Hugo Chang: Attitude speaks

December 1, 2008

By Jason Tan

If you hang around California Fitness in Zhongxiao East Road in Taipei, you may bump into Hugo Chang – a beefy, sunny big boy with poster boy looks. He may be HIV+ but he doesn't let the illness get him down.


Chatty, witty and candid, Hugo Chang didn't hide his personality when meeting Fridae's Taipei correspondent Jason Tan.

“If it weren't for the fact that I am HIV positive, I could still be an arrogant, self-centered guy and easily have my way with guys – thanks to the cute looks some say I possess,” admitted 32-year-old Hugo.

“I have to stand out and shatter the stereotype that all HIV/AIDS patients are dreadful,” he said.

It was a hot, passionate affair when he gave a blow job – minus the protection – to a man while he had an ulcer in the mouth. Later, few feverish nights sent him to the emergency room, and the blood test showed that he was HIV positive. It happened in 2000, when he was 25 years old.

“People ask if I hate him for infecting me. But I wasn't forced into the act, so I had to shoulder half of the responsibility. Maybe it is my destiny and it prompted me to look at things differently. In a way, I am lucky,” he said.

He came clean about his being gay and HIV positive to his family, colleagues and the public. While it’s obvious he has got the whole package (and proves it in a Jan-Feb 2006 issue of Good Guy magazine), he is more than a just a pretty face. In 2005, he became the spokesman of a local AIDS prevention campaign in which he was the poster boy and he said: “Don't I look as good as Takeshi Kaneshiro in the shot?” He went on a popular TV talk show hosted by public gay TV personality Kevin Tsai to talk about LGBT issues and being a macho-yet-vulnerable man.

To Hugo, coming out wasn't a particularly difficult decision.

“This is my attitude in life, and being gay or HIV positive doesn't change the way I treat my friends. If you can't accept the fact that I am gay or positive, so be it,” he said.


In this interview, Hugo bared all again - this time his soul - to talk about becoming certain of his sexuality in senior high school, getting infected with HIV and his decision to take a road less travelled.

æ: You wrote in your blog that you became aware of your sexuality in your teens, what was it like then and when did you come out to your family?
Hugo: It was in junior high school that I started to find myself curious about men's bodies. But I was timid as it was the days of limited information on LGBT issues. I was certain of my sexuality when I went into senior high school and before I reported for military training (which is compulsory for all Taiwanese males when they turn 19); I came out to my sister. She told me that our family would stand by me; but if I really opted to go this path, I had to be ready for the pressure and challenges usually not faced by heterosexuals.

æ: How did you find out about your HIV status?
Hugo: After a casual sexual encounter in 2000, I developed fever which lasted 15 days. I was admitted to the emergency room on the eighth day and the basic blood test came out ok. But I told the doctor I was gay and asked him to do a HIV test. (In Taiwan, doctors have to gain the patient’s consent before testing for HIV). The test came back negative due to the window period and I did another test. The fever continued and I was hospitalised for a week. I was told to pick up another report in a month's time.

I had a whole month to contemplate on the outcome; there was a 50:50 chance of me getting infected. If the result came back positive, I had to prepare for the challenges ahead. I would be a lucky folk if I wasn't infected and I told myself I would take extra precaution in my future sexual encounters. But it was not to be.

I went to pick up the report in the middle of a work day, and told my colleagues to wish me luck. In the hospital, after being told that the test had come back positive, I only uttered an “Ah”. I wasn't taken aback as I already had a whole month to prepare for the worst. I called my sister and asked her to tell my mother and brothers. The pressure was tremendous and I couldn't bear to tell my mother in person. My brother told me that she cried nearly a month but she didn't reproach me. She asked if she wasn't being a good enough mother.

æ: What made you decide to go public about your infection?
Hugo: These days, Taipei is more LGBT friendly. But I think there could have been some breakthroughs. I had evaluated the situation about my family and workplace and decided that the time was ripe for me to jump out and speak for the HIV/AIDS community. [Note: Hugo became the spokesman for Taiwan's AIDS prevention campaign in 2005 when the heatlh authorities wanted to promote the awareness on Dec 1, World AIDS Day.] Harnessing the power of media would reach more people than just coming clean to only my friends.

Going public was relatively easy as I had moved out of my family home after my military training, so fewer neighbours could recognise me and point fingers at my family.

If you have a positive attitude, most people wouldn't discriminate against HIV patients. I did prepare for the worst after telling the company what happened to me. I already worked there for three years, so I thought I would at least be compensated if I got fired. (Laugh) After appearing for the HIV/AIDS campaign, my friends were worried that my landlord would kick me out, or neighbours boycott me, or restaurants refuse to sell me food, but all these did not happen.

In general, I didn't really face discrimination except being rejected by some of the guys I tried to pick up. (Laugh)

æ: How did your colleagues react to the news?
Hugo: Some people think that all HIV patients are frail and/or those have ulcerous skin. I want to be proof that AIDS isn't that dreadful. I chose to took the medicine as soon as I tested positive although my viral count was low.

