Vivian Chow on tour

Vivian Chow is on tour and stopped in Hong Kong for her 30th anniversary concert. Lots of costume changes including plenty of beads, feathers and sequins, plenty of props and a cadre of dancers.

And a bit of nostalgia:

Some rehearsal shots from an Indonesian site:

Sina
WowKeren

Vivian Chow to star in new Giddens Ko film

Vivian Chow has decided to make the world a better place by starring in a new film by Taiwanese novelist/director Giddens Ko, the translated working title of which is "Waiting for Someone's Coffee". She was at a press conference touting the movie and looking as Vivian-Chow-ish as ever:

A reporter to her left may have asked something stupid/impertinent:

Anyone responsible for marketing ungainly dresses that could only look good (or in this case barely acceptable) when worn by a strikingly beautiful woman should move heaven and earth to have her photographed in one of them. Like this one, for example:

The face that launched a thousand ships:

Vivian Chow seems to have reached the point in her career and her life where she can chose projects based on factors other than the need to work, the quality of the script or who else is involved in the movie. One of the main reasons she is on this picture is that it is a quick commute from Hong Kong to Taiwan--another is that Giddens Ko used every connection he had and pulled every string he could find to convince her that she was essential to success.

While we are on the subject of Vivian Chow, here are couple of unlikely images of her from the delightful but sadly no longer updated "Girls with Guns" section from Alex Smits' site.

Xiahua; Yahoo Singapore; XinMSN

This just in...Vivian Chow still gorgeous

She was appearing in support of an album about to released and still knows to draw a crowd:

Sina slide

Vivian Chow and Sammi Cheng save Africa

A quick detour from our usual fare of celebrity fluff:

Vivian Chow has long been committed to World Vision and its child sponsorship program, having raised funds and given concerts or them over the past 10 years. She and Sammi Cheng flew out to East Africa recently to bring some publicity to the death by starvation and faced by children there. World Vision is a powerful force among aid organizations in the United States where it raises a lot of money using images like these:

In the U.S. and the UK this is called poverty porn--Vivian and Sammi would be replaced with the appropriate actresses and singers, still surrounded by not-quite starving Somali or Kenyan kids, rescued by the "whites in shining armor". Image of white western aid workers flying in to save starving African children are the norm with black Africans as victims and white foreigners as their saviors. World Vision is using the same images as western aid, only these are Asians as the savior instead of Americans or Europeans.

Owen Barder, a long time aid worker, manager and much respected commentator discusses of the World Vision tactic of "adopting" a child in an impoverished land and how it is pernicious although seemingly necessary in his blog:

[A] broader problem, with the citizens of rich countries who seem to be unwilling to sacrifice a tiny part of their income to help a fellow human being unless they feel some sort of personal connection with the recipient. This is charity of a Dickensien sort: not a system of social justice and protection, but throwing some coins to a beggar in the street and expecting to be lavishly thanked.

World Vision or its supporters including Sammi Cheng and Vivian Chow aren't the problem, of course--but they aren't the solution either. World Vision raises money in Hong Kong; they would like to have their donors "sponsor" children in the PRC by sending World Vision $35.00 per month per child but those who make such decisions in Beijing aren't interested. One reason may be that World Vision is a very Christian humanitarian organization; another that China's image would be harmed if seen as being dependent on aid from foreigners; a third that the People's Republic has a very well defined and generally well executed strategy of tying aid to poor countries with Chinese investments in those countries. A good review of the politics and economics of this is The Dragon's Gift by Deborah Brautigam.

Images from Yahoo China. World Vision website. More cogent thoughts on all this from Texas in Africa, Good Intentions are not enough and Jason Stearns who asks if we really need white people to save Africa.

Vivian Chow appears for TSL Jewelry

Since there never can be enough pictures of Vivian Chow Xinhua was kind enough to run a few of her wearing diamonds from jewelry chain Tse Sui Luen.

Quite a dress. She looks as if she stopped in on her way to a wedding--her own wedding.

The guy in jeans on the left of theses pictures (to Vivian Chow's right)--who is more in focus in these shots than she is--seems planted there for the evening. He isn't modeling anything and doesn't seem to be a security guard; maybe he is just part of the ambiance a company gets when it rents this hotel ballroom.

Xinhua