Latest news with #Chuang
Korea Herald
04-07-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
AIA Life Korea reappoints CEO, names new board chair
AIA Life Korea, the South Korean life insurance subsidiary of Hong Kong-based AIA Group, announced Friday that it has reappointed CEO Nathan Chuang and named Fisher Zhang as its new board chairman. The reappointment of Chuang as CEO was approved at a shareholders' meeting held earlier in the day at AIA Tower in Jung-gu, central Seoul, while Zhang's appointment as board chairman and non-executive director took effect on June 9, the company said. Zhang, who previously served as CEO of AIA China from 2017, was appointed Regional Chief Executive for Korea, Mainland China and Vietnam, as well as a member of AIA Group's Executive Committee, in December 2024. Since joining AIA in 2000, he has held several senior leadership roles in the company's China operations, including chief officer of distribution, agency and marketing. Chuang's new three-year term as CEO of AIA Life Korea began on Friday, following his initial appointment in 2022. A certified practising accountant, Chuang previously held leadership positions at the group, including as director for financial management and planning, reporting to the group's CFO. Under Chuang's leadership, AIA Life Korea has pursued sustainable, quality-focused growth through a series of innovations. He has strengthened the company's distribution channel diversification, notably by establishing its wholly-owned general agency subsidiary, AIA Premier Partners. He has also expanded digital services and developed new product pipelines. 'These appointments demonstrate AIA Group's commitment to AIA Life Korea,' the company said in a statement. 'AIA Life will continue to execute its long-term strategic vision to support healthier, longer and better lives for the people of Korea.'
AsiaOne
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Singaporean singer WhyLucas on overcoming challenges in survival show Chuang Asia: 'If I didn't lose myself, I wouldn't have found myself'
For nearly five months, Singaporean singer-songwriter WhyLucas was in Thailand competing for a spot in a boy group on the Asian survival show Chuang Asia Season 2. Though he didn't make the debut, he told AsiaOne in a recent interview that the experience was "life-changing". Filmed in Bangkok, the show started with 60 male contestants from China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the US and Canada competing to land a spot in the final seven-member group. A total of 21 trainees made it to the finals, including WhyLucas, who was the only Singaporean on the show. "I feel like my life has changed because I got a lot more confident in my craft and my decision to be a professional musician and singer," said the 22-year-old, who took a semester-long leave of absence from his studies in the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School to participate in the competition. "I also got added exposure... It's really hard to turn heads over here in Singapore, and I'm quite happy that I managed to do so because of this programme and gain fans overseas." He revealed that he initially didn't want to join the show: "My friend from NUS - his name is Jack - he told me that this programme is quite big in China and to give it a shot. I guess I got motivated by him." After making it through three rounds of auditions, his training officially started on Nov 20, 2024. "Once we reached Bangkok, we started preparing by going for classes every day to drill our fundamental skills. I danced every day ever since I joined the programme, and sang every other day as well, because we have singing lessons too," he said, telling us how it was "daunting" to learn dance from scratch. "When you're in a competition, as much as you're there to learn new stuff, there is the pressure to do well in it... I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with my peers, so I did a lot of extra training myself. I think I danced like seven to 10 hours daily for the first two months of Chuang. Some days it was five, but I tried to occupy myself with as much dance as possible." [embed] Messing up on stage was the last thing he wanted, he said. The "bootcamp" lasted for three to four weeks, and the show aired its first episode on Feb 2, 2025, on WeTV. "When it first started, I was just scared to go home in the first round. I think Singaporeans just want results, and I really wanted results," he said. His confidence kicked in after he was put in the A class - the highest grade - in episode two, where he sung his original song Oh Krissy Baby while playing an electric guitar. The YouTube clip of his performance has received over 45,000 views. [embed] "I was surprised that guitar and singing could take me somewhere... I thought, 'You know what? Maybe this might be for me,' because I was doing something so different [from what I usually do], and I'm actually getting A class among all these other talented trainees," he recalled. 