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Chu Mei-feng
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 Chu Mei-Feng |
 Scoop Seized |
 Kuo Yu-Ling |
 Tsai Jen-Chien |
 Kao Chun-Chun |
Who is Chu Mei-Feng?
Chu Mei-Feng is a Taiwanese politician with the New Party. She served as a Taipei city councilor, then later became cultural affairs director of Hsinchu. According to the Taipei Times, "Chu, born in 1966, was once a shining star of the New Party who first rose to prominence in 1997 after becoming the first to denounce Sung Chi-li, a cult leader who claimed to have supernatural powers. She later regained the media spotlight by having a love affair with the sitting mayor of Hsinchu City Tsai Jen-chien, though she ended the relationship with Tsai last year." Before entering politics, Chu worked as a TV journalist.
Tabloid Releases The Video
In the fall of 2001, there were rumors in Taiwan political circles that a video showing Chu Mei-Feng having sex in her apartment was being shopped around to tabloids, magazines and VCD distributors in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Most rejected the opportunity to distribute the video, but eventually some took the bait. In its issue released Monday, December 17, 2001, Scoop Weekly ran a lengthy expose of Chu Mei-Feng's promiscuous sex life. That issue of the magazine came packaged with the hidden camera sex video in VCD format. Copies of the 40-minute video also started showing up on the Internet and local street markets in the days before Scoop hit the newsstands.
Chu at first denied being the woman on the video, but weeks later admitted it was probably her. The man in the video was eventually identified as Tseng Chung-ming, a married businessman with whom Chu Mei-Feng had an affair. The video was shot with a pinhole surveillance camera hidden in Chu's apartment (more on that hidden camera below).
In the aftermath of the VCD scandal, another Taiwanese tabloid, Next Weekly, acquired and excerpted Chu's diary, in which she allegedly discussed being showered with money and gifts by "sugar daddies."
Government Bans The VCDs
Copies of Scoop Weekly sold wildly the first day, though some retailers (including 7-11) refused to sell the issue. By Monday night, the Taiwanese Government Information Office (GIO) began seizing copies of the VCD on the grounds that they violated pornography and privacy laws. At first, officials simply removed the VCDs from unsold copies of Scoop Weekly (the magazine and disk came sealed in plastic, just like AOL CDs included with magazines), but in some cases they seized entire bundles of magazines. On Wednesday, GIO official seized Scoop Weekly's printing plates for the controversial issue to prevent the magazine from printing more copies. Scoop Weekly editors protested the seizures, and Taiwanese media debated the free speech vs. privacy implications.
Thousands of VCDs were distributed with Scoop before the crackdown began. Bootleggers quickly began copying and selling the VCDs or posting the video on websites. In late December, Taipei prosecutors questioned 20 people, mostly college students, about distributing Chu Mei-feng sex video bootlegs.
Spycams Placed by Spiritual Advisor
Investigators found ten hidden cameras and audio-recording devices installed in Chu Mei-Feng's apartment, former office and car. The widely distributed sex video was apparently shot from a hidden camera placed in Chu's TV cabinet facing her bed. So who was spying on Chu Mei-Feng, and why?
The investigation quickly focused on Kuo Yu-ling, Chu's former "spiritual growth instructor" from a religious-healing center called Avatar (referred to in some accounts as a "Buddhist sect"). Chu and Kuo were apparently close friends at one point but had fallen out months before the VCD release. Police retrieved a notebook in which Kuo kept coded notes about the surveillance. Several witnesses reported seeing Kuo purchasing video and audio surveillance devices and soliciting a detective agency to install the devices in Chu's home, office and car. Kuo admitted having the pinhole cameras installed in Chu's home, but initially insisted she did so at Chu's request. Several VCD companies confirmed that Kuo contacted them and tried to sell them the sex footage from Chu's bedroom.
Kuo eventually confessed to placing the assorted surveillance devices and creating the hidden camera videotapes. She then insisted that she had been acting on someone else's orders, but wouldn't reveal who else was involved. But police and journalists had a prime suspect: Tsai Jen-chien, former mayor of Hsinchu and Chu Mei-Feng's ex-lover. Kuo admitted that Tsai accompanied her to the private detective agency where she purchased video surveillance equipment, and several witnesses saw them there together.
Vengeful Ex-Boyfriend Behind the Spying?
Prosecutors have interviewed Tsai on at least two occasions and apparently consider him a suspect. At his second interview, prosecutors asked Tsai's lawyer not to attend; under Taiwanese law, prosecutors may only ask lawyers not to attend interviews of suspects or defendants. Tsai insists he did nothing wrong and that "Most of the rumors about me in the newspapers are untrue. . . . I feel so sorry for Chu because, after all, she used to be the woman I loved very much. I don't want to see her get hurt."
A press account of Tsai and Chu's relationship suggested a motive for the spying. Tsai Jen-chien reportedly gave Chu Mei-Feng more than NT$20 million (about US$500,000) in cash and gifts, including buying her a home in Hsinchu, before they broke up in February, 2001. Tsai had tried to take back the gifts after the couple broke up, but Chu refused. In May, Tsai asked Kuo to hire detectives to follow Chu, and the surveillance began to expand after Tsai discovered that Chu had been meeting with other men. This account speculated that Tsai probably wasn't involved in selling the sex-video footage to illegal video vendors. Rather, the surveillance plan likely spun out of control after Kuo sold the video to vendors on her own.
Some accounts also suggest that Tsai and Kuo became romantically involved after Tsai and Chu broke up.
More Tapes?
