1.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
2.
Jay Chou
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Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, film producer, actor and director. In 2000, Chou released his album, titled Jay. He has sold more than 30 million albums and has received awards for his musical works. Chou has also songs for other artists whilst working on his albums. In 2003, he was the story of Time magazine, titled New King of Asian Pop. He has since held six world tours, performing in cities around the world to more than 10 million people. Chou debuted his career in the film Initial D, followed shortly by his role as the honorable son, Prince Jai, in the multi-nominated Mandarin Chinese epic. Chou also manages his own record and management company JVR Music, in 2016, he re-entered Hollywood to play a role named Li in the film, Now You See Me 2. Jay Chou grew up in Linkou, Taipei County, Taiwan, both his parents were secondary school teachers, his mother, Yeh Hui-Mei who was a music teacher, taught fine arts, while his father, Chou Yao-Chung, is a biomedical researcher. His mother noticed his sensitivity to music and took him to piano lessons at the age of four, during his childhood, he was fascinated with capturing sounds and songs with his tape recorder, which he carried everywhere with him. In the third grade, he interested in music theory. He was a child and loved to play piano, imitate TV actors. His favorite composer was, and still is to this day and his parents divorced when he was 13 and he was teased by his classmates, which caused him to become reclusive and introverted. He had no friends and preferred to be alone, listening to music, at Tamkang Senior High School, he majored in piano and minored in cello. He showed talent for improvisation, became fond of pop music, Chou was conscripted for mandatory military service after graduating from high school with inadequate grades for university. Meanwhile, he himself a job as a waiter. Chous mother initially inspired Chou to become a teacher, while Chou remained relatively clueless on what to do with his life. Without his knowledge, a friend entered both their names in a talent show called Super New Talent King in 1998, Chou played the piano accompaniment for his friend, whose singing was described as lousy
3.
Taipei
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Taipei, officially known as Taipei City, is the capital city and a special municipality of the Republic of China. Sitting at the tip of the island, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City. It is about 25 km southwest of the port city Keelung. Since 1949, Taipei has been the capital of the ROC after losing the mainland to the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, the name Taipei can refer either to the whole metropolitan area or the city proper. Taipei is the political, economic, educational, and cultural center of Taiwan, considered to be a global city, Taipei is part of a major high-tech industrial area. Railways, high-speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island, the city is served by two airports – Taipei Songshan and Taiwan Taoyuan. Its natural features such as Maokong, Yangmingshan, and hot springs are also known to international visitors. As the capital city, Taipei is sometimes used as a synecdoche for Taiwan, prior to the significant influx of Han Chinese immigrants, the region of Taipei Basin was mainly inhabited by the Ketagalan plains aborigines. The number of Han immigrants gradually increased in the early 18th century under Qing Dynasty rule after the government began permitting development in the area, in 1875, the northern part of the island was incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture. The Qing dynasty of China made Taipeh the temporary capital of Fujian-Taiwan Province in 1886 when Taiwan was separated from Fujian Province, Taipeh was formally made the provincial capital in 1894. Japan acquired Taiwan in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan became a colony of Imperial Japan with Taihoku as its capital, in which the city was administered under Taihoku Prefecture. Taiwans Japanese rulers embarked on a program of advanced urban planning that featured extensive railroad links. A number of Taipei landmarks and cultural institutions date from this period, following the Japanese surrender of 1945, control of Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China. In 1990 Taipei provided the backdrop for the Wild Lily student rallies that moved Taiwanese society from one-party rule to multi-party democracy, the city is today home to Taiwans democratically elected national government. The region known as the Taipei Basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the eighteenth century, Han Chinese mainly from Fujian Province of Qing dynasty China began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709. In 1875, the part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture. From 1875 until the beginning of Japanese rule in 1895, Taipei was part of Tamsui County of Taipeh Prefecture, in 1885, work commenced to create an independent Taiwan Province, and Taipei City was temporarily made the provincial capital. Taipei officially became the capital of Taiwan in 1894, all that remains from the Qing era is the north gate
4.
