RELEASE OF PICTURES OF HONG KONG STARS IN THE NUDE IN VARIOUS COMPROMISING SITUATIONS SETS TONGUES WAGGING ACROSS ASIA

WARNING: Images after the jump are NOT safe for work (unless you happen to be a blogger working from home)

As ESWN points out, the pictures were released in a phased rollout, leaving eager netizens "waiting all night and all day at the various bulletin board systems in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China". Chung's company, Emperor Entertainment, soon declared the pictures to be photoshopped fakes and Ming Pao Daily News, Apple Daily, Oriental Daily News and The Sun took that position in their front page stories subsequently. But as more and more photos were released into public domain, the newspapers soon changed their tune.

Netizens say the bathroom the Cecilia Cheung lookalike was photographed in looks like that of Edison Chen's as seen in his blog. She also sports the same belly ring, earring and tattoos as the real Cecilia Cheung. Various photography experts have also told the media that the pictures do not seem modified. Even the Hong Kong cops soon conceded that the pictures appear real.

Obviously, Shanghaiist is a respectable blog, and there is NO WAY we're telling you how to get a hold of those pics. (We've been told if you Google or Baidu hard enough, you will get what you want. Be careful of the viruses lurking out there when downloading stuff though!) Let's just say that after getting hold of the whole set of pics (including some high resolution ones), we found it hard to believe that the pics were doctored.

Edison Chen sex scandal images and vide

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Our journalist friends (around the region) also tell us of how their colleagues have been gathering around computer monitors perving analysing the entire range of pictures together. Most of them appear to have made up their own minds. Among the exclamations frequently heard in offices and at lunch across Asia this week: "OMG! Cecilia is so hairy! She could use a shave!" and "Oh dear! He is so small!"

Edison Chen, currently in Boston, took a while to break the silence on his blog:

yes i have been silent and everyone thinks i am hiding but today there will be a press release and i hope u can all read from that and report the TRUTH and do some homework before trying to ruin someone’s life, cuz that is exactly whut u are all doing to me putting false statements on the FRONT PAGE sex photo scandal ever of newspapers and to others as well

That, unfortunately, may have come too little, too late. Reports are now saying that Gillian has attempted suicide following the scandal. And Cecilia's husband Nicholas Tse 谢霆锋 (who used to date Faye Wong 王菲), has threatened divorce, although his father Patrick Tse 谢贤 has since denied those rumours.

In the meanwhile, police have raided a computer store in Hong Kong and nabbed eight people in all, four of which are currently out on bail. How did these people get hold of the pictures you ask? Sing Pao has the answers [Translation by ESWN]:

According to an informed source close to the person who was the source of the photographs, several months ago Edison Chen sent his pink Apple Powerbook laptop to a Central computer shop for repairs. The technician made the accidental discovery that there were several hundred photographs and videos of Edison Chen and/pr more than a dozen celebrities/artistes (many of whom were listed by the media and netizens as prime suspects after the first photographs of Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan and Cecilia Cheung appeared), and he downloaded them onto his own computer.

 

The informed source said that the technician only intended to keep the material for his own enjoyment. Then one day he invited some friends over to his Ma On Shan apartment to play mahjong and he casually mentioned that he had some "good" stuff to show them. When his friends saw the material, they were astonished and lobbied him to post to the Internet. He did not want to do so himself, because he knew that Edison Chen has his contact information. So finally a female friend agreed to undertake the task of posting onto the Internet. That was how it happened.

Note: Shanghaiist has not publicised any pictures apart from those that are already in the public domain through the mainstream media.

For Part 1 of this story, click HERE.

Shanghaiist is hyperventilating. Just when we thought the worst was over, a new set of pics have surfaced. After looking through the pictures, we had to take a while to recover from the massive nasal haemorrhage we suffered before we could calm down ourselves enough to put this story together (oh how very self-sacrificial!).

