which was directed by Chen Kaige. He directed the music video for the film where he and Zhang Ziyi sang the theme song, "You Understand My Love". For the first time in his career, Lai played the role of a beggar in the Peter Chan directed film ''Bodyguards and Assassins''. For his success a wax figure of Lai was revealed at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.
Lai's first work with UNICEF in a China polio eradication project in 1993. He managed to raise substantial funds accruing from his supporters, fans and concert ticket sales. In July 1994, he was appointed the International UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and thus becoming the first Hong Kong citizen to be given this position. Since the year 1994, he has been involved in various fund raising activities of The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU). These activities include seven charity concerts, three charity chocolate sales and charity walkathon. Lai, along with HKCU representatives, visited Rwanda, Gansu of China and Brazil to study the work of UNICEF and to help promote public awareness to help children". In December 1995, he was appointed as "UNICEF Special Representative to Youth" at in the New York headquarters recognizing his contributions for the welfare of the children.
Lai have also been elected as one of The Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in 1997, giving him a formal recognition of his professional endeavours and commitment to the community. He bought the first donation ticket, numbered 000001 at a "Children's Education Fund Raising Campaign" launch event at Tsuen Wan PARKnSHOP's Skyline Superstore in 2001 to encourage people to contribute to a meaningful social cause. The funds raised was donated to the Community Chest.
He was awarded the Medal of Honour (M.H.) on 12 October 2003 by Tung Chee-Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Ever since his decision not to receive any music award in HK, he has not appeared on the TVB Jade Gold Solid Awards ceremony even as a guest, but in order to secure more funds for charity, he agreed to perform in the ceremony as a guest performer on 8 Jan 2005. On 13 May of the same year, Lai co-operated with Mark Lui to compose the song "8858". The song will be used as the promotional song of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF). The title of song means "Help me (sounded like 'bang bang wo ba' in Putonghua)" and the number "8858" represent the SMS number people can use to donate the money. In a surprising move in Dec 2005, Lai appeared in a Hong Kong government television advertisement requesting the public to support a gradual political reform package tabled by the ruling government rather than asked for rapid political reform. This marks the first time he got himself involved in a politically motivated advertisement.
!Year !!Date!!Title !!Chinese Title !!No. of Shows!!Sponsor | |||||
2009 | 16 July - 19 July| | Leon Dream Wedding Live | 4 | Chow Tai Fook | |
2007 | 13 Apr| | Leon 4 in Love Concert | 1 | 3 (telecommunications)>3 | |
2005 | 10 Oct - 15 Oct| | Leon Crazy Classic Concert | 6 | Johnnie Walker Black Label | |
2001 | 14-16; 21-25; 28-31 Dec| | Leon Live Is Live Concert | 12 | CitiBank | |
1999 | 20 Nov - 12 Dec| | Leon Live 99 | 23 | AXA | |
1997-98 | 20 Dec - 8 Jan| | Leon Lai Live 97 | 20 | G Sushi 元祿壽司 | |
1995 | 2 Nov - 27 Nov| | Neon Leon Live 95 | 那一夜我們在霓虹下起舞 | 26 | Hang Seng Bank Credit Card |
1993 | 8 Aug - 25 Aug| | Summer of Love Concert | 夏日傾情演唱會 | 20 | Saab |
1992 | 7 Oct - 14 Oct| | Night Devotion Live # | 一夜傾情演唱會 | 10 | Kao |
Total | | | 122 |
(Note: # indicate literal translation)
Source:
Ads !! Song | |
2005 | Live 3” TV commercial series – “Sharing” |
1999 | Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited>Hutchison Orange dual band network |
1998 | Hutchison new line-Tianshan article |
1998 | Airport Express Line |
1998 | Hutchison new line-Xueshan article |
1998 | Hutchison new line |
1997 | Hutchison GSM Mobile |
Year | Single | Peak positions | ||||
RTHK Chinese Pop | CTHK Ultimate 903 | Metro Radio Pop Chart | JSG Billboard | UFO Mandarin Pop | ||
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Year | Album | HMV Sales Chart | |