At the time, I would put the bottles of pills on the office desk, and I had to swallow 12 to 16 pills a day according to different schedules. Sometimes I have difficulty sticking to the precise intake timetable due to hectic office work, but now things are better as I only need to take the pills twice a day - in the morning and at night. To some patients who may vomit or have diarrhea after taking the pills, I would only experience nausea but now the situation is better as my body has gotten used to the medication after eight years.

Sometimes when my colleagues ask what those pills were for, I would joke and say: “They are for my HIV, so that I could live longer and share your workload.” Probably because I am working in a media company [Hugo works in a TV station doing computer animation], so people here are open minded. And I had worked there for three years before the infection, so they already knew me as a person.

My boss even asked me if overseas treatment was more advanced, and if yes, he was willing to send me abroad. I was moved and consider myself to be a lucky guy.

æ: How does Taiwanese society and government today see HIV positive people?
Hugo: In Taiwan, patients have to apply for a special medical card to get full medicine subsidy from the government. The medical bill every month for a single patient could run up to nearly NT$20,000 (US$610), so it is a heavy burden for the government.

The government is still focusing on the education of AIDS prevention among adults. But another area of concern is of HIV positive babies. How could they adjust to school life given the stigma? People are still uncertain about the transmission ways of HIV/AIDS, even among LGBT community. But they are no longer that fearful/ignorant of the disease. I am trying to maintain a positive lifestyle and looking at my best. I want to prolong my lifespan now, so that when those days really come in the future, it would be the time I depend on my family.

æ: Why did you decide to strip for Good Guy magazine in 2006?
Hugo: After the AIDS awareness campaign, the publishing company approached me and wanted to do a story on HIV/AIDS and asked me to be the cover guy. I was then 28 years old, thinking that if I didn't do it then, I might regret that I didn’t for the rest of my life! I did struggle as I was required to do full frontal shots. Then again, it did satisfy my desire to have my own pictorial and how could I let the cover boy chance slip?! (Laugh) Plus, I reached an agreement with the company: they would donate NT$5 per copy sold to help HIV positive babies.

But now, I have given away all the copies that I bought, and have to ask my female colleagues to give one to me if they no longer want the copy they bought. (Laugh)

æ: In your blog, you said that you would always inform your sexual partners of your HIV positive status... [According to the blog, Hugo met his ex-boyfriend in the gym, telling the latter straight before their first movie date that he had HIV. After the movie, he drove Hugo back to his rented house and Hugo plucked up the courage to ask: “Do you want to come up?” He replied: “I am looking for parking space.” At the time, Hugo knew in his heart that this man was going to change his life.]
Hugo: I told my ex-partner the second day that I was HIV positive, I told him to consider the pressure and risks if we wanted to take things further. I didn't want to leave the issue in the future only after we had grown closer. I wanted to inform him in the first place, and let both of us have the right to choose. We were together for six years, and his recent medical report showed that he was negative.

I am now single and for my potential sexual partners, I would tell them “I am HIV positive”. There are risks of contracting the disease not only in anal but also oral sex. If I had kept mum during the sex act without coming clean, I would face the moral pressure even with protection on. If you like someone and you have been through the inconveniences of taking the pills and all, you wouldn't want them to be in the same shoes.

æ: Do you have any regrets and what’s in store for 2009 and beyond?
Hugo: We always have a lot of social commitments - to our work, our partners and our family - which don't allow us to go and do things we’ve always dreamed of. If you know you would regret, why not do it now? I am now single, and I want to go to different countries to participate in their gay parades. I want to learn how they promote LGBT rights and advocate greater awareness on the issue.

In terms of AIDS prevention, I still have to work and I don't think I can fully commit to that now. My EQ is low (laugh) and if other patients keep asking me the same question, I would be impatient. Many HIV positive patients tend to be depressed and would keep thinking of the same issue over and over again. I could offer them advice a few times, but you will have to be the one to get out of the mental trap and help yourself. In the future if possible, I would love to get involved in AIDS foundation work in Taiwan and help patients and their family members to get through the tormenting period.

Correction: The correct spelling of Hugo's lastname is Chang and not Zhang as originally published.

Fancy an overseas posting?

It was a long, grueling six-month wait to finally land that ideal overseas job, this writer recounts his experience after trying his luck in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

By Jason Tan

Three months ago, I had finally landed in Macao, so-called “Las Vegas of the east” – a gambling enclave I had never set foot on, let alone thought of leading a career life.

The story began in last October, when I decided to put my three-year career in Taipei to a full stop. I have lived in the blessed island for seven years and it was time to move on.

The urge to discover the other parts of the Greater China region was so strong in the last few months in Taipei.

So jaws of my Taiwanese friends were dropped when I told them I wanted to start all over in a place totally out of my league – and bid goodbye to the comfortable paycheck and great job in Taipei.