19th Golden Melody Awards
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Ceremonies of the 19th Golden Melody Awards were held in Taipei, Taiwan in 2008. Initially, there were 10,632 submissions from 185 companies in the music industry, winners for artistic and traditional music categories were announced on June 21,2008 at Taipei County Hall in a ceremony separate from that for popular music categories. It was the second year that the ceremony for this category group was held separately. By contrast, artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and Canada attended the ceremony for popular music categories. Both events were broadcast on the satellite cable Azio Television channel on June 28 and July 5, malaysian singer Gary Chaw and Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua were named Best Mandarin Male and Female Singers in the popular music category, respectively. Chua won the Best Mandarin Female Singer award for the second time, chuas record seven nominations for her album Goodbye & Hello are the most received by a female artist. Taiwanese musician and singer Jay Chou, who received a record-breaking eight nominations for his album On the Run, chous primary lyricist Vincent Fang was present to receive the award of Best Lyricist for the song Blue and White Porcelain. Pop rock band Sodagreen received its second award as Best Band for its album Incomparable Beauty. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface. VE IS, Sodagreen – Incomparable Beauty Cherry Boom – Goody Goody Kou Chou Ching – Kou. Mavis Fan and 100%樂團 –2007 Breakthrough Album Mrs. S. S. S, Singers Jia-jia and Samingad, both members of the ethnic Puyuma people, presented the awards for Best Aboriginal Singer and Best Aboriginal Album. Entertainer Kang Kang and singer Frankie Kao presented the awards for Best Arrangement, Television host Hsiao Chung, along with Hakka singers and past winners Liu Shao-hsi and Hsieh Yü-wei, presented the awards for Best Hakka Singer and Best Hakka Album. One Million Star top 10 finalist Aska Yang and musician Kay Huang presented the awards for Best Music Video Director, peng Chia-chia, entertainer Pai Ping-ping, and Hsü Hsiao-shun presented the awards for Best Taiwanese Male Singer and Best Taiwanese Female Singer. Queen of Taiwanese music Jody Chiang and lyricist Vincent Fang presented the award for Best Taiwanese Album, musicians Ni Fang-lai and Ma Yü-fen presented awards for the instrumental music categories of Best Album Producer, Best Composer, and Best Album. Record producer Huang Kuo-lun and Taiwans Queen of Pub Tiger Huang presented the awards for Best Single Producer, Taiwan musicians Lo Ta-yu and Chang Chen-yue presented the awards for Best Lyricist and Best Band. Aboriginal Taiwanese pop singer A-mei and Cantopop singer Eason Chan presented the award for Best Mandarin Male Singer, Taiwan pop singer Jolin Tsai and Canadian recording artist Daniel Powter presented the award for Best Mandarin Female Singer. Hong Kong singer and actor Wakin Chau and Taiwan record producer Jonathan Lee presented the award for Best Mandarin Album, vanessa Shih, a minister at the Government Information Office, presented the Lifetime Contribution Award
5.
Taipei Arena
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The Taipei Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. It was designed by Archasia, a firm established in Taipei. It is located at the site of the former Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium, the arena was opened on December 1,2005. The main arena has a floor space, its minimum floor space is 60m × 30m. The Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey League plays out of the auxiliary arena, the basement now houses two large gas turbine power generators to be used for the surrounding district during emergencies. Since opening in 2005, the arena has held more art and cultural activities than sporting events and these have included Disney on Ice and Cirque du Soleil, Cats the Broadway Musical. International Artists in the table below are highlighted in light blue, non-Entertainment Events, Inaugural ceremony and celebrations of President Ma Ying-Jeou and Vice-President Vincent Siew on 20 May 2008. Dates Unknown, Jolin Tsai performed her 1st concert in the arena in November 2006 for her Dancing Forever World Tour, japanese singer Ayumi Hamasakis Asia Tour, which had more than 10,000 tickets sold out in 1 hour. That was the 1st concert at the venue to be performed by a J-Pop artist, taiwanese Aborigine pop star Chang Hui-meis STAR TOUR world tour. Irish-American dancer and musician Michael Flatley reprises his role as Lord of the Dance in the Feet of Flames 2009 tour, the Indiana Pacers vs Denver Nuggets game was the first National Basketball Association game held in the country back in 2009. Japanese singer Namie Amuro filmed her tour here for the DVD release of Best Fiction Tour 2008-2009, BIGBANG performed at the arena for the first time as part of their Big Bang Alive Galaxy Tour 2012 and brought in 26,000 audiences. The box office of both performances up to 202 millions TWD, making the most successful box offices in Taiwan performance history, in the rotation for the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. The venue is a frequent host of the International Skating Union figure skating championship for the Americas, Asia, Oceania, Taipei Arena is accessible from Taipei Arena Station of the Taipei Metro. Taipei Arena official website CIHL official website
6.