'If I didn't lose myself, I wouldn't have found myself' When asked about difficulties he experienced during the show, WhyLucas talked about having an image to keep up. "There are a lot of times when you have to present your best image. Even though you're not really yourself that day, or you're having a bad day, you still have to do so," he explained. "I think over the few months of doing that constantly - because there are cameras everywhere, even in your rooms - I felt like sometimes I was losing myself a bit. People also told me I'm not as bubbly and charismatic compared to when they first met me." He also mentioned how his "solo artist instincts" occasionally did not translate to group dynamics. As a solo artist, he could do things his way but, in a group, there are bound to be differing opinions and ideas. He brought up a question that one of the mentors on the show, The8 from the K-pop idol group Seventeen, asked. "The8 asked me, 'How do you feel about being in a boy group, because your personal shine might be tamed?' He told me how he sees that my style on the stage is pretty prominent and established. So if I join a boy group, everything has balance and is less dynamic. So how do I feel about that? "And I think that question, throughout the later part of the show, kept reverberating in my head." He then realised being in a boy group might not be the best calling for him. He learned later that "everything happens for a reason": "It's about balance because if I didn't lose myself, I probably wouldn't have found myself. I had to lose myself so that when I found myself, the comeback would be greater." The8's comment wasn't the one that lingered on his mind. He talked about more from two other celebrity mentors. @wetvsingapore Go crazy for WHYLUCAS! 🔥He just grabbed the LAST A for his GRAND AUDITION! Don't miss the judges' feedback and tune in to CHUANG Asia S2 on WeTV! 💫 📺 Watch #CHUANGAsiaS2 every Sunday at 5:50 PM on WeTV 🔗 🗳️ Vote for your favorite! 👉 #CHUANGAsia #WeTV #WeTVSG #WeTVSingapore #WeTVAlwaysMore ♬ original sound - WeTV Singapore In episode two, BamBam from the K-pop boy group Got7 cheekily said: "I now know why you're WhyLucas. Because dude, you're good man." WhyLucas said it was a compliment he'll "remember forever". "The fact that someone as established as BamBam said something like that about me, or just the fact that this panel of talented and established judges are caring about me, I think that was a win for me already." The other comment wasn't all positive, but it motivated him to improve himself. Chinese singer Tia Ray had remarked how she felt WhyLucas was "a little weak" when he performs without his guitar. "That was something that triggered something in me to really work towards being not just a guitar guy. Because if I want to be a singer, I can't just keep holding my guitar. It's cool, it's my style. But I think if Tia Ray spotted that without the guitar, I'm less confident, then I feel that it's something that I really have to work on," he said. His favourite memories View this post on Instagram A post shared by HIKARU (@hikaru_v33) Besides getting placed in the A class from episode two, another favourite memory of his was the Trainees Fan Meeting in Malaysia. "It was such a good break from all the practices and waiting time that we had in Chuang. It made me feel really rewarded for the work that I had done, and it was also my first time seeing people queue up to take a picture with me," he recalled, adding he was thankful for the "great experience". He also fondly recalled having hotpot with his roommates Hikaru, Bian and Jackson along with three other trainees, Hikari, Shoya and Liu. "Haidilao (a hotpot restaurant chain) is a supper place you go to in Singapore after you go to parties or hangout with a friend. Having it in Bangkok really made me miss home." When he was eliminated, WhyLucas told us he was sad the experience was done, and he had to part with the other trainees. "I was sad that it was over because it was a very fulfilling programme, and I felt like my life had changed. Whether or not I debuted wasn't the main thing on my mind," he said. "I was just a little sad that I had to say goodbye to my friends and sort of go back to reality because everything felt like a dream. To have this opportunity to perform for this amount of people, and just being overseas and chasing a dream, not a lot of Singaporeans or people in general, get to do that and walk all the way to the end." Despite being countries apart now, he said he still keeps in contact with the friends he made on the show: "We occasionally still talk on WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram. We join each other's livestreams, to catch up with one another. Sometimes we also plan content with each other." A touching fan letter From having fans book the same flight as him to the Malaysia fanmeet to others sending him off at the airport when he headed home, WhyLucas had some stories to tell about his encounters with his supporters. But one which touched him is a letter from an Indonesian fan that he has placed on his desk in his room. "This person said, 'No matter what happens, please remember you are never alone in this journey. Keep shining, keep making music, keep being the amazing artist that you are.' It's really heartwarming to know that someone actually treats me like an artist, and that's what I want for myself," he shared. He told us how he feels it's surreal that he's gained fans abroad. "If I had a gig before Chuang and I posted about it on my social media, I wouldn't have been sure how many, or if anyone, would come... It's a very enriching experience to know that, 'These are the people that can support me and will support me.'" 