It was a natural move considering that after all those years of work experience, chances of meeting the Perfect Job became scarce. So scarce that firms in my industry are cutting costs and cautious in adding new blood as the industry is no longer on the boom side.

So I didn't think twice to fly to Hong Kong after hooking up with a prospectus firm.

I have always dreamed of being a part of Hong Kong's hustle-and-bustle workforce, thanks to the influence of Canto pop songs and TVB series.

This was my second visit to the firm within a year; and this time, I went with the hope of signing on the dotted line.

But leaving the skyscrapers in Central only made the fact sink in faster: There were just too limited rice bowls -- especially gold-plated ones -- to jostle for.

While they gave me the diplomatic reply of "Thanks for coming and we will get back to you soon", I knew the underlying message was "Why bother the hassle to apply you work permit? What could you offer us that locals couldn't?"

It was then I decided to detour to Shanghai, a city where millions of mainlanders are hoping to make it big some where, some time.

While I spent the afternoon soaking in the culture of the Shanghai Bund, the evening was a routine of firing off resumes to employers -- mostly to no avail.

After spending nearly three months staying in a city where outsiders were welcomed by hostility instead of hospitality, and discovered that shoving and yanking were the ways to board a public transport, it was obvious I wasn't cut out for the city, after all.

I then packed up for home when New Year's festivities neared.

After a few-year hiatus, it was the time to be with family members and meet good friends before jetting off again, I reckoned.

My job hunt didn't stop as Beijing and Macao were the newly added targets.

With Olympic Games buzzing up the Chinese capital and huge tourist dollars being rolled into Macao thanks to the booming casino scene, it was now or never.

So, when a big Macao firm pronounced "Welcome on board!" in March, I was still in shock wondering if the agonizing job search was finally over.

For the first time, I was lavished by an expat package, and the chance to delve into an area I have always wanted to try.

It was indeed an opportunity of a grueling six-month wait. It turned up precisely at the time I was going broke and started to doubt my own capability.

During those days when I didn’t need to rush to work, I had a lot of time to reflect.

This was despite I already signed up for ballroom dance, went to swim classes, attended seminars, and even tried my hands in the kitchen exploring new dishes.

I couldn't stop thinking that what if retrenchment unexpectedly sets in one day? Or when the retirement bell rings?

Would I be financially, mentally and physically prepared to waking up each morning, realizing that I have another 15 hours to kill?

What other skills do I have to bring back the bacon if paycheck were to stop abruptly? How could I prove my worth to the society and continue to lead a fulfilling lifestyle when my hair turns silver?

These questions followed me to Macao, and I am still looking for answers.

But now, I am so looking forward to clocking in for work every day!

How green are your electronics?

By Jason Tan

Imagine this: before rushing to work in the morning, we leave an absorber outside the balcony to suck in the sunlight; at night, we simply place a table lamp atop the absorber and wow – let there be light!

All this is done without any electric plugs -- the table lamp is completely wire-less.

The sun-kissing lamp is one of the few “green” offerings being introduced in Taiwan of late, as companies hope to cash in on the “green” waves sweeping across the globe thanks to the global warming issues.

Tsann Kuen Enterprise, Taiwan’s biggest home appliances and electronics retailing chain, is one case in point. It not only introduced the above-mentioned table lamp, but also another CD player powered by sunshine.

“Pumping more resources into developing high-end offerings, including these environment-friendly products, will enable us phase out other products with lower values,” said Jack Chien, general manager of Tsann Kuen.

Concept for the company’s “Fora” brand of solar-powered electronics came after plant’s photosynthesis process.

How they work is simple.

We will need a specific electricity storage base, which is rechargeable either by solar energy or conventional household electricity. Then insert the table lamp or CD player on the base and the reading and partying hence begin!

The base even has a light sensor for us to detect the best spot to soak up the sunlight. But it needs some eight-hour outdoor exposure to have a full charge, or three hours if plugged into household electricity.

However, not everyone can afford to go green.

The table lamp and CD player cost around NT$7,000 (RM744) each, while solar storage base is NT$7,000, so the bill easily adds up to NT$14,000.

Indeed, consumers like Chao Yi-Chien, 23, found such ideas fresh but would not bring one home, at least for now.

“Judging from the escalating utility costs, I could save lots of money over the long term,” said the sales specialist at IBM Taiwan. “But the prices are steep.”

Tsann Kuen is not the only one eyeing the pockets of those environment-savvy consumers.

Taiwan’s Asustek Computer is all geared up to debut its first bamboo PC around this September, carrying a price label of some NT$50,000.

The Asus Eco Book, as it's dubbed, has a casing covered by bamboo strips available in different shades.

Harvesting bamboo -- an abundant, flexible, durable, and fast-growing grass – will cause lesser harm to the earth compared to processing wood from trees, according to Asustek, the world’s largest maker of motherboards.

But glues and laminates for shaping and fortifying the material sometimes contain toxins, it said.

Engineers have to make sure bamboo is suitable for laptops, which have to endure extreme conditions while allowing heat from microprocessors and monitors to ventilate.