! Peak positions | ! No. of Weeks in Top 20 | ||
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+ IFPI | Year !! Awards !! Albums | |
IFPI HK Top 10 Sales Album | Leon Club Sandwich | |
IFPI HK Top 10 Sales Mandarin Album | The Red Shoes | |
IFPI HK Top Sales Male Artist | ||
1998 | IFPI HK Platinum Disc | |
rowspan="4" | 1997 | IFPI HK Platinum Disc |
IFPI HK Platinum Disc | Feel | |
IFPI HK Gold Disc | Leon's … | |
IFPI HK Gold Disc | Leon Sound | |
Total |
+ Commercial Radio !Year ! | Awards !! Songs | |
Best Male Artist:Silver | ||
Favorite Male Artist | ||
No.3 professional recommendation | Jin Shen Bu Zai | |
Best Co-operation | Leon Lai and Hutchison Telecom | |
rowspan="5" | 1997 | Best Male Artist:Gold |
Favorite Male Artist | ||
Top 10 Songs professional recommendation | Only if you love me for a day | |
Favorite Song | Only if you love me for a day | |
10th anniversary Top 10 Artists | ||
rowspan="3" | 1996 | Best Male Artist:Gold |
Best Ads Song | Unspoken words of sentiment | |
Four Media IFPI Top award | Perhaps | |
rowspan="2" | 1995 | Best Male Artist:Bronze |
Top 10 Songs professional recommendation | Danger tracking | |
rowspan="5" | 1994 | Most Played Artist:Bronze |
Top 10 Songs | Not one day I don't think of you | |
Favorite Song | Not one day I don't think of you | |
Most Favorite Live Performance | Not one day I don't think of you | |
Top Composed Song | Not one day I don't think of you | |
rowspan="2" | 1993 | Best Male Artist:Bronze |
Favorite Songs | Not willing to leave you tonightSummer DevotionSummer is burning | |
rowspan="2" | 1992 | Most Played Artist:Bronze |
Favorite Song | My LoveWish We Are Not Just Friend | |
1991 | Most Played Artist:Bronze | |
1990 | Most Played Artist:Silver | |
Total |
Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong Buddhists Category:Hong Kong actors Category:Hong Kong male singers Category:Cantopop singers Category:People from Beijing Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:Hong Kong people of Malaysian descent Category:Cantonese people Category:New Talent Singing Awards contestants Category:Japanese-language singers Category:Hong Kong Mandopop singers
fr:Leon Lai ko:여명 (1966년) it:Leon Lai ja:レオン・ライ th:หลี่หมิง vi:Lê Minh zh-yue:黎明 zh:黎明This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | Aaron Kwok |
---|---|
Tradchinesename | 郭富城 |
Pinyinchinesename | Guō Fùchéng |
Jyutpingchinesename | Gwok3 Fu3 Sing4 |
Birth name | Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (郭富城) |
Ancestry | Dongguan, Guangdong, China |
Origin | Hong Kong |
Birth date | October 26, 1965 |
Birth place | Hong Kong |
Othername | Kwok Fu-shing |
Occupation | Singer, Actor |
Genre | Cantopop, dance |
Instrument | Vocals |
Label | Warner Music Group; MusicNation-HK |
Yearsactive | 1987-present |
Influences | Michael Jackson |
Website | AaronKwokOnline.com |
Goldenhorseawards | Best Actor2005 ''Divergence''2006 ''After This Our Exile'' |
Awards | }} |
He also starred in various movies. At the Taiwan's 42nd Golden Horse Awards ceremony on 13 November 2005, Kwok was the surprise winner of Best Leading Actor award for his role in the film ''Divergence''. It was Kwok's first Golden Horse nomination and beat veteran Hong Kong star Tony Leung Ka-fai to win the honour. He again won the Best Actor Award again at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards on 24 November 2006 for his role in the film ''After This Our Exile''. He became only the second actor in the history of the Golden Horse Awards to win the Best Actor Award consecutively. Jackie Chan first accomplished this back in the 1992-3.
Along with Zhang Ziyi, Kwok stars in an AIDS-themed film ''Love for Life'', which premiered on 10 May 2011.
He is known as a car fanatic and has a large collection of notable cars. Some of his collection include the Ferrari F50, F512M, F355 GTS, F360 Modena, Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Diablo SE30, Mercedes-Benz SL600, Mercedes CLK DTM, Porsche 911 Turbo. Other cars include the Enzo Ferrari, a Carbon version Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Reventon Roadster, Lamborghini Murciélago, Gallardo, Porsche 996 GT3, Nissan GTR.