Police have been searching for the master tape of the Scoop Weekly VCD, so far unsuccessfully. They also believe there may be multiple versions of that tape in distribution. Based on material in Kuo's notebook, investigators believe she may have more tapes of Chu Mei-Feng's sex life hidden somewhere. According to a source from the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, Kuo had taped Chu having sex with at least ten different men.
Some local media reported that Kuo tried to peddle a second video that depicts a sexual encounter between Chu and a lawmaker in southern Taiwan, and that the lawmaker paid NT$6 million to keep the video under wraps. Prosecutors would not comment on that rumor. Independent lawmaker Tsai Hao came forward to deny speculation that he appeared on the rumored second sex VCD with Chu. "Believe me, I don't even know where her Tamsui apartment is."
Miscellaneous
Chu filed lawsuits against Scoop Weekly and Chung-ti Technology, the company that manufactured the VCD with labels saying it featured Chu. In late January, however, Chu twice failed to appear for her scheduled testimony in the suit, claiming she was too ill.
In mid-January, Taipei City Police arrested Kao Chun-chun, the 19-year-old daughter of Kuo Yu-ling. They believe that Kao may have helped her mother create and sell the hidden camera videos from Chu Mei-feng's apartment.
The Taipei Times reports: "Meanwhile, a number of Internet surfers have criticized Chu, saying the former TV journalist is being hypocritical about the secret-taping incident. In 1992, Chu, a reporter at Taiwan Television Enterprise, was forced to resign after using a hidden camera to compile a report on a local lesbian bar."
TAIPEI TIMES STORIES
Taiwan debates privacy after release of sex VCD
Government pulls plug on steamy VCD
Police halt publication of 'Scoop'
Chu breaks silence on 'Scoop Weekly;' might sue for libel
Chu plans to sue as police hunt for private eye
VCD suspect barred from leaving
Chu points finger at spiritual teacher
Chu gives apology for having 'erred'
Taipei prosecutors question 20 people over VCD copying
VCD probe finds tape, spy devices
Former Hsinchu mayor will reply
Kuo says she was told to tape Chu, but won't say by whom
Chu sues magazine, lawmaker denies he is in second video
[President Chen Shui-bian] says everyone should enforce privacy rights
Ex mayor has nothing to hide
VCD suspect's daughter arrested
Taipei police say sex VCD suspect was 'untruthful'
Chu appears on TV but refuses to say if she was on VCD
Chu to face questions over VCD
Chu Mei-feng claims she is too ill to appear at sex-VCD hearing
MORE NEWS ITEMS
The Straits Times Taiwan correspondent Goh Sui Noi examines the public's fascination with sleaze, specifically the Chu Mei-Feng sex VCD scandal. Another story the same day looked at the
blatant double standards in public reaction to the scandal. "While Ms Chu was heavily criticised for what was seen as her 'moral wantonness', including by women, the man was admired for his athletic body and his 'good performance' in bed." (These links will probably expire in a few days.)
Straits Times (1/27/02)
I'd seen the name Chu Mei-feng on top search request lists, but had no idea who she was until today. She's a minor Taiwanese politician (former cultural director of northern Hsinchu city and before that a member of Taipei City Council) caught up in a sex scandal. Chu Mei-feng had an affair with a married man, and one of their encounters was secretly filmed by a hidden camera installed in Chu's bedroom by what this article calls "her most trusted friend." This Linda Tripp-like friend sold the video to the local tabloid Scoop, which distributed the illicit VCDs as gifts to readers in December. The VCDs were then endlessly bootlegged and sold internationally.
Times of India (1/24/02)
More on the Chu Mei-feng scandal. The Straits Times recaps a TV interview with Chu Mei-feng last week, in which she calls herself a "rotten person in a rotten mess." This article reports that another Taiwanese tabloid, Next Weekly, acquired and excerpted Chu's diary, in which she discussed being showered with money and gifts by "sugar daddies." During the interview, she dismissed rumors of a love triangle between her, former Hsinchu mayor Tsai Jen-chien, and Kuo Yu-ling, the "trusted friend" accused of making the illicit videos. And Chu Mei-feng doesn't plan to fade from public view:
On an upbeat note, she said she would face society again 'with the attitude of a Survivor', an allusion to the American reality television show where the strongest and most cunning competitor survives. It was thought that she was using Tuesday's interview to make a comeback to the broadcasting scene, where she shot to fame in the early 90s. The Chinese-language Power News said yesterday that she planned to publish a book on her ordeal and donate the royalties to a foundation that would be set up to help fellow victims of voyeurism.
Straits Times (1/16/02 expired link)
Lycos reports that "Chu Mei-feng" (including various alternate spellings) became its top search request for the week ending January 19, with more than double the searches as usual leader "Dragonball." A sidebar lists the top twelve spellings of her name in Lycos searches:
Lycos
The Straits Times describes international reaction to the Chu-Mei Feng sex tape. "Pirated copies have emerged in Hongkong, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and even in the United States and Europe. Demand has reportedly been overwhelming. The VCD has also been labelled the 'best hard-core film of 2001' in Taiwan by the popular press, and those who have watched it say the 47-minute secretly taped romp was the 'most natural and most seductive' they have ever watched. 'The man is handsome, strong and skilful in love-making techniques, while the woman is sexy and attractive.'"
Straits Times (1/6/02 link expired)
BBC article on the Chu Mei-Feng sex scandal in Taiwan.
BBC (12/31/01)
A Taiwan court has handed down three guilty verdicts in the Chu Mei-Feng case. Kuo Yu-Ling, Chu's former friend and spiritual advisor, got four years in prison for making the videos and then selling them to the tabloid Scoop. Two Scoop editors got two years apiece. (Jul 2002)
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