“Choosing bamboo as an alternative material helps the environment in many different ways,” said Mitch Yang, division manager of ASUS Design.

“Not only is it more attractive, it also constantly reminds the users to help preserve the environment.”

China 3G launch – cheers or jeers?

With the world’s spotlight set to shine on China as the Olympics draws near, the country is trying hard to deliver on its promise of making available third-generation (3G) mobile services by next month.

But how exactly this will be a boon to phone users remains a question mark, industry watchers say.

In late April, the Chinese authorities announced that they would distribute 15,000 3G handsets to the Beijing Organizing Committee. This would allow the Games officials, staff and volunteers to watch televised programmes, play videos and surf the Internet over high-speed data transmissions on the cell phone.

But there is still no indication or announcement pertaining to how foreign visitors could easily access 3G during the Games, according to an industry source.

Beijing has been gearing up to create its Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access, or TD-SCDMA, standard since 2001 in an attempt to create opportunities for its telecommunications firms. This is also to avoid coughing up huge licensing fees for developers of the other two more popular 3G standards – Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, or WCDMA, and CDMA-2000 – which have been approved by China for use in the mainland.

On April 1, China finally launched its first commercial 3G trial across eight cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – despite the launch coming five years later than other advanced markets.

China Mobile, the country’s largest cell phone operator which introduced the service, made available only 60,000 3G handsets – one-third were allocated for a select group of users to experiment on a complimentary basis, plus an 800 yuan (RM360) subsidy per user every month.

The remaining handsets were sold on the market at between 2,000 yuan and 4,000 yuan. Only six phone models and two types of data card for laptop users were available.

“China Mobile isn’t too ambitious in pushing the service on the mass scale. Subsidy for the 3G phones is not much, and these phones are pricey to acquire,” said Fang Meiqin, principal analyst with research firm BDA China.

Technical glitches such as poor signal coverage during the commercial trial are also a turn-off.

“There were lags and mosaics in the video calls... even audio calls were cut off during conversations,” Fang said, describing her experience testing the phones.

To attract more users to sign up for the novel service, she suggested dual-network handsets to allow users a quick switch from 3G to 2G if the former signal is weak.

“The launch certainly encountered some hiccups – the same situation other operators encountered when they started promoting their respective 3G services,” Fang said, adding that it will take at least two years for 3G to gain ground in China.

Following the selected eight Chinese cities, more 3G work is expected next year to deploy base stations for another 300 cities across the mainland.

Fast facts on China handset market

• Total users: 565.2 million (more than the US population of 303 million)

• China Mobile subscribers: 392.1 million

• China Mobile users’ average monthly phone bill: 82 yuan

• China Unicom subscribers: 167 million

• China Unicom users’ average monthly phone bill: 43.3 yuan

* Figures as at first quarter of this year

Is your PC low-cost enough?

Super affordable price tags. Simple to use interface. Low-cost computers are now causing a stir in the PC industry, with so many companies joining the fray. Jason Tan finds out more.

Hong Kong recently faced its first typhoon of the year, which brought massive rain and winds. Despite such weather conditions, nearly 1,000 eager beavers flocked to Mongkok, Kowloon, to get their hands on the latest Eee PC.

All of the 1,000 units allocated for the global premiere in Hong Kong were snapped up that day.

Weighing less than 1kg and going for below RM2,000, the Eee PC 900 is expected to make the same impact as when the first low-cost computers hit consumers.

The fever of low-cost computers has not only caught on in Hong Kong. More consumers across the globe – especially those who need a PC for simple Internet browsing – are buying into the idea of having such machines as their second PC.

Take Ross Chang, a twentysomething Web designer in Macau who bought the first-generation Eee PC 701 four months ago.

“It comes in handy when I bring it to cafes to surf the Net, do simple document work, and fire messages on MSN,” he said.

He can easily slip the laptop, which weighs less than one kilogram with its seven-inch screen, into his backpack.

Last October, when Taiwan’s Asustek Computer launched its first Eee PC – whose new acronym stands for “Easy, Exciting and Economic”, instead of the earlier “Easy to learn, easy to play, and easy to work” – it did not expect the low-cost PC to become the latest buzzword in the PC industry.

Bigger rivals such as Acer, the world’s No. 3 computer maker, also underestimated the threat from smaller, lower-margin laptops, casting doubt over whether users would buy such “simple-functioning machines”.

But then, the US$200 (RM660) Eee PC 701 is much cheaper than the US$1,000 price tag for an entry-level laptop.

Well, figures say it all. Asustek statistics show that it has sold one million units of the Eee PC since its debut until March.

The new Eee PC 900 has an 8.9-inch screen, 1.3-megapixel camera and 12-gigabyte or 20GB solid-state drive. At NT$15,988 (RM1,705), this model comes with either the Linux or Windows operating system.

Surprisingly, the Linux model, which accounted for 60 per cent of the first sales, is well-received by Taiwanese consumers, said Asustek’s product manager Jose Liao.

