Tzuyu

Tzuyu (2018)

Tzuyu (born June 14, 1999 in Tainan , Taiwan ; full name: Chou Tzu-yu, Chinese : 周子瑜 ) is a Taiwanese singer and member of the South Korean girl group Twice .

life and career

→ Main article : Twice

Chou Tzuyu was born on June 14, 1999 in Tainan ( Taiwan ). She was discovered by talent scouts at the MUSE Performing Arts workshop in Tainan in 2012 and moved to South Korea on November 15th that year . 2014 she appeared in music videos of the groups Got7 and miss A on. After more than two years of training, she took part in the television show Sixteen and was ultimately selected as one of the nine members of the new girl group Twice . The group debuted in October 2015. According to a poll by Gallup Korea , Tzuyu was the third most popular idol in 2016 after Taeyeon and IU .

Flag controversy

See also : Taiwan conflict

In 2015, a television appearance by Tzuyu, in which she held the flag of the Republic of China , caused a scandal in the People's Republic of China . Her agency, JYP Entertainment , then released a video in which Tzuyu apologized, which outraged many Taiwanese media, citizens and politicians.

In November 2015 came Twice in the South Korean Variety show My Little Television of MBC on. The members showed themselves with the flags of their countries of origin, with Tzuyu holding the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the South Korean flag . Subsequently, the singer Huang An accused her on Weibo of being a Taiwanese independence activist. The Chinese Internet users reacted angrily over Tzuyus behavior and accused her of benefiting from the fans of mainland China, but to use the same for Taiwan's independence. Shortly afterwards, Twice was banned from Chinese television and Tzuyu lost her advertising contract with communications company Huawei . The agency JYP Entertainment temporarily suspended its activities in China. On January 15, 2016, the day before Taiwan’s presidential election , JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young addressed an apology to the Chinese media and fans. The agency also published a video in which Tzuyu expresses her regret and says: "There is only one China [...] and I've always felt a proud Chinese".

Tzuyu's apology outraged many Taiwanese people on the day of the presidential election. Some believed that she had been coerced into it. All three presidential candidates commented on the video. Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party , who later won the election, said, “We all feel a heartache - a citizen of the Republic of China holding her flag shouldn't be stopped. . It has the feelings of the Taiwanese very hurt "The candidate of the Kuomintang , Eric Chu , wrote on his Facebook page:". Chou Tzu-yu, welcome back home "The at this time current president, Ma Ying-jeou , expressed indignant and said she had no reason to apologize. The Taiwanese Mainland Affairs Council called Tzuyu's flag waving a patriotic act. The council protested to urge the government of the People's Republic of China to "tame the private sector" that has harmed the sentiments of Taiwanese citizens. Together with the Taiwan Mainland Bureau , they condemned Huang An's actions and appealed to both sides to appreciate the hard-won friendly relations.

The incident received international attention as it occurred in the wake of the Taiwanese elections, which Tsai Ing-wen won by a large margin. While Tsai, who campaigns for independence with her party, had previously led the polls, a post-election poll found that Tzuyu's apology video had influenced the decision of 1.34 million voters; either it made them vote in the first place or they changed their minds. Observers and researchers believe the incident may have contributed about one to two percentage points for Tsai.

The People's Daily , the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party , published an article that it was unfair to refer to Tzuyu as a "Taiwanese separatist" for holding the flag of the Republic of China, as it also stands for the "one China" with its respective countries Interpretations. As a result, Huang An, who started it all, was heavily criticized. Huang explained his point of view later. However, human rights attorney George Wang ( 王 可 富 ) filed a lawsuit against Huang and JYP Entertainment with the Taipei Prosecutor's Office . Huang's act would likely be subject to criminal law, and the psychological pressure from Huang and JYP would have influenced Tzuyu's self-reliance and forced her to do something she shouldn't have done. Following the release of the apology video, JYP's share price suffered large losses from a previous 52-week high. JYP Entertainment stated that they had asked Tzuyu's parents to allow them to watch the video because they were not yet of legal age. They also said that individual belief is not something that a company can or should impose on someone, and it has not happened. In the future, JYP wants to take measures to protect the artists and employees from controversy, e.g. B. through cultural awareness.