'I was a dude' [embed] Being styled and dressed well is a big part of being an idol, and WhyLucas admitted this was something he didn't pay attention to until joining Chuang. "I've learned to care more about the way I present myself. Before Chuang, I was very much a dude - I didn't care about the way I looked," he told us. He recalled being taken aback by his appearance after his first hair and make-up session: "I was like, damn, 'I can look like that.'" As there were occasional shoots with no hair and makeup provided, he gradually learned to carry himself differently. The professional setting, with training managers and structured plans, also led him to taking himself more seriously. "Especially in this journey as a professional musician that I want to walk on, I feel like I have to start viewing everything from a bigger scale of things and not just be trapped in a very close-minded and myopic view," he added. "Back then I was like, 'Oh, small problem, small problem. How do I fix this? How do I fix that?' But I think now, I learned that if you view everything from a top-down angle, and you have your angle in mind, you start to not get affected by small things." We asked if he would participate in a survival show again. "For now, I'm not close off to any options but I really have to evaluate the choices and see what's best for my next step. So, I haven't decided on anything," he said. So, with that comes the question: What's next for solo artiste WhyLucas? "I would love to have a break, but I don't think I would let myself do that because I have to release music as soon as possible as I don't want to let the fans down. So I am working on new stuff. They will be out very, very soon." WhyLucas has signed with Singapore music label Cross Ratio Entertainment and has just released his new single Tiara. He will be performing at the Skechers Sundown Festival on July 4 and Waterbomb Festival on Aug 30.
Business Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Hong Kong developer sells HK$538 million luxury mansion at a loss
HONG Kong developer Chuang's Consortium International is selling a luxury mansion in the upscale Deep Water Bay area at an almost 20 per cent discount, as it seeks cash in a fragile property market. The house at 37 Island Road is being sold to Annex W Group, a British Virgin Islands vehicle owned by Wu Jingtao, for no more than HK$538 million (S$11.6 million), according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange late on Thursday. Chuang's Consortium will record a loss of HK$143.2 million, mainly due to accounting treatment based on the market valuation rather than the cost of development, it said in the filing. The sale would become the third-largest transaction for a new home in Hong Kong this year, after a HK$1 billion villa in the Mont Verra project and a HK$609 million penthouse at Mount Nicholson, according to property database EPRC. Chuang's said the main reasons for the sale included a need to improve the group's liquidity, uncertainty in the Hong Kong property market and the global political environment, and thin transaction volumes for luxury property, according to the filing. The developer, which specialises in high-end projects, is known for selling a mansion to mainland Chinese tycoon Chen Hongtian for more than HK$2 billion in 2016. The house was seized after Chen defaulted on a loan, and was recently on the market for 60 per cent lower than its purchase price. BLOOMBERG
France 24
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Taiwanese war drama 'wake-up call' to Chinese invasion threat
The on-screen chaos is the basis of a new Taiwanese television series called "Zero Day", which creators hope will "awaken" people to the real-life threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Beijing has long vowed to annex Taiwan, by force if necessary. But rather than dramatise the cross-strait tensions, Taiwan's film and television industry has shied away from the topic for fear of losing access to the world's biggest Chinese language market. Lo Ging-zim, one of 10 directors involved in "Zero Day", said the war in Ukraine, resurgence of the China-friendly Kuomintang party in Taiwan and China's growing efforts to influence the island meant it could no longer be ignored. "Media around the world were talking about the next battlefield could be the Taiwan Strait," Lo told AFP, recalling 2022 when the idea for "Zero Day" emerged. "It started from a group of people all worried and anxious about the same thing, deciding to gather and take action." "Zero Day", which refers to the first day Chinese troops land in Taiwan, features 10 standalone episodes and is expected to premiere this year. The trailer shows chaos erupting across Taiwan as Chinese forces surround the island on the pretext of searching for crew members of a military plane that disappeared over nearby waters. Chinese disinformation floods Taiwan's internet, cash machines stop working, stock markets crash and families dragging suitcases seek to escape. The actor playing Taiwan's president urges people "to unite" in a televised address, warning "without freedom, Taiwan is not Taiwan". - 'Looming threat of war' - Real-world analysts have warned a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could precede an invasion, and China's military has practised cutting off the island during drills. Taiwan would be outgunned in any conflict with China and would need the United States and other countries to come