“The overall user-friendliness and other applications bundled in will matter more to consumers when choosing low-cost computers. We leave the choice to them.”

Indeed, Asustek has a slew of rivals closely tailing its back. Other Taiwanese computer makers such as Elitegroup Computer Systems, Micro-Star International and Gigabyte Technology have all unveiled plans to grab a slice of the pie.

At the recent Computex Taipei trade show, Acer introduced its first ultra-low-cost laptop armed with Intel’s Atom microprocessor. Also lighter than 1kg, this machine makes a good fit for those looking for a handheld device with PC-like Internet experience, said company president Gianfranco Lanci.

Foreign bigwigs have not been spared from the frenzy either.

In early April, US-based Hewlett-Packard introduced its first low-cost notebook, the 2133 Mini-Note, aimed at the education market. Hitting stores with prices that start from NT$17,900, the machine weighs 1.2kg, is 33 millimetres thin and has an 8.9-inch screen. Wireless is built-in, and Webcam is optional.

Consumers are set to benefit with more launches on the cards.

Chua Chiow Boon, a stockbroker in Malacca, is considering buying a low-cost laptop.

“Low-cost PCs are smaller and make a good substitute to the bulky laptop I have at home,” he said.

More Chinese boarding planes, the cyber way

By Jason Tan

When Dreama Tsai missed her train from Shanghai to Guangzhou on the first day of the week-long Golden Holiday in October, she decided to call up Ctrip.com on the spot to purchase a flight ticket.

The 25-year-old architect, a Taiwan national working in Shanghai, rushed to the airport and settle her bill directly over the Ctrip counter.

“The service isn't bad,” she said. “Lots of my friends popped up the company's name when I asked them where to get flight tickets.”

A growing number of expats -- especially locals -- are now flying via Web-based agencies in China, either through clicks on the Internet or calls to the call center.

With 162 million people online, China has the world's No. 2 population of Internet users after the US, and this made online travel a booming business.
Set up in 1999, Ctrip.com has now ruled over China's cyber travel space, thrusting away smaller rivals including Elong.com and China-sss.com.

The Nasdaq-listed Ctrip.com reported profit of US$18 million in the third quarter, 68 percent up from the same period last year, thanks to more airway ticket purchases and hotel bookings from travelers.

“Ctrip.com moved into the market very early, launching advertisements in the airport and membership cards for certain privileges. This made it build up a loyal fan base since the early stage,” said Chen Wen, an Internet analyst with CCID Consulting in Beijing.

Seventy-percent of the company's sales are from call center, while the rest through online reservations, she said.

With around 2,000 staff managing queries, manpower of the firm's call center is believed to be the largest among all Web-based travel agencies in Asia, she said.

Indeed, these Chinese online tour firms are innovative in reaching out to the crowds.

Most of the them offer ticket delivery to clients' doorsteps, meaning consumers can lay back while courier men come sending you the ticket while picking up the tab, either to pay in cash or plastic cards.

They also tie up with various hotels in the country, or those abroad, and users who book through these agencies are ensured of cheaper check-in rates than the advertised fees.

In the case of Ctrip.com, it claims to work with to over 28,000 two- to five-star hotels in 134 countries for such service.

Another perk for those money conscious. Surfers of Elong.com, which is also Nasdaq-listed, could key in their house or mobile numbers on the Web site, which will then route the calls instantly to the company's hotline -- for free.

Elong.com's Web page also highlights certain flights when the seats are running low.

Meanwhile, travoo.com partnered this month [November] with C-store to offer consumers 24x7 direct purchase of tour packages at the latter's 200-plus convenience store outlets.

Despite more affluent Chinese could now afford to fly, they are getting picky in choosing the best services.

“These marketers have to innovate by leveraging the Internet to reach consumers as conventional online advertising method is not adequate now, considering increasingly tech-savvy Chinese netizens,” Grace Pan, Nielson China's head of travel and leisure research, said in a recent report.

Attractive and informative online content are a must to facilitate Chinese travelers in making destination choices, and after that, a user-friendly and trustworthy mechanism will be needed to facilitate bookings, Pan said.

Nielson released a report in late October, revealing that 29 percent respondents did online bookings with travel agents and 16 percent went cyberspace to reserve hotels or transports.

Though the bulk of respondents, or 61 percent, still relied on traditional travel agents, the Internet power is on the rise, it said.

Seven in 10 Chinese travelers would do homework on the destinations via the Internet, while six in 10 would gather information from online travel forums before jetting off, according to the poll, which questioned 1,500 respondents from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou -- the three most affluent cities.

Ango Shao, a 24-year-old Shanghai native, is in the tech savvy pool.
One of his favorites is China-sss.com, a Chinese airline offers cheap domestic flights for online reservations.

“Sometime when I am feeling down, I would just purchase flight to Hainan island to enjoy the sea view,” the lawyer said. “It is, after all, a cheap way to fly.”

Sneak peek of Desperate Housewives + Ugly Betty +...