Web links

Commons : Tzuyu  - collection of images

• Official website of Twice

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Gloria Chan: Who is 16-year-old girl Chou Tzu-Yu at the center of a political storm ahead of Taiwan's presidential poll? In: South China Morning Post . January 16, 2016, accessed January 23, 2018 . 
2. ↑ 아이엠 그라운드, 트 와이스 소개 하기! In: Naver . October 26, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2018 (Korean). 
3. ↑ 2016 년 올해 를 빛낸 가수 와 가요. (PDF; 0.7 MB) In: Gallup Korea. December 20, 2016, p. 7 , accessed January 23, 2018 (Korean). 
4. ^ ^{A b} Daniel Politi: Did a 16-Year-Old Pop Star Help Pro-Independence Party Win Taiwan's Election? In: Slate. January 16, 2016, accessed January 23, 2018 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} 쯔위 공식 사과 / 周子瑜 公开 致歉 on YouTube
6. ↑ ^{a b} Kai Strittmatter: How a pop star got into a political conflict. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . January 17, 2016, accessed January 23, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Taiwanese Kpop group member sets off cross-Strait political row. In: YouTube . Arirang TV , January 17, 2016, accessed January 24, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Jake Chung: Chou Tzu-yu deal in jeopardy after Huang An tip-off. In: Taipei Times. January 15, 2016, accessed January 24, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Taiwanese K-pop singer Chou Tzu-yu mired in flag row. In: The Straits Times . AFP, January 15, 2016, accessed January 24, 2018 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Buckley, Austin Ramzy: Singer's Apology for Waving Taiwan Flag Stirs Backlash of Its Own. In: The New York Times . January 16, 2016, accessed January 24, 2018 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} Jermyn Chow: Video of K-pop singer Chou Tzu-yu apologising for waving flag angers Taiwanese on polling day. In: The Straits Times . January 16, 2016, accessed January 25, 2018 . 
12. ^ CC Zai, Flor Wang: MAC asks China to rein in private sector in wake of flag controversy. In: Focus Taiwan. January 16, 2016, accessed January 25, 2018 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Taiwan election: How a penitent pop star may have helped Tsai win. In: BBC . January 18, 2016, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
14. ↑ Minnie Chan: Teen pop star Chou Tzu-yu's apology for waving Taiwan flag swayed young voters for DPP. Controversial video helped DPP secure support, according to survey by cross-strait think thank. In: South China Morning Post . January 17, 2016, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
15. ↑ Lin Chuo-shui: Chou Tzuyu de chongji you duoda? In: ON.CC . January 24, 2016. Quoted from: Jonathan Sullivan, James Smyth: Taiwan's 2016 Presidential and Legislative Elections . In: Journal of the British Association for Chinese Studies . tape 6 , 2016, ISSN  2048-0601 , p. 98 ( full text [PDF; accessed on January 24, 2018]).
16. ↑ ^{a b} Jun Mai: 'Separatist' label 'unfair for Taiwan's teen pop star Chou Tzu-yu: Chinese state media. The 16-year-old singer's act of waving island's flag reflects recognition of 'one China' principle: commentary. In: South China Morning Post . January 18, 2016, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
17. ↑ Josh Horwitz: Why a washed-up pop star is suddenly the most hated man in Taiwan. In: Quartz . January 20, 2016, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Huang An to explain his side of the story next month. In: Taipei Times. January 19, 2016, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
19. ↑ Christie Chen: Timeline of the Chou Tzu-yu flag controversy. In: Focus Taiwan. January 18, 2016, accessed January 26, 2016 . 
20. ↑ Sung So-young: Criticism narrows in on JYP, Park. In: Korea JoongAng Daily . January 19, 2016, accessed January 26, 2018 . 
21. ↑ Park Hyong-ki, Joel Lee: [Newsmaker] JYP in tight spot over Tzuyu furor. In: The Korea Herald . January 18, 2016, accessed January 27, 2018 . 
22. ↑ Jonathan Cheng: Ripples From Flag-Waving Brouhaha Continue to Spread. The furor over a Taiwan-born singer's waving of the island's flag and subsequent apology escalates. In: The Wall Street Journal . January 19, 2016, accessed January 27, 2018 . 
23. ↑ Kim Jae-heun: JYP Entertainment to overhaul hallyu strategy. In: Korea Times . January 19, 2016, accessed January 27, 2018 . 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Chou is the family name here, Tzu-yu is the first name.