to its defence. "Zero Day" producer Cheng Hsin-mei, who wrote one of the episodes of the series, said she wanted to "awaken Taiwanese people to the looming threat of war". She also hoped to inform the international community that Taiwan was not part of China. "We must tell the world we are not the same political system -- we are a free and democratic place and we elect our own president," Cheng said. "So when the regime launches an independent act of aggression, it is not a civil war, it is an invasion." The "Zero Day" cast includes actors from Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Cheng said 70 percent of those approached for the series declined to take part, worried they would be blocked from productions hoping to enter China. Taiwanese actor Kaiser Chuang plays a businessman in financial difficulty who unwittingly receives help from Chinese collaborators. Chuang believes his involvement in "Zero Day" has already cost him one role, but he firmly insists the series "needed to be made". "A life of peace, security and freedom doesn't come through fear and submission," said Chuang, describing "Zero Day" as a "wake-up call". "It only comes from constant vigilance, making ourselves stronger, identity with our country and land, and unity among people living here." 'Not political propaganda' To make "Zero Day" more realistic, creators consulted military and political experts and shot key scenes on site, including a Taiwanese naval vessel and the Presidential Office in Taipei. Lawmaker Lin Chien-chi from the Beijing-friendly main opposition Kuomintang party criticised the series for creating "an atmosphere of panic" and blurring "reality and fiction excessively". "It inevitably leads to speculation about whether the filming perspective and thinking behind this series are related to the ruling party's political agenda," Lin told AFP, referring to the Democratic Progressive Party. While the production received NT$230 million (US$7.6 million) in funding from the government and private sector, the director Lo insisted it was not propaganda. "We are not making a political propaganda film, nor is it some kind of informational or civil defence educational video -- it's none of those," Lo said. "It is a drama. It should attract the audience through human nature, human emotions and human vulnerability." Cheng, the producer, said there had been strong international interest in the series and the team was now in talks with several online streaming platforms and television networks around the world. "It's also a way to prove that even without access to the Chinese market, Taiwanese drama can still break into other regions," she said.
The Guardian
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Filling in these gaps': Paul McCartney's recently rediscovered photographs
He is not drowning but waving. John Lennon's arms stretch at angles like the sails of a windmill. His face wears a toothy, incandescent smile. Beads of water dance around him like an upside-down waterfall as he swims off Miami Beach. 'He's so carefree,' says Joshua Chuang, director of photography at the Gagosian art gallery. 'It's almost like you've never seen him like that; he's always kind of joking around or brooding or being sarcastic. He's so happy. It's his best friend at the time capturing that and, when you know about what happened, it's so moving.' The best friend in this case is Sir Paul McCartney, whose recently rediscovered photographs go on display from Friday at Gagosian in Beverly Hills, California. The exhibition Rearview Mirror charts the rise of Beatlemania between December 1963 and February 1964 and marks the first time that 82-year-old McCartney has made signed editions of his photos available (a portion of proceeds from sales will go to Los Angeles-based fire relief organisations). A thousand images taken by the musician were found by his archivist during the coronavirus pandemic after being largely forgotten for half a century. An initial museum exhibition, Eyes of the Storm, organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London, contained 250 pictures and has toured various venues including the Brooklyn Museum and de Young Museum in San Francisco. If that show was a sprawling anthology box set, Rearview Mirror is more of a sleek Revolver or Rubber Soul. It presents 36 works, some previously unseen, some overlapping with the museum show but often in different formats, for example intact contact sheets versus individual frames. It emphasises the formal qualities of the photographs as art objects. Speaking via Zoom from Beverly Hills, Chuang says: 'The museum show almost had a scrapbook quality to it. We wanted to do something that was much more focused, much more object-driven with works that were beautiful, printed to the highest standards with the latest technology and, if you were to acquire one, you feel like you're owning a piece of history. I think we managed to do it. 'When Paul came into the studio to sign the first batch he was knocked out by them. What he kept saying as he was walking around was, 'I feel like I've never seen this before.' Visitors to our exhibition who have seen the touring museum exhibition at whatever venue will have that same reaction: 'Oh, yeah, I saw that show. But is that the same picture?'' Chuang knew he had to make the show's title distinct from Eyes of the Storm and settled on something that reflects both a literal perspective from car windows and the metaphorical act of looking back at this pivotal period. He jokes: 'Paul is the greatest lyricist of all time – can't you come up with it?! I started looking at the pictures that we chose and one of the motifs was of a mirror. 