Chu Mei-feng

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chu Mei feng hosting a tv news show.

Chu Mei-feng, (璩美鳳 pinyin: Qú Měifèng b. August 5, 1966), is a Taiwanese former TV journalist, Taipei City councilwoman and the former director of Hsinchu City's Bureau of Cultural Affairs. However she is best known for her sex tape scandal late in 2001, in which she was covertly filmed alongside Tseng Chung-ming, a married Taiwanese businessman.

1 Biography
2 Influence
3 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Education and political career

Chu was born in a mainlander veteran family in Wanhua District, Taipei City and graduated from the prestigious Taipei First Girls' High School and National Chengchi University with a bachelor degree in Chinese literature. After leaving school, Chu worked as a TV journalist for several years before she was elected as Taipei City councilwoman in December 1994 under New Party (NP)'s nomination.

Being the youngest elected Taipei City Councilor in the 1994 vote, plus the well-knownness accumulated during her TV journalist career, she soon gained publicity and has long been noted for her outspokenness, sharp-wittedness, and beauty: in 1995, while fresh in Taipei City Council, she donated a Republic of China's National Flag to then Taipei Mayor Chen Shui-bian inside the Council, challenging Chen as to "whether Mayor Chen admits the existence of Republic of China or not". In October 1996 Chu held a press conference which deeply depressed Frank Hsieh who just lost in the 1996 ROC presidential election: Chu claimed Hsieh and his wife received 20 million NT$ in donations from notorious local psychic Sung Chi-li(宋七力) and spiritually followed him for long time. Although Hsieh finally won in the coming lawsuits, this event still harmed Hsieh greatly (later in 2001 when Chu was involved in sex scandal, some Pan-Green supporters considered this scandal as a nemesis against Chu). In 1999 a local survey listed Chu among the three Taiwanese female politicians who Taiwanese males wanted to see nude the most, the other two being Sisy Chen and Chiu I-Ying(邱議瑩).

In summer 1998 when her four-year tenure in the Taipei City Council would soon end, Chu sought for re-election but NP did not nominate her due to her controversial image. Fortunately, her boyfriend at that time was then Hsinchu Mayor Tsai Jen-chien(蔡仁堅), and Tsai later offered her the post at Hsinchu City Government until summer 2001 when they broke up. In the lower half of 2001 Chu campaigned under NP for election to the Legislative Yuan's Taichung City electoral district and was seen as a threat to the incumbent Shen Chih-hui(沈智慧), despite a string of high-profile relationships with Tsai Jen-chien, who was 15 years older than she, divorced with 2 teenaged daughters, and a member of the rival Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as well as an October 2001 issue of local paparazzi magazine Next Magazine which reported her alleged promiscuity and hinted a sex tape they had. Chu strongly denied these rumors, but finally still lost in the vote held on December 1, 2001.

[edit] Sex tape scandal

Shortly after this defeat, on December 17, 2001, another local paparazzi magazine Scoop Weekly (獨家報導) published a lengthy story about Chu's alleged promiscuity and attached the exact issue with a 47-minute video CD secretly taken with a pinhole camera, purportedly showing Chu having sex with a man who was later confirmed as married Tseng Chung-ming. This video caused an immediate sensation and was soon spread throughout the world via the Internet. Chu sued Scoop Weekly for libel, invasion of privacy, and distribution of obscenity on December 31, 2001, despite the fact that such action would mean Chu admitted her prior sexual intercourse with Tseng Chung-ming, and Tseng's wife would be eligible to sue Chu for adultery. Local authorities immediately ruled that the magazines in question had to be pulled from the market as a result, but not before the several thousand copies which were already sold. The damage had already been done when the video quickly found its way onto the Internet: search engine Lycos reported her name was among the most searched terms in January 2002.

This pinhole camera was later confirmed to be installed by Kuo Yu-ling (郭玉鈴), a friend of Chu's, who was a jobless divorced middle-aged mother with a teenaged daughter. In January 2000 Chu got acquainted with Kuo in a local avatar religious group where Kuo served as a "spiritual advisor". Kuo would never let other people know her real situation; instead, she pretended to be a celebrity by means of make-believe guise and personation. Kuo was able to gain Chu's confidence while also getting acquainted with Tsai Jen-Chien.