By Jason Tan

It was a cooling winter afternoon in Shanghai, and I started to feel bored after visiting most of the tourists spots in the bustling city.

The Internet in my room was running at snail speed as usual, but surfing the Web was a good pastime nonetheless as my French housemates didn't have TV at home.

I logged onto the Web, trying to track down a recent China TV series to see if I could download and all of a sudden -- I bumped into bulges of Chinese video sharing portals.

These Web sites stream videos from the popular series "Ugly Betty", "Desperate Housewives", to reality show Amazing Race, and also include Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong movies and dramas!

Some of the videos were just recently broadcast in the US and not even hitting Malaysian airwaves yet. And most importantly -- they are free!

I chose to click onto Xiaoli site to kick start my Korean drama "Coffee Prince", reportedly quite a hit in South Korea and was recently shown over Taiwanese and Singapore TVs.

Within the next week or so, I managed to finish the 17-episode drama, plus a special episode on the production notes.

In between, I squeezed in the first eight episodes of "Ugly Betty" Season 2 (who wouldn't love Betty and wonder when the plain-looking girl will transform into a charmer? For your information, this season will only premiere on 8TV on Feb. 5).

I also watched first seven episodes of "Desperate Housewives" Season 4 (a new neighbor with a secret past has again descended onto Wisteria Lane. I just love seeing the new twists and suspense, plus the gossips in the neighborhood.)

In case you wonder, resolution of the pictures were not top notch, but good to get by fitting my 12-inch notebook.

The video buffering wasn't a big distraction either as when I was watching the first part of an episode, I would click open the second and third parts the same time to let the buffering complete before seeing them.

These portals made my days in Shanghai and I only hated the fact to discover them too late.

Indeed, video sharing portals are sprouting in China thanks to the stringent movie and Internet censorships.

Each year, China only allows 20 foreign films, including Hollywood blockbusters, to be screened in local cinemas. Cable networks like the StarWorld, HBO and Cinemax, are definitely out of reach for the general public.

Munching popcorns at theaters is therefore not a viable option for most in view of the limited choices, but the good thing is -- pirated versions of latest uncensored Hollywood flicks boasting top DVD quality are accessible across Chinese cities, and each piece costs as little as 5 yuan (RM2).

In last November, an uncut version of Ang Lee's erotic thriller, "Lust, Caution", swamped Chinese Web sites after 22 minutes of graphic sex scenes were cut by China's State Administration of Radio Film and Television.

According to CCID Consulting, China's leading technology researcher, online video business is making waves in China with audience estimated at 78 million.

Tapping onto the trend, Western venture capitalists have poured US$120 million into the industry since 2004.

Tudou -- barely up and running in 2005 -- is now China's largest video sharing Web site, serving more than a billion minutes of video traffic per day, which is around 30 percent more than its US counterpart YouTube.

These Web sites -- also include Youku and Sina, among others -- are not only gaining momentum in the mainland, but also attracted overseas surfers.

China puts the blame on the rampant copyright infringement of these portals as an "international crime".

Just this month [January 2008], a Chinese public-security ministry official asked for international help in copyright enforcement, noting that many infringers use Web sites hosted outside Chinese jurisdiction, making the authorities hard to enforce the law.

International cooperation is needed to curb the piracy, the official said.

China has also announced on tougher restrictions on what surfers can get on videos.

Come January 31, online video postings will be limited to state-owned or state-controlled video providers. Clips that contain violence or sex or are considered "detrimental to the nation's security" will be deleted immediately.

The regulation mainly targets content uploaded by amateurs and experts believe TV and film clips will largely remain untouched.

Despite the authorities' efforts, these sites are already sweeping the Internet industry by storms and hooking too many netizens in the world.

With those free-of-charge contents available 24x7, who would to wait for TVs to finally show them?

It's a dancing affair

After much twisting and turning, this writer finally
plucked up his courage to sign up for a dance lesson.
As the only "male power" in the class, never in his
wildest dreams thought that he would find himself
tapping to heartwarming encounters with a bunch of
aunties, plus a few beats of courage along the way.

By Jason Tan

"My husband is on the hospital's watch list, being one
of the most severely ill patients," she says
matter-of-factly when asked why she has been skipping
the dance lessons of late.

Her man has to undergo an organ transplant, and it
seems to be proving too much for her to juggle between
hospital beds and dance classes.

He has been bed-ridden for some years, and it's
becoming clear that the witty professor in him is long
gone. For a few times, his life hanged by a thread and
she thought she would lose him for good.

Once, when the acclaimed ballroom dance performance
"Burn the Floor" hit Taipei two years ago, she
couldn't wait to catch the production, as dance has
been her favorite pastime after retirement -- besides
freeing her mind off her husband's routine, long hours
of kidney dialysis.

Fate dealt another blow and it was on the production
day that her husband was rushed to the emergency room,
but he told his daughters to put off telling her the
news.

Her delight turned into despair as soon as she got
home to an empty house. With a heavy and anxious
heart, she tearfully rushed to the hospital to see
him.

