Latest news with #Shanghai-born
Online Citizen
23-05-2025
- Online Citizen
Six men to be charged in separate child sexual exploitation cases in Singapore
SINGAPORE: ix men will be charged in court on 23 May 2025 for alleged involvement in various child sexual exploitation offences. The men, aged between 22 and 41, were arrested in separate incidents, according to a police statement issued on 22 May. The suspects were apprehended by officers from the specialised crime branch of the Criminal Investigation Department. Their alleged offences include engaging minors for sex and possessing child sexual abuse material. One of the accused, aged 37, is alleged to have engaged a young female victim for sex after befriending her online. He reportedly performed sexual acts on the girl and was arrested on 25 March 2025. He faces one count of commercial sex with a minor under 18 and another count for communicating with a minor under 18 for the purpose of obtaining sexual services. In another case, a 25-year-old man was arrested on 5 July 2024 for allegedly engaging a young girl for commercial sex. He had also made contact with the minor through online means. He is expected to be charged with eight counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 16. A separate incident involved a 22-year-old man arrested on 5 March 2024. He allegedly possessed child sexual abuse material and obscene films found on his mobile phone and computer. He will face one count each for possession of child abuse material and possession of obscene films. Additionally, three men aged 30, 35 and 41 were arrested on 14 March 2023, 18 March 2024, and 22 March 2023 respectively. All three allegedly possessed child sexual abuse material stored on mobile phones, storage devices and computers. Each will be charged with one count of possession of child abuse material. In the statement, the police stressed their zero-tolerance stance on such crimes, stating: 'The police take a serious view of child sexual exploitation and abuse and will spare no effort to protect children from such harm.' Under Singapore law, individuals convicted of having sex with minors aged 14 to 16 may be jailed for up to 10 years, and may also be fined or caned. Engaging the sexual services of a person below 18 can result in up to seven years' imprisonment, a fine, or both. Possessing or accessing child abuse material carries a penalty of up to five years' imprisonment, and may also include a fine or caning. Possession of obscene films is punishable with up to six months' imprisonment, a fine of up to S$20,000, or both. Separately, on 19 May, Ian Fang, a 35-year-old former Mediacorp actor educated in Singapore, was sentenced to 40 months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to sexual offences involving a minor under the age of 16. The Shanghai-born permanent resident (PR) committed the offences in 2024 while employed as an acting instructor at a child modelling school catering to students aged four to 14. He met the victim earlier that year at an entertainment event. A gag order remains in place to protect the identity of the victim. On 21 May, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) stated that it is reviewing Fang's PR status following his conviction for serious sexual offences.
South China Morning Post
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Manuscripts, letters of writer Eileen Chang given to university in Hong Kong
Thousands of items, including manuscripts and letters, once owned by the celebrated Chinese author Eileen Chang Ai-ling have been donated to a Hong Kong university, with the administrator of her estate choosing the city based on geopolitical considerations. A household name in the Chinese-speaking world, Shanghai-born Chang's famed literary works have been adapted for screen numerous times, including Lust, Caution, a wartime spy thriller set in the 1940s that took home the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for best picture in 2007. The items donated to Hong Kong Metropolitan University also include those of writer and translator Stephen Soong and his wife Mae Fong Soong, Chang's lifelong friends, with the trio sharing more than 700 letters over four decades. Chang entrusted her estate with the couple before her death in Los Angeles in 1995 at age 74. Eileen Chang, photographed in Hong Kong in 1955. Photo: Handout The couple's son, Dr Roland Soong, an administrator of the Chang and Soong inheritances, said on Wednesday that given the history, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan and the United States were all appropriate options for the donation, which coincided with the 30th anniversary of the author's death. 'In the end, because of geopolitical issues, I thought Hong Kong was still the best and the freest, without inexplicable problems that could not be dealt with,' Roland Soong said at a panel discussion during the donation ceremony at the university. Asked why he decided on the institution, given Chang was one of the most famous alumna of the University of Hong Kong, Soong said the selection process commenced more than two decades ago and it was important for him that the place chosen was invested in both sets of inheritances, not just Chang's. 'The two sets of inheritances are linked, such as the letters,' Soong said, adding that the correspondence needed to be seen physically together to make sense. 'If a library says they could look after Chang's items, I would ask whether they would take those of the Soongs, too. If the reply was, 'Those two were not as well-known, we wouldn't have space', I would not be able to entrust these to you.'
