"I would like to apologise to all the ladies."

A strained-looking Edison Chen makes a public statement on the sex photos scandal and announces plans to step away from the Hong Kong entertainment industry:

Entertainment icon Lydia Sum passes away

Lydia 'Fei Fei' Shum Din Ha has passed away after a two year battle with liver cancer.

Numerous fellow entertainers and friends have paid tribute to the entertainment icon, who I remember vividly even though I only saw a few of her shows as a child either on my parents' rented videos or during occasional trips to Hong Kong.

In an entertainment industry that favours 'cookie cutter' presenters that tick all the standard boxes, Lydia Sum stood out as a unique and highly likeable character, loved by many.



Story: Batgwa.com

Story: The Standard

Has your mum asked to see the Edison photos yet?

Take the most talked about Hong Kong news story in recent years, a bunch of rude photos depicting A-list celebrities, and an older generation of Chinese parents who don't know how to surf the net, and you get the slightly awkward and surreal situation of bbcs being asked by their mums to show them explicit, pornographic images.

From what I hear it's happening quite a lot! Luckily I subject hasn't come up with my Mum and Dad.. yet. In the meantime here is Gillian Chung making her first public statement on the scandal:

BBC launches British-born Chinese Writers Project

Bbcs on the BBC: part 2.

Tina, author of Diary of a Chinese Brummie Yogini has emailed me a link to what could be a really interesting project being run by the BBC.

They are looking for "bite-sized film scripts with an original and contemporary take on the British Born Chinese experience" and to help any aspiring bbc writers out there, they are holding special 'how-to' seminars in cities across the UK.

The workshops will be held at the following venues:

BBC Merseyside
31 College Lane, L1 3DS
Tuesday 12th February 2008 6pm – 8pm

BBC Manchester
Courtyard Room, New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester, M60 1SJ
Weds 13th February 2008 6pm – 8pm

BBC Birmingham
Room 083B, The Mailbox, Royal Mail St, B1 1RF
Thurs 21st February 2008 6pm – 8pm

BBC London
Room 108, Henry Wood House, 3/6 Langham Place, W1A 1AA
Weds 27th and Thurs 28th February 2008 6pm – 8pm

The site says ten shortlisted writers will be selected for Masterclasses in April, and up to five selected writers will receive development commissions. The deadline for submitting scripts is 17 March 2008

So come on guys. This is a great opportunity to tell your story, your way.

Get the full details from the BBC website.

CNY magazine from Planetdimsum.com

I was sent a link to rather nicely designed magazine which is coming out as part London's Chinese New Year celebrations. It covers all aspects of CNY from food to astrology.

I understand it is going to be distributed to the thousands of people expected in Chinatown for the celebrations this weekend.

Get your copy in advance from the official site Planetdimsum.com

Gung Hei! Gung Hei!

Goodbye Year of the Pig. Hello Year of the Rat!

Happy Chinese New Year to all readers - even those of you who only found this site because you were searching for more Edison pictures (get over it already!)

If you are born in this sign of the Chinese zodiac then you are quick-thinking, ingenious, hardworking and ambitious. I've often wondered if it would be better to refer to 'shu neen' as the Year of the Mouse rather than Rat. In the West rats are seen as dirty and to refer to a human as a rat is derogatory. Then again, a mouse is often looked upon as weak and feeble in the West and it isn't associated with the many positive traits that we assign to a 'shu'.

Well, whether it's the year of the mouse, rat or other small, furry rodent, I wish you all peace, prosperity for the coming year.

Burntbreadboy.

Hong Kong's street markets under threat

Is it time to move on from the photo scandal yet? I hope so...

One of the best things about Hong Kong is how you can step out of a modern shopping mall in Central after buying your latest designer label goods and in a few minutes find yourself in a bustling street market, stepping though puddles made by live fish swimming in their polystyrene boxes.

The traditional street markets are not immune to change, though, and there is conflicting opinion in Hong Kong as to how best to deal with them.

Some say the government simply wants to 'clean up' the streets and get rid of the traditional markets, whilst the official line from the Urban Renewal Authority is that if the government doesn't modernise the markets and manage them properly, they face being eroded bit by bit, over time.

To be honest some markets e.g. in Mong Kok can be quite a drag to walk around at the most crowded, peak times but I love the feel of a traditional streetmarket. I hope whatever happens that they don't destroy that unique atmosphere.

The SCMP reports:

The Edison Chen sex photo mess

The leaked sex photo scandal involving Edison Chen and his one time girlfriends Gillian Chung and Cecilia Cheung is engulfing the Hong Kong media.

For the full back story, head over to a blog that's been covering the scandal in detail: Coolsmurf Domain

The debate has moved on from whether the photos are real or fake (they seem to be real) and onto how the photos were leaked and what will happen next to the celebrities involved.

When the dust settles, it would (in my opinion) be hypocrisy to regard Edison as some kind of naughty-but-admirable playboy whilst consigning the exposed female celebrities to the dustbin of ex-stars ruined by scandal yet sadly this is a likely outcome.

If anything can be learned, surely it's that girls should not allow themselves to be photographed or videoed in compromising situations like this, regardless of who's holding the camera? You wouldn't allow actual, printed photographs like this to exist so why allow them to be on an easily steal-able phone or computer?

Meanwhile Edison Chen has fled Hong Kong and gone to be with his current girlfriend. That girlfriend is Vincy Yeung who is the niece of Albert Yeung who is the boss of Emperor Entertainment Group, one of the largest media companies in Hong Kong and Edison's former record label. I imagine some interesting conversations are taking place now.

UPDATE: For what it's worth, Edison's made a statement on the scandal:

Dear God no... Gary Glitter wants to live in Hong Kong?

Unconfirmed reports in the UK media claim that the disgraced former singer and convicted child abuser Paul Gadd aka Gary Glitter is considering settling in Hong Kong when/if he is released from prison in Vietnam.

The report states that he intends to make use of Hong Kong's lack of an official sex offenders' register to lead a 'low profile' life.

Hate to burst your bubble there Mr. Glitter but I suspect and hope that a former international celebrity who is now a known pedophile (and therefore a danger to any local children) arriving in Hong Kong might be quite a newsworthy story and you may well be followed every step you take outside of your hiding place.

The report has since been denied by Gadd's legal team so we can't be sure how true it is.

However, if it runs out to be true, I sincerely hope the Hong Kong government do not allow this despicable low life to settle in the territory.

Source: Sky News.

Related: BBC: Glitter jailed for abusing girls