"He knows that how much dancing means to me. He
respects what I do, and he just wants me to enjoy the
show," she recalls.

Her husband pulled through that time, and she is
convinced he would again this time.

In the same city, a mother plucked up her courage to
dial for a private detective to check on her husband.

It all began when she suspected something fishy about
his late nights and suspicious calls.

When the detective returned with evidence of his
cheating heart, she confronted him. He responded with
a slap on her face when she pushed for an explanation.

Stunned, she grabbed the car keys, while he shouted
after her: "Where do you think you are going? Who is
going to make dinner?"

It was the first time that she would not be cooking
dinner for the family in her over 10 years as a
dutiful wife and mother.

Both of the women were my fellow classmates when I
took up ballroom dancing in Taipei about three years
ago.

With butterflies in my stomach and weak knees to boot,
I stumbled into the dance studio for the first time,
knowing that the male presence was practically
non-existent.

But it was no turning back. I was desperate to step up
my dancing skills in a more advanced class, even if it
meant having to battle for waltzing space with the
20-over aunties who are mostly in their 40s or 50s.

My worries proved unfounded when these aunties so
tenderly lent their helping hand to help spice up my
moves.

"It is so refreshing to finally see a young guy
picking up the dancing shoes," one aunty remarked.

During lesson breaks, we would share fruits and
snacks, and this sharing even extended outside the
classroom.

Every Friday, they would put on someting sassy to
match their high-heeled dancing shoes and strut their
stuff on the dance floor to the jazzy tunes of jive.
They were really the centre of attention.

"It is the happiest moment of the day when I come to
dance," uttered my another "motherly classmate", who
also picks up Indian dance, yoga and belly dancing.

Last summer, when we were lining up at a water theme
park in Taipei, I teased her if her husband, who works
in China, would have extramarital affairs.

To my surprise, she replied nonchalantly: "He already
did."

With business exchanges firing up between the two
sides, Taiwanese wives these days live in fear of
losing their men to other women living in the
mainland.

But this motherly aunty managed to weather the storm
of her marriage, just as her fellow classmates did.

These women cha cha cha-ed to each other's support
every Friday morning, albeit for a short two hours.

Life is tough, but the music and dancing shoes can
surely help weave some magic, gradually mending a few
broken hearts in the process.



Although the dancing shoes have been lying quiet in
the wardrobe of late, this writer will always remember
the courage of the tender-hearted, motherly aunties
during his seven years of stay in Taipei.

Shanghai, large and loud

JASON TAN recounts the many adventures he experienced while taking Shanghai's public transportation to his workplace.


IT was nearly midnight when my friend and I hailed a cab in Shanghai, trying to escape the freezing winter and waiting to step into our warm apartment as soon as we could.

While the cab was a much-needed reprieve from the frosty weather, little did we know that we were about to be assaulted, in a manner of speaking.

As we chatted in the car, as most passengers are wont to do, we began to realise that our conversation was gradually becoming inaudible against the music from the radio.

We wouldn't have minded some light Chinese tunes in the background to soothe us after a long day. But this was something else! The music could have blasted us out of our seats.
My friend politely asked the Shi Fu (the cabbie greeting in China) to turn down the volume, and he did — but for exactly a minute, and then the volume was cranked up even higher! We gave up reasoning with him;praying we'd reach home soon so this torture would end.

I was in Shanghai recently for three months, and this was just one of the strange dramas that I experienced there.

These days, it seems, cab rides are no longer a privilege for expatriates living in China. It has become affordable for just about anyone to take a ride in a taxi.

"Ten years ago, when I first landed in Suzhou, the rate for a flagged down taxi was 10 yuan (RM4.60). The fare now is still the same," said a French fellow who has been calling the city his home since 1998.

Thanks to the deeper pockets bulging from an economic upturn, more Chinese are opting for taxis instead of subways and buses. These days, it has almost become a physical tussle for residents — both locals and expats — to flag down a taxi.

After some time, I started to come up with the "Three No-s" when taking trains with other fellow commuters.

First No: Avoid taking public transport during rush hours. Second No: Do not carry valuables unless you don't mind it being snatched. Third No: Never ever let your guard down.

Sandwiched though I was between other passengers, those train rides were wonderful as I caught glimpses of Shanghai life.

Often in the compartments, I'd come across sophisticated, career women in their high-heels, toying with their expensive camera phones. Standing next to them would be some middle-aged man wearing a tattered shirt, holding on to two big sacks — probably all of his fortune.

Once, my Shanghai friend was taken aback when a boy suddenly kneeled down before her on a moving subway, showering her with non-stop kowtows.

He was supposed to have been in a primary school classroom; instead he was pestering for money,quite unperturbed by the despicable glares from onlookers.

"What has happened to the parents these days? They do not send their children to school but ask them to solicit money?" my friend flared up when recounting her experience.

More often, travelling during peak hours meant we had to put up with the occasional unpleasant body odour in the train, as personal hygiene is not something Shanghainese take seriously.