Vincent Fang (lyricist)
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For the Hong Kong entrepreneur, please refer to Vincent Fang. Vincent Fang was born on 26 January 1969 in Hualien, Taiwan and he is a Taiwanese multi-Golden Melody Award nominated lyricist, best known for his collaboration with singer-songwriter Jay Chou. Fang won Best Lyricist at the 19th Golden Melody Awards for 青花瓷 sung by Jay Chou from On the Run, in 1997, he sent samples of his lyrics to record companies, hoping to find a new career that complemented his passion for writing. Record company owner Jacky Wu was impressed with his work and hired Fang to work with Chou, in 2000, Chou released his first album and since then produced albums in which Fang contributes the majority of the lyrics. Chou’s fame grew rapidly across Asia, pulling Fang into the limelight as well, fangs lyrics are noted for covering a wide of issues from family to war, beyond what is normally discussed in love ballads. He calls his style of lyrical poetry Su Yan Rhyme Poetry 素顏韻腳詩, born in 1969, Vincent Fang grew up in Taiwan and was raised in what he calls a blue collar family. He is a Hakka with ancestry from Yudu, Jiangxi, in his youth, he gave very little effort in school and received poor grades. After graduating from school, at the age of 20 he served his mandatory military service in the Republic of China Army. When he was off-duty, he spent his time reading and watching movies. Despite taking these jobs and having no formal training in linguistics. In 1992, he decided that his job would be a movie scriptwriter. After a year, he was no closer to his goal and he planned an alternate path to enter the film business, establish his stature in the entertainment industry by first entering music field as a lyricist, then transit into script writing. Over 2 years starting in 1995, he more than 100 lyrics. To contact record producers, he searched the CD liner notes of popular Chinese singers for mailing addresses and sent his entire lyrics collection to them. Of more than 100 mails sent, only a single person replied, Jacky Wu, in 1997, at the age of 28, Fang signed the official contract to work as a lyricist. Wu arranged Fang to work with Jay Chou, a newly hired composer who just graduated from secondary school, together they wrote songs for popular Chinese artists but neither acquired much fame. Fang’s talent was recognized after Chou began a successful career that was partially attributable to Fang’s lyrics. In 1998, Fang and Chou began to work together, initially using Fang’s collection of 100 lyrics, for their first song, Chou composed a tune for Fang’s You are happier than before which was placed in an album by Wu, their mentor
7.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
8.
