Chozie pulls up outside a coffee shop, exits the car, and peruses the area. He tugs his baseball cap over his eyes, raises his jacket collar to his ears, selects a seat in the deserted cafe, and slaps a dossier down. "They'll find you anywhere," he says, looking furtively around the vacant tables. "And you won't even know they're there."

A tad paranoid, maybe, but for Asia's No. 1 DJ, even drinking tea can become headline news if he's not careful. With the paparazzi (gouzai dui, or dog pack) on his trail, his life has been headline news with a focus on his relationship with Taiwan celebrity, TV host Momoko. "It got to the point where my dog became a superstar," he says, flipping through his dossier of clippings from Taiwan newspapers such as Apple Daily and Next. "'Tuffy Being Walked by Chozie' was one headline... and when my father came to visit, they got him shopping as well."

The dogs that are chasing him are not the mainland breed; they're from Taiwan, following a whiff of a scandal across from across the Straits. And according to Li Rong, editor for the Nanfang Newspaper Group, the Chinese mainland is only just beginning to pick up the scent of a scandal. Li launched celebrity Star Weekly last year that, he says, became the top selling magazine on newsstands in Shanghai and Beijing before it was closed down in March. Li is swift to assert the magazine's closure was purely on a licensing technicality, and not due to political pressure: "These kinds of gossip publications are given much more freedom than those that cover politics or economics, and we are very much aware of their commercial value."

For Song Jie, producer of the new music video show MTV Cool English, her job is to produce stars - and while talent is necessary, a vigilant paparazzi certainly helps get the message across. "The paparazzi draws attention to the stars," she says. "It makes them accessible to ordinary people. The entertainment industry is extremely money oriented, and there is a market for this."

"The problem of producing this type of magazine on the Chinese mainland is that the stars are much more private," says Li. "They rarely slip up and expose their personal lives to the public... They're not willing to risk their careers like that."

But it may come down to the fact that the dog pack hasn't shown its teeth just yet. True paparazzi stops at nothing to get a story, and no amount of planning and privacy can stop a covert zoom lens capturing regal toe-sucking antics by a holiday pool. Chinese mainland stars may seem to have the upper hand now in maintaining privacy, but they've had it easy.

"The paparazzi on the Chinese mainland is still quite mellow," says Chozie. "They'll stand in a corner, in full view, take a photo of you, and leave." In contrast to the invasion of privacy endured by his dog in Taiwan, Chozie himself has been granted the courtesy of approving every photo that has been published of him on the mainland: "The magazine will call you up, say they have a photo of you and ask you to confirm that it's you. You're actually given the option to comment." He adds that each time he has withdrawn permission to use a photo, the image has not been printed.

As in Taiwan, Hong Kong's bloodhounds are also well on the scent of a good story, with singer Anita Mui enduring an excruciating level of press intrusion during her treatment for ovarian cancer that saw her make a public plea for peace. Other frequent headliners in the SAR include bad-boy singer Nicholas Tse (Xie Tingfeng) and his controversial girlfriend Faye Wong (Wang Fei). For these stars, constant camera flashes and bugged hotel rooms are a fact of life. "Hong Kong's paparazzi can be brutal," says Shanghai author, socialite, and party host Mian Mian. "And the Chinese mainland is learning from them. Friends like Wang Fei have their own clever ways of escaping, and often they don't care."

Chozie agrees that the best strategy is to let the rumors roll over you: "As soon as you attack back, they'll come back harder."

This is something that Tang Jiali has yet to learn. Tang was hounded by the paparazzi after the publication of her book, Tang Jiali: Nude Photographs, in 2002. She was accused of pornography and torn apart by the press. "I'm afraid of them -- they have hurt me so much," Tang says. "I've had to force myself to calm down though, I have to remember that it is good to be alive." MTV's Zheng Jun wouldn't have much sympathy for the young Tang, who has suffered only one hounding. Of all the Chinese mainland stars, Zheng's probably suffered the most: "I was in an accident once in Xi'an and within five minutes there were journalists swarmed around me with cameras." According to Zheng, the Chinese mainland's journalists don't even compare in ferocity to Hong Kong's, although he says even in Beijing, the lens is hard to escape.

But for the time being, the mainland remains a relatively safe haven. Even high-profile clubs such as Club Vogue (now the Club) in Beijing has kept the gossip hounds at bay. "We had one cameraman come in, order dishes, and just take photos of them," says Henry Li, owner of the Club. "We thought he was doing food review - then we saw the photos published in a Hong Kong gossip magazine under the headline of what Faye Wong and Nicholas Tse ate on their date here."

Li has played proud host to some of the biggest international stars to visit China, including the likes of Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino. With cameras only allowed in by prior arrangement, it's a policy that's worked so far. For the duration of filming on the recently released movie Kill Bill, shot in Beijing throughout 2002, no photographs of Tarantino or Thurman partying in Li's club were snapped to tarnish reputations.

So many stars, so many secrets. For Chozie, who hasn't spoken to his ex-girlfriend Momoko in weeks, Taiwan's tabloids are keeping him up to date with his breakup (the magazines carry her thoughts on the matter).

"Someone came up to me one night and said, 'Wow, your friend really looks like Quentin Tarantino," says club owner Li. "He didn't realize it was Quentin Tarantino." Only in China - and only until the hounds of the dog pack are let off the leash.

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