In July 2001 when Chu traveled to the United States for two weeks, Chu asked Kuo to take care of her Danshuei condominium; being poor and knowing Chu's promiscuity, Kuo then took this opportunity to install a pinhole video camera inside a stereo set in Chu's bedroom so as to possibly threaten or blackmail Chu at a later date. Tsai Jen-chien also played a role in this event; Tsai was reportedly angered after his separation with Chu, and was seeking revenge (Tsai later claimed he gave Chu more than 20 million NT$ in cash and gifts between 1998 and 2001, including buying her a Hsinchu condominium, but when he asked Chu to return them back after they broke up, Chu refused and sold this Hsinchu condominium for more money instead). Local prosecutors later confirmed that Tsai helped Kuo acquire the camera, as well as participated in planning, although it was Kuo alone that installed the camera and sold the tape. Kuo also took this chance to pocket 0.59 million NT$ from Chu's bank account, and Kuo's daughter Kao Chun-chun (高淳淳) assisted her mother in these illegal activities^{[citation needed]}.

Kuo sold the tape to several local paparazzi magazines in October 2001. Next magazine and Scoop Weekly finally took it, and were believed to have paid Kuo an undisclosed amount of money. In March 2006 the Supreme Court of the Republic of China finally sentenced Kuo to four years and eight months in jail, while the lawsuits against Scoop Weekly are still in process. Tsai Jen-chien was originally prosecuted too, but Chu later revoked her accusation toward Tsai because "I don't want to see Tsai's person any more"^{[citation needed]}. Tsai Jen-chien was also defeated in his re-election for mayor of Hsinchu on the December 1, 2001 vote. He has since retired from public affairs and is currently rumored to be teaching at a university in Fujian Province, the People's Republic of China.

Besides Tseng Chung-ming, it was rumoured that Kuo still held another two unreleased "lights-off version" video CDs, separately showing Chu having sex with Kuomintang official Chou Chih-wei (周志偉, who is also Chu's elementary school classmate) and independent Legislator Tsai Hau (蔡豪). The single Chou kept silient while the married Tsai strongly denied; the two CDs are not publicized as of yet. [1]

[edit] Post-scandal

After this scandal, Chu described herself as "a woman with no face at all". Right after the scandal Chu published a book entitled The Confessions of Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳懺情錄) trying to explain her complicated relationships with all the gentlemen above, but it was poorly sold. Most time in 2002 Chu secluded herself to Singapore and China. She was rumored to have been engaged with a Shanghai man in summer 2002 but they soon broke up, during this time her application to Fudan University's PhD program was also rejected. Since 2003 Chu has been staying in the United Kingdom and almost cut off all relationships with Taiwan, rumored to be studying at University of Liverpool but unconfirmed. In March 2006 Apple Daily (Taiwan) reported that Chu had married a young Chinese man in the United Kingdom, was several months pregnant, and was planning to move to her husband's hometown Shenyang after graduation. Chu's family in Taiwan refused to confirm this.

Kuo Yu-ling and Kao Chun-chun immediately gained nation-wide notoriety after this scandal, and they dared not show up publicly ever since. Kao attempted suicide in May 2002 and her education was ceased. However, Kao was found not guilty in these lawsuits due to the fact that she simply obeyed her mother. This mother-daughter pair are rumored to have been expelled by their avatar religious group, and changed their belief to christianity since late 2003, being highly pious, and made their living by serving at the church.

In April 2006, after Kuo Yu-ling's lawsuits were finally settled, Chu's lawyer in Taiwan told local media that Chu may revoke her accusation toward Kuo as long as Kuo could immediately pay Chu 3 million NT$ as compensation. Kuo did not respond and was imprisoned on May 29, 2006.

Shortly after Kuo's imprisonment, on June 9, 2006, Taipei Municipal Court verdicted that Kuo needed to compensate Chu 2.59 million NT$: 2 million for the tape, and 0.59 million for the appropriation. Kuo's parents in Yilan told local media that they had not got in touch with their daughter for very long time, and their family had no money for the compensation. Chu's lawyer said that Chu was not considering appeal due to the fact that Kuo was already imprisoned; he also confirmed Chu's married status, but refused to release further details.

The October 25 2006 issue of Taiwanese Next Magazine reported that Chu currently ran a coffee shop with her husband in Soho, London, and she was not pregnant.

[edit] Influence

In 2002 many Taiwanese lingerie manufacturers reported a significant growth in the sales of white thong panties, which is the exact underwear Chu wore in the video.

In February 2005 Taiwan's Legislative Yuan modified the Republic of China Criminal Code, Chapter XXVIII Article 315, which significantly raises the penalty for covertly recording other person's privacy without legal reason. This Article 315 is nicknamed "Chu Mei-feng's Article".

A Hong Kong film, The Peeping (偷窺無罪, 2002) reiterates Chu and Tseng's stories.