'There are self-portraits where Paul's trying to frame herself in a mirror. There's Paul caught in the reflection of a rearview mirror of the car; so many pictures were taken from inside cars because that was the only safe space in public. I suggested 'Rearview Mirror' both literally and metaphorically and he loved it.' The Fab Four remain an unstoppable cultural and commercial juggernaut. Late last year saw the release of Beatles '64, a Disney+ documentary about that heady conquest of America; last month there was Ian Leslie's book, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, study of Lennon and McCartney's marriage of true minds; last week it was the turn of One to One: John & Yoko, a Kevin Macdonald film about Lennon and Yoko Ono's time living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s. So it is that McCartney's photographic oeuvre receives a second look. The pictures offer an intimate glimpse of the Beatles' adventures in London, Paris and the US through the lens of one of their own – a counterpoint to press images of the time. They preserve candid moments and intense fan reaction, from frenzied crowds in New York to the overwhelming greetings at airports. Chuang worked with McCartney's archivist, Sarah Brown, to drill down to the specifics of each day in the life. 'Whereas in the museum show it's very general – John and Ringo, Paris, January 1964 – now it will say this is John playing the guitar in the hotel suite at the George V on 16 January, hours before they get the telegram that I Want to Hold Your Hand is number one in America and hours later they're doing the famous pillow fight. It's like filling in these gaps in the visual narrative and from the most unique perspective you could think of, which is Paul.' Another such example is a colour contact sheet of the Beatles and their entourage at Heathrow airport before flying to America, offering something akin to 'stop motion sequence' of a band on the verge of global fame and cultural immortality. Chuang is impressed that McCartney had the presence of mind to run ahead on the tarmac, turn around and capture the moment. 'There's three pictures of John Lennon on there; it looks like three different people. It's like you're seeing these different facets of them basically hours before they're about to change the world. You can almost get a sense in those pictures they're excited, maybe they're tired – they had been touring non-stop leading up to that - and I'd like to think there's a good kind of nervousness, a sense that something is about to change.' Something did change. On 9 February 1964 the Beatles made their live TV debut on the The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by 73 million people. Less than 48 hours later they performed their first US concert at the Washington Coliseum (tickets ranged from $2 to $4) with more than 8,000 people in attendance, including future vice-president Al Gore. By April the Beatles had the top five spots on the US Billboard charts. Perhaps it was no surprise that McCartney wanted to photograph people and things that went before. Cameras run in the family: his brother Mike, first wife Linda and daughter Mary all became professional photographers. McCartney grew up admiring sports photography in the Observer newspaper and won a school art prize. Time surrounded by professional snappers during the Beatles' ascent further honed his eye. Chuang ventures: 'I would like to think – and Paul doesn't quite remember – that buying a camera was both a way to create your own memento but also a way to play with the photographers who constantly had the lens pointed at you. If you've seen the press conferences at JFK [airport], there's this banter with the reporters. They're giving as good as they're getting and the camera seemed to serve a similar function.' McCartney was using a 35mm SLR Pentax camera, a technology that enabled spontaneity and the 'snapshot aesthetic' of the 1960s. He told CBS News in 2023: 'We were moving fast. So, you just learned to take pictures quickly.' Chuang comments: 'He's a natural. The pictures have a sense of amateur zeal. The two self-portraits, if you will, which were both taken in a mirror, have this wonderful sense of amateurism but it doesn't detract from the power of the picture. You can see his skill level improve from December to February, in part because the light's different in America, especially in Miami, where it was super bright. Those tend to be super sharp.' One photo is taken in the attic of McCartney's then girlfriend Jane Asher. 'This is the room in which he woke up with a tune in his head. He starts jotting down the tune on the piano, didn't have words and came up with dummy words – scrambled eggs, oh, baby, how I love your legs. It took him about a year to come up with the actual lyrics, which became Yesterday. The fact he's in Jane Asher's house, he's got a camera – there's a kind of self-awareness of wanting to memorialise that moment. That doesn't exist anywhere else.' Rearview Mirror: Photographs, December 1963–February 1964 by Paul McCartney is at Gagosian in Beverly Hills from 25 April to 21 June.