Category:Hong Kong film actors Category:Hong Kong male singers Category:Hong Kong singers Category:Cantonese-language singers Category:Cantopop singers Category:Hong Kong Mandopop singers Category:Hong Kong actors Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong people from Dongguan
es:Aaron Kwok fr:Aaron Kwok gan:郭富城 ko:곽부성 id:Aaron Kwok it:Aaron Kwok jv:Aaron Kwok ms:Aaron Kwok ja:アーロン・クオック pt:Aaron Kwok simple:Aaron Kwok th:กัว ฟู่เฉิง vi:Quách Phú Thành wuu:郭富城 zh-yue:郭富城 zh:郭富城This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Chow Yun-fat |
---|---|
tradchinesename | 周潤發 |
simpchinesename | 周润发 |
pinyinchinesename | Zhōu Rùnfā |
jyutpingchinesename | Zau1 Jeon6faat3 |
ancestry | Kaiping, Guangdong |
birth date | May 18, 1955 |
birth place | Lamma Island, Hong Kong |
yearsactive | 1974–present |
occupation | Actor |
spouse | Candice Yu (1983-1983) Jasmine Chan (1986-present) |
hongkongfilmwards | Best Actor1987 ''A Better Tomorrow''1988 ''City on Fire''1990 ''All About Ah-Long'' |
goldenhorseawards | Best Actor1985 ''Hong Kong 1941''1987 ''An Autumn's Tale |
tvbanniversaryawards | My Most Memorable Male Leading Role1999 ''The Bund'' |
awards | }} |
Chow Yun-fat, SBS (born May 18, 1955) is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films ''A Better Tomorrow'', ''The Killer'', and ''Hard Boiled''; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''. He mainly plays in dramatic films and has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for "Best Actor" and two Golden Horse Awards for "Best Actor" in Taiwan.
Chow has been married twice; first in 1983 to Candice Yu (), an actress from Asia Television Limited that lasted nine months. In 1986, Chow married Singaporean Jasmine Tan (). Currently, the couple have no children, although Chow has a goddaughter, Celine Ng, a former child model for Chickeeduck and other companies. Chow has acknowledged having cosmetic surgery on his eyelids in 1989 to reverse a drooping effect.
Although Chow continued his TV success, his goal was to become a big screen actor. His occasional ventures onto the big screens with low-budget films, however, were disastrous. Success finally came when he teamed up with director John Woo in the 1986 gangster action-melodrama ''A Better Tomorrow'', which swept the box offices in Asia and established Chow and Woo as megastars. ''A Better Tomorrow'' won him his first Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was the highest grossing film in Hong Kong history at the time, and it set the standard for Hong Kong gangster films to come. Taking the opportunity, Chow quit TV entirely. With his new image from ''A Better Tomorrow'', he made many more 'gun fu' or 'heroic bloodshed' films, such as ''A Better Tomorrow 2'' (1987), ''Prison on Fire'', ''Prison on Fire II'', ''The Killer'' (1989), ''A Better Tomorrow 3'' (1990), ''Hard Boiled'' (1992) and ''City on Fire'' an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's ''Reservoir Dogs''.
Chow may be best known for playing honorable tough guys, whether cops or criminals, but he also starred in comedies like ''Diary of a Big Man'' (1988) and ''Now You See Love, Now You Don't'' (1992) and romantic blockbusters such as ''Love in a Fallen City'' (1984) and ''An Autumn's Tale'' (1987), for which he was named best actor at the Golden Horse Awards. He brought together his disparate personae in the 1989 film ''God of Gamblers'' (''Du Shen''), directed by the prolific Wong Jing, in which he was by turns suave charmer, broad comedian and action hero. The film surprised many, became immensely popular, broke Hong Kong's all-time box office record, and spawned a series of gambling films, as well as several comic sequels starring Andy Lau and Stephen Chow. His character's often tough demeanor and youthful appearance has earned him the nickname "Babyface killer".
The ''Los Angeles Times'' proclaimed Chow Yun-Fat "the coolest actor in the world." Being one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong, Chow moved to Hollywood in the mid '90s in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to duplicate his success in Asia. His first two films, ''The Replacement Killers'' (1998) and ''The Corruptor'' (1999), were box office disappointments. In his next film ''Anna and the King'' (1999), Chow teamed up with Jodie Foster, but the film suffered at the box office. Unable to play down the Asian stereotype, Chow took advantage of it by accepting the role of Li Mu-Bai in the (2000) film ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'' It became a winner at both the international box office and the Oscars. In 2003, Chow came back to Hollywood and starred in ''Bulletproof Monk'' in yet another Asian stereotyped role of a martial art expert. In 2006, he teamed up with Gong Li in the film, ''Curse of the Golden Flower,'' directed by Zhang Yimou.
In 2007, Chow was cast as the pirate captain Sao Feng in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End''. His character, however, was omitted when the movie was shown in mainland China. His character was criticized as demeaning as it "vilifies and humiliates the Chinese." Despite the censorship, the unedited version of the movie was freely sold on the black market without government intervention because viewers wanted to see Chow Yun-Fat.
Chow had often wished to be regarded as a serious dramatic actor in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he often landed in roles that stereotyped him as an Asian action hero.
In the live action version of Dragonball Evolution, which performed poorly in the USA and grossed $57 million worldwide, Chow Yun-fat played Master Roshi.
Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong actors Category:Hakka people Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories in Hong Kong Category:Lamma Island
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