The surfacing of the new pictures are an embarrassment to the Hong Kong police, who with the eight arrests they have made over the last few days claimed that they have already come down to the source of the pictures. To prevent the pictures from spreading further, the police have also highlighted to the public that it is an offence to publish, post or pass on the pictures. In the meanwhile, though, the pictures have been brazenly published on online forums and websites on the mainland (don't ask us for links!). If you conduct a Baidu search for Edison Chen's Chinese name "陈冠希", Baidu will even help you find what you are looking for by suggesting other search terms at the bottom of the page:

[Note: These search terms include "Edison Chen Sex-Photo-Gate", "Edison Chen Gillian Chung Sex Pictures Original" and "Edison Chen Pictures Download"... Thanks Baidu!]

In particular, a mystery man named "Kira" continues to lurk out there. He has leaked about 300 pictures and has promised 600 more as well as a video. This is in line with the planned and phased roll-out of the pictures we told you about earlier. (Note: "Kira" is a character in the Japanese manga series Death Note.) Unperturbed by the intimidation tactics of the police, "Kira" has basically issued a challenge to the police to "catch me if you can" and posted this note:

Rumor: video will coming out soon, and also the 4th pic is fake
32 mins video of E & G.
Coming out soon.
believe it or not.
I am not in hk , so i dun give a sh*t.
the 4th pic is fake, she is a Jap AV
here u are
the video clip is in media’’s hands,
the co-worker alrdy got the copies,
cannot get thu it now, be patient just wait

At the moment, the pictures are spreading like wildfire through the Chinese internet and blogosphere and there is no turning the tide. The most recent pictures released have implicated two other women, and people are speculating they are Yu Chiu (赵颂茹) and a Japanese porn star. Here are some of the latest pics released by "Kira":

According to the Wikipedia entry on the scandal, the police in Hong Kong have gone so far as to enlist the assistance of Interpol, but their actions have "raised concerns about violation of human rights and the relationship with powerful media tycoons". Also:

Commissioner of Police Tang King Shing has warned on radio that anyone with the pictures on their computer, even without any record of distributing them, are in breach of the law. The Commissioner's remarks, criticised as irresponsible, caused outrage among the Hong Kong public, who questioned the police's selectiveness and heavy-handedness in this case, as compared with previous cases of pornography distribution on the internet. Lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok Hung and about two dozen people protested outside police headquarters in Wan Chai, accusing the police of sowing confusion and creating an atmosphere of terror among netizens, and urged Commissioner Tang to clarify whether or not keeping the pictures violated the law.

The scandal has been the source of countless jokes in Hong Kong:

Left: Edison Chen has been labelled a hypocrite and caricatured as the terrorist Osama Bin Laden by Hong Kong netizens.
Centre: Gillian Chung wants you to try Edison Chen sausages!
Right: Edison Chen endorses Gillian Chung abalone just in time for the Chinese New Year!

There are similarities between the girl in the latest set of released pictures and a Japanese porn star, although no name has yet surfaced:

The scandal is now splashed across the front page of practically all the gossip magazines in Hong Kong:

The Ultimate PC & Mac store at 50 Stanley Street, Central, has scrambled to put up a sign dissociating itself from the scandal, and clarifying that it is another Mac store at the same address that is in the news. Someone had the good humour to scribble on the poster, "No, we only sell pirated software!"

Hong Kong police say the released pictures have opened a whole can of worms and they are now investigating to see if the female stars consented to having their pictures/videos taken and if they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs:

Hong Kong netizens are also unimpressed with Gillian Chung who was embroiled in a similar scandal in October 2004. After the scandal erupted, she had spoken to the media in tears saying she would not be so stupid to allow any other man to take nude pictures of her. Looks like history has repeated itself.

Related links
Batgwa.com: 'Edison's Conquests' Sex Photos - New Blowjob Pics?
The Blemish: Update: Edison Chen has sex pictures
Cool Smurf: More Edison sex photos leaked today as “Kira” promises video is next
Kungfu News: 汪明荃说陈冠希艳照门事件：不想被别人看到就不要拍
Sina: 曾與陳冠希傳過緋聞 趙頌茹：看過裸照 不會回應
Sina: 張柏芝否認已就“裸照風波”向陳冠希索賠
Sina: 鞏俐談“陳冠希艷照”：相信他們會改正
New Paper: I'm lucky fake body looks good

UPDATE: Jolin Tsai, Maggie Q, Vincey Yeung sucked into Edison Chen scandal; Gillian Chung admits involvement