Better to tie the knot than not at all

Hong Kong actress Karen Mok arrives for the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards April 13, 2008.[Agencies]

After a show, I occasionally go for a drink with friends. It doesn't take me long to unwind over a few glasses of green tea mixed with Chivas Regal. On Saturday night, one of my more youthful acquaintances took me to a club called Cutie in Gongti. The place was hopping, as they say, and before I knew it we were in the VIP section with a couple of rappers from the United States called the Jungle Brothers. With the help of my inebriated friend translating, it wasn't long before Mike G and Africa Baby Bam were happily talking about cancer, incarceration and Barack Obama. According to Bam, US prisons are being built specially for "people of color" and the presidential hopeful will be assassinated. No wonder they like China so much.

Another import from the US in the news this week was Kung Fu Panda. I saw the movie and felt patriotic afterward, so news of a campaign to have it banned amazed me. The rationale given for this was persona non grata Stephen Spielberg was behind the film, Sharon Stone is an idiot and people in the Sichuan area devastated by the quake are not "emotionally stable" enough to watch it. "Artist" Zhao Bandi led the oddly named "send the kungfu panda home" crusade, despite the obvious fact that pandas come from China and he hadn't even seen the film. Sanity prevailed, however, and the animation was eventually released in Sichuan.

The impeccable Kelly Chen tearfully announced she was getting married after her recent Lover Fighters 2008 concert in Hong Kong. Since the singer will be busy performing during the Olympics, she has set the date for October. The 35-year-old will tie the knot with her boyfriend of 16 years, Alex Lau, despite having denied they were seeing each other for approximately the same time.

Another Hong Kong singer, actress and model, Karen Mok (pictured), announced in December last year she had broken up with her long-time beau, despite denying they were ever together. Notice a pattern here? Six months later, Mok is still in mourning while her ex, Stephen Fung, has moved on. He is enjoying the company of model Vivian Hsu, and the latest issue of Express Weekly contends he has been doing so for over a year.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of them all? According to a plastic surgeon in Taiwan, it is model Lin Zhiling, because of her "perfect symmetry". Doctor Lu Xu-yan says many people come to his office wanting an identically framed face, but he has to tell them Lin is one of the few cases where symmetry works - as most models' faces are uneven.

Hu Deman, legendary Beijing crosstalker and confidante to China's biggest celebrities, talks to Jules Quartly

(China Daily 06/25/2008 page18)