When Hsiao appears, it apparently pours
China's meteorological authorities recently set out to prove whether Taiwanese pop star Jam Hsiao deserves his nickname of "God of Rain".
Fans of the singer who gave him the nickname claim it rains whenever and wherever Hsiao appears at a public event.
Their claim was a hot topic on Chinese Internet forums, but meteorological authorities recently sought to clarify whether Hsiao can indeed bring on the rain.
The website of China Meteorological Administration, weather.com.cn, published statistics on the probability of rain occurring during a public appearance by Hsiao. It said in 43 public events that Hsiao attended, it rained 26 times, or a 60.46 percent chance.
Netizens had estimated an 83.3-percent chance of rain.
"No matter what the data says, I think Hsiao has higher accuracy than the administration's weather forecast in term of forecasting rains," said a netizen under the screen name chu jun.
Netizens created Hsiao's nickname last July when heavy rainfall hit Beijing on the exact day he held a solo concert in the capital. Last August, Hsiao's concert in Shanghai coincidently clashed with Typhoon Haikui. He was also staying in New York when Hurricane Sandy struck in October and when he tried to hold a concert in Tianjin in November, it was delayed because of rain.