And so it was that I had to grit my teeth when I saw the cabbie I had hailed down earlier stop at the traffic light, roll down the window and spit out.

I also had to prepare myself for a blank look every time I greeted the driver upon stepping into a cab. But then, not all of the public transport episodes were distasteful.

I stumbled across an amicable woman Shi Fu, who hails from a smaller mainland city and has been zipping around the bustling Shanghai freeways for years.

Our friendship blossomed when I accidentally spilt my bottle of mineral water all over her back seat. Immediately, I readied myself for an earful but she told me it wasn't a big deal.

Since then I have called for her service a few times.

"I start the day by leaving house at 7am, getting back home after 1am or 2am," she said when we chatted one day in her rental car.

Like her, most cabbies in Shanghai are cramming double shifts in their 15-day work roster every month for survival.

No wonder the cab driver we took had to max out the radio volume, so as not to doze off after a gruelling 10-hour plus shift.

The public transport in the city was an eye-opener, indeed.

Shanghai affair

Lured by fantastic stories coming out of the new Promised Land, this writer forsakes the comfortable and the familiar to try his luck on the Bund.

AFTER seven wonderful years in Taipei, it was not easy to just pack up and leave, which I decided to do several months ago.

However, I was lured by the exciting prospect of a fresh start in Shanghai – the most westernised and cosmopolitan city in China.

I was eager to see for myself the reality behind the hype about China being the rising new economic superpower whose GDP (gross domestic product) has been surging past those of many traditional powerhouses.

My motivation was partly the pull factor – the promise of new prosperity – but there was also a bit of the push since Taiwan’s importance has been overshadowed by China in recent years.

There was a bit of nervousness from the prolonged cross-straits tension that has put the island in a volatile and vulnerable position. At the same time, my job as a journalist in Taipei did not seem to offer much prospect, with no salary increment in sight after two years.

The time was right, I convinced myself, to embark on a new adventure.

So, last October saw me packing up my stuff in Taipei and setting off for Shanghai.

During the first two weeks, I shifted accommodation three times. First, I stayed in a budget hotel, then bunked at a friend’s home and, finally, I found an apartment in the upscale Jinganshi district that was shared with a bunch of French expatriates.

It was only after I moved into the apartment that I realised how international Shanghai had become. The rapid development in recent years has attracted not only a massive influx of capital from abroad but also hordes of foreign talent.

According to Business Week, over 150 multinationals had set up offices in Shanghai in 2006 alone. The city reported 12% economic growth the same year, even higher than the blistering national average of 10.7%.

“I am worried about the future competitiveness of Taiwan,” lamented a Taiwanese friend after her trip to Shanghai.

Don’t get us wrong, we are still deeply in love with Taipei, and we have so many fond memories of the city. Taiwanese are open-minded, they have press freedom and passionate about politics; this is a huge contrast to mainlanders.

From my years staying in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei, I felt most at ease among my Taiwanese friends.

But I chose to look for something new and, thus, began my flirtation with Shanghai.

Shortly after landing in Shanghai, I became acquainted with a bewildering variety of foreigners from as far away as France, Russia, Spain and even Malaysia, all seeking their fortunes in this city of opportunity.

Almost immediately, I sensed it was not going to be easy. Shanghai, being the wealthiest city in China, is a magnet for millions of immigrants from smaller mainland cities and rural villages, all trying to make it big.

The number of fresh graduates fighting for a job market is scary. A friend who hails from Guizhou tells me that fresh graduates are happy to secure a job offering 2000 yuan (RM900) a month.

With so many expatriates, myself included, trying our luck in China, it remains a big question mark if local companies would be willing to hire me, let alone pay according to my high expectations.

The last time I checked a recruitment website, there were over 200 people vying for the same vacancy!

Just when I was beginning to wonder if I was losing my edge in the job market, something unexpected happened.

I discovered that one of the fellow students at my ballroom dance classes in Shanghai is from my hometown, Malacca! And, the 30-something lady is in charge of operations at “Three on the Bund”.

Touted as one of the best places to see in the new China by Time magazine in 2005, Three on the Bund is a renovated 1916 building strategically located along the renowned Shanghai bund.

It houses four of the city’s top eateries, an art gallery and a spa that boasts of rivers flowing with Evian, as well as an Armani flagship store.

She extended a warm welcome and even offered me a job in her glamorous firm. Who could have expected to meet someone from the same hometown, and even get a job offer, while taking dance lessons in a strange land?

This, to me, is the charm of the new China – anything is possible, anything can happen. It never ceases to amaze me how much and how quickly it has evolved.

Still, I decided to say goodbye to Shanghai, despite the promise of great possibilities. My three-month sojourn there made me realise that, after all these years, I have become used to the warm and friendly Taiwanese and I missed them so much when away.

But, should wanderlust strike me again, I’m thinking ... Beijing.


The author is a journalist who, after living and working in Taiwan for years, is bedazzled by the beckoning bright lights of China.