Patty Hou
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Patty Hou is a former news anchor in Republic of China. She subsequently hosted an entertainment program on Azio TV and has published the book Pattys About Love, Hou graduated with a degree in mass communications and psychology from the University of Southern California. She was an anchor for TTV, Era News and CTi before resigning in 2004. Hou is currently an anchor at Azio TV for Entertainment in Asia and she is also the spokeswoman for DHC cosmetics. She has also hosted the Star Awards, Singapores Chinese language television awards, twice and she continues to host her weekly show, Entertainment Asia. Hou has also starred in several Taiwan and mainland China television series,2001, Trainee reporter at Taiwan Television. 2002, English news anchor at CTi TV,2003, the anchor of ERA News Channel 2004–2005, the anchor of ERA News and ERA Fashion News, AZIO TVs Entertainment-News@Asia anchor, and the Editor of Pattys about magazine book. 2005, Host with Matilda Tao and ChiLing, Lin for the 16th Golden Melody Award at Kaohsiung,2005, Host with Guo Liang for the 2005 Star Awards in Singapore. 2006, Host with Guo Liang for the 2006 Star Awards in Singapore and she participated in the dubbing of the film Flushed Away, Patty has been dubbed the voice of the character of Rita into Mandarin Chinese. 2007, Host with Matilda Tao for the 18th Golden Melody Award at Taipei Arena, Taiwan. 2007, Sweet Relationship 美味關係 as Chung Bai Hui 2010, Love Buffet 愛似百匯 Ai Si Bai Hui as 穎芝 Ying Zhi （特別演出/ Special Performance）2011 你猜你猜你猜猜猜 Guess Guess Guess with Jacky Wu Patty Hous Official Vlog
9.
Jolin Tsai
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Jolin Tsai is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and entrepreneur. Known for reinventing both her music and image, she is cited as a role of popularizing dance music as mainstream music in Greater China. Born and raised in Taiwan, Tsai began her career by winning the champion at an MTV singing competition at the age of 18. Her debut album, released in 1999 and titled 1019, was a huge success and her fifth album, Magic, is regarded as one of her biggest successes so far, right after her album, Dancing Diva, which reflected her mature artistic statement. After several successful albums and dozens of hits, she released her latest album, Play, having sold more than 25 million records in Asia, Tsai is recognized as one of the best-selling artists in Asia. Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including six Golden Melody Awards, an MTV Asia Award and she has been acclaimed as an entrepreneur, particularly after she founded her own music production and management company Eternal in 2009. Forbes reported that she is one of the highest-paid Chinese celebrities, Tsai was born to parents Tsai Chu-chen and Huang Chun-mei in Hsinchuang, Taiwan, on September 15,1980. Her father is of Han Chinese descent, while her mother is half Han Chinese and her Papora maternal grandmother hails from Puli. Tsai was known for her grade, and frequently achieved top 3 in class since elementary school. Tsai was a 200-meter sprinter in school, but quit after she injured her ankle. Tsai later attended Hsinchuang Junior High School and Chingmei Girls High School where she and her friends formed a band Twister for which she sang, but the band quickly dissolved. In the second year of school, she made her performance debut on campus. In a different campus event, she sang Bette Midlers The Rose, in 1998, Tsai joined an MTV singing competition for a record of an extracurricular activity she performed in order to help her apply for colleges. However, she emerged champion at the competition where she sang a rendition of Whitney Houstons Greatest Love of All in the final round. It was a win that kickstarted her singing career and paved the way to her journey in becoming a teen idol. In 1999, she majored in English literature at Fu Jen Catholic University, after Tsai signed a recording deal with Universal, her debut single, Living with the World, was released in July 1999. She then started developing her album,1019, which was primarily recorded in Quad Studios in New York City. The album was released in September 1999, and she received positive feedback for the album, Tsai was named as the Teenage Boy Killer by media, and became an instant hit among teenagers in Taiwan
10.
Beautiful (David Tao album)
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Beautiful is Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriter David Taos fifth Mandarin studio album. It was released on 4 August 2006 by EMI Music Taiwan, the album features a mid-tempo duet, 今天妳要嫁給我, with Jolin Tsai. The track, 似曾相識 won Best Composer award for Tao also at the 2007 HITO Radio Music Awards, the tracks 忘不了 and 太美麗 were nominated for Top 10 Gold Songs at the Hong Kong TVB8 Awards, presented by television station TVB8, in 2006. The album was awarded one of the Top 10 Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year at the 2006 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards, 太美麗廣播電台 忘不了 太美麗 追 那一瞬間 Walk On 自導自演的悲劇 祝妳幸福 似曾相識 今天妳要嫁給我 - feat. Jolin Tsai 每一面都美 不愛 Olia David Tao@Gold Typhoon formerly EMI Music Taiwan
