[Oriental Daily & The Sun 09/11/04]

Miss Hong Kong first runner up Queenie Chu headed out with two big cases of luggage and a lucky packet from her mother to Hainan Island to take part in the Miss World Pageant and although she had to pay $270 in excess baggage fees, she revealed happily that her parents will be heading out to Sanya on the 4th December to lend their support for her at the final. Queenie was brimming with confidence even before the competition has started as she says she does not lose out in height and as she has studied abroad in the states, she can communicate well in English, so she puts up the sign for victory quite naturally!

Queenie smiles: "I have been on the website and seen all the info on the other contestants, it is hard to say who will do well because to take part means that they should already be of a good standard and they are not bad at all. One thing that cannot be denied is that apart from some girls whose heights are in the 180's then I do not lose out heightwise and as I have studied abroad, then my English is OK and I have the language advantage, so I will definitely try my best."

Will she be following Fu Sze Sze's advice and be fully made up even when eating breakfast? Queenie couldn't stop laughing and said: "Aiya! I am very scared about this! I'll have to see how it goes. I will not let the Hong Kong people down, but I will not go over the top, it will all depend on the event. After all I feel that the modern woman needs to be well rounded and no matter in evening wear, casual wear, sports wear or even swimwear, then we don't need to be over the top."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a26cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041109/20041108231438_0003.html




[The Sun, Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily 09/11/04]

The 3000 sets limited edition "War and Beauty" DVD's were sold out within two days of their release and in some areas the price was pushed up from the original $588 to as high as $1688 and so the distributors wrote to TVB yesterday requesting that a second batch should be brought out.

TVBI held emergency talks about the matter yesterday, but to avoid the original meaning behind the issue being lost, they have agreed to issue another 2000 copies of the DVD set and the publishers are currently working flat out to have these ready for sale by the end of the week. TVB External Affairs Assistant Director Mr Tsang Sing Ming indicated: "After the meeting, we have decided to produce another 2000 sets to be sold at the same price and with identical contents. As this was always meant to be a limited edition, then we don't want to produce too many, otherwise it will lose its meaning. The new batch should be ready in the next two weeks or so."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041109/20041108231543_0003.html
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-9/UL-327417.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a14cnt.html



[Ta Kung Pao 09/11/04]

The Po Leung Kuk Charity Cantonese Opera performance will be taking place on 9th December at Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the stars taking part will include Joyce Koi, Man Chin Sui and Chan Ho Kau. Yesterday was the celebration of Po Leung Kuk's 126th Anniversary and there was a cake cutting ceremony at the press conference where the opera star joined the Po Leung Kuk directors and then wrote their greetings on cards placed beside the cake.

Joyce was busy filming for "Courageous Kunlun" yesterday, so she appeared in her ancient costume and as for rumours that there was fighting between the two male leads of the show Sammul Chan and Ron Ng, Joyce denies this saying: "I don't know, they play brothers in the show, so I don't think they will be at odds. They even got injured together, with Sammul's car accident and Ron's leg injury."

Earlier Joyce was filming a scene where she had 'blood' thrown in her face and ended up having to go to hospital to have the fake blood washed out of her nose and from her guts. She recalls: "The blood is made from honey and pollen and after the shot, some of the fluid had got into my guts and it made me have constant diarrheoa, so they had to clear it all out at the hospital for me."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-9/UL-327421.htm



[The Sun 09/11/04]

This year's fight for the 'Favourite Female Lead' award is still going strong at TVB between the female stars of "War and Beauty" such as Sheren Tang, Charmaine Sheh, and Gigi Lai, but out of all the female leads, the company seems to be looking out in particular for Sheren as they provide her with jewellery sponsors and designer evening wear sponsors. Although she is not signed with TVB management, this move by the company is possibly suggesting the outcome of this year's awards perhaps?

It appears that apart from the MC's including Sonija Kwok and Kate Tsui, TVB has also sought sponsorship for outfit and jewellery for Sheren, whereas all the other artistes have had to find their own sponsors. Even the other favourite nominees for the female lead award, such as TVB's very own Charmaine and the obedient Gigi, Ada Choi and Maggie Cheung have not had this special treatment. TVB have offered Sheren a sponsorship from Larry Jewellery to wear a set of new designs worth over $1 million, proving Sheren's position in the company.

In response to this, Sheren says in a telephone conversation: "TVB has found me sponsors for my outfit and jewellery and the happiest thing for me is that I don't need to worry about it. As for whether the other stars had this, then I don't know. (Chances of an award?) I will just go with no expectations. 'War' has passed now and I will forget the past and work for the future as I work towards my goals."

TVB's Fashion Consultant Karen says: "Some sponsors indicated that they wanted to sponsor Sheren in particular, so we helped them out! If there are requests for other artistes, then TVB will help out."

Sheren was able to meet with Mainland Diva Liu Xiao Qing earlier, for whom she has great admiration and as they had got on very well whilst working in Hengdian, then Sheren took her for dinner upon her visit to Hong Kong, where Sheren presented her with a set of "War and Beauty" DVD's.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041109/20041108231645_0003.html



[The Sun 09/11/04]

Joey Yung, Leo Lai and Shawn Yu were guests on "Jade Solid Gold" on Sunday and when asked about Johnnie To's reaction to the Cherrie Ying drugs incident, saying that the younger generation of stars were 'doing themselves no justice', Joey believes that self control is very important: "Everyone makes different choices and I know that these things (drugs) will not make me happy. (Do artistes have a lot of pressure?) When you are unhappy, then sometimes there is a spur to make the wrong decision, but I don't believe that these things can help to relieve the pressure."

As for reports that Charlene Choi has been dating Nicholas Tse for six months, Joey says: "It doesn't make sense. We are all friends and it has always been that Nic is the emperor and we are the maids, so there is no way that the maid can end up with the emperor!" She then goes on to reveal: "Charlene has even said that she fancies Jerry Lamb, but you don't believe her!"

Leon has been in Xinjiang filming for "Seven Swords" recently and is often visiting many different places in scenic China. Talking of the labelling of 'New Four Heavenly Kings', he says: "I have no comment, all singers will have titles made up for them. If you are lucky, you will get one that sounds good. If you have unusual experiences then you will have an unusual nickname. We are all singers and I don't have any particular feeling towards nicknames."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041109/20041108232043_0003.html



[Wen Wei Po 09/11/04]

Mainland production light comedy series "Happy Fields" (Huan Le Sang Tian) has been filming in Guangxi's Hezhou for over a month now and the crew are welcoming China's top class actress Liu Xiao Qing to the cast, where she plays 'Ma Gu' who is a lady who sells rice noodles.

Liu has already headed out to Hezhou for the costume fitting and to begin filming and the experienced actress immediately started to discuss the character and storyline with the director and producer as soon as she put on the costume. On the day that she arrived, it was also Liu's birthday so the cast and crew presented her with a Black Forest Gateau as a gift. As everyone sung happy birthday to her, Liu was very surprised and thanked all her colleagues excitedly.

Female lead Zhang Qian has watched Liu's performances since she was very young and never imagined that she would be able to work with her. At first she was worried that a star as great as Liu would have a very arrogant attitude, but after working with her for two days, Zhang has put all her worries behind her because Liu is very friendly and not as serious as she had expected. She gets on well with all the other female cast members and is very professional, so Zhang has learned a lot from her.

Male lead Roger Kwok play's Liu's son and has many scenes together with her and Roger has looked forward to this co-operation for a long time.

http://www.wenweipo.com/news.phtml?news_id=EN0411090010&cat=011EN