Xiaxue

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Wendy Cheng

Xiaxue, also known as Wendy Cheng
Born April 28, 1984 (1984-04-28) (age 24)
Singapore
Occupation Celebrity Blogger and television host
Website
[1]

Xiaxue (Simplified Chinese: 下雪, real name Wendy Cheng Yan Yan) is a celebrity blogger in Singapore. She started her blog in 2003, and blogs about various topics ranging from herself to her view of the world around her. Her more notable entries include the ones on her methods of measuring penises, dumb starfish and her perceived MRT irritants. Her most popular post thus far has been the controversial and attention-attracting "7 most disgusting bloggers". She is frequently featured in the Singaporean media, albeit not always favourably, for her tactics. Due to explicit language, it has been advised that her blog not be read by minors.

Her pseudonym, Xiaxue, means "snowing" in Chinese.

Contents

[edit] Career and blogging

Cheng has worked as a columnist for The New Paper (a Singapore tabloid), Maxim magazine and Snag magazine. She used to be part of The Straits Times Online STOMP's panel of Star Bloggers, but was fired due to her unprofessionalism, failing to meet her obligation of being available for a one-hour online chat every Wednesday.[1]

On July 16 2007, Xiaxue posted an article about the 7 Most Disgusting Bloggers in the Singaporean Blogosphere.[2] This caused a lot of controversy and drama in the local blogosphere. All of the "top seven" rebuked, and one of the victims, a Singapore Idol-reject Steven Lim, rebuked by posting his response via video on YouTube.

December 2006 saw the debut of Girls Out Loud, a reality television show hosted by her and radio DJ Rosalyn Lee. In 2007, after Girls Out Loud ended its run, Xiaxue appeared in a web-based show with Rosalyn Lee called "Road Trip" which ran for 8 episodes.

Xiaxue currently has her own ongoing web-based show called "Xiaxue's Guide To Life" which is running on the web-based TV network clicknetwork.tv

[edit] Awards and recognitions

On 10 November 2005, Xiaxue was ranked as the 5th most powerful woman in the blogosphere by Jack of all Blogs, placing her amongst the ranks of Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing and Heather Armstrong of Dooce.

Xiaxue's blog has won several online awards, mostly for popularity: Best Singapore Blog 2003, Best Asian Blog 2004, and 2005 Bloggies Best Asian Weblog.[3]

[edit] Controversies

Xiaxue has been criticised for her heavy use of expletives in her entries[4] and has been known for her extreme defensiveness towards criticism.[5][6] She was also accused of impersonating a rival blogger on 15 January 2006.[6]

On 20 July 2005, Xiaxue's blog was hacked into and defaced; the hacker also gained access to her e-mail account and deleted all her e-mails. She regained access to her blog and e-mail account two hours after discovering the hacking, and made a police report.[7][8][9] The local Internet community condemned the hacking.[8][10][11]

In a post she wrote on 16 October 2005, Xiaxue criticised a disabled man who scolded an able-bodied man for trying to use the handicapped toilet.[12] This entry provoked many of her readers, who saw it as insensitive and unreasonable. After receiving hundreds of complaints from angry netizens, two of her three then-sponsors terminated their endorsement deals with her.[13][14][15]

In a post she wrote on 28 December 2005, Xiaxue wrote that Singaporean girls were repeatedly molested by foreign workers at Orchard Road, and suggested aerosol foam spray on Orchard Road should be banned. And it's true that this kind of incident always happen during festival seasons.[16] The post, which the local Internet community condemned as "racist" for its derogatory references to the local population of Bangladeshi construction workers,[17][18] prompted an angry netizen to start a petition to ban the blogger from Orchard Road.[18]

[edit] Impact of Xiaxue on youths in Singapore

 This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (May 2008)

Because of the popularity of Xiaxue's blog, many impressionable youths may look up to her as a role model. As such her personal decisions (eg. co-habiting) will have far reaching consequences towards moulding the minds of the younger generation.

Xiaxue, like some Singapore women, has embraced the 'asian woman-caucasian man' relationship. It is termed as "Sarong party girl". "Sarong party girl" is a term used to describe a local Asian woman (e.g. Eurasian, Chinese, Malay, Indian) who usually dresses and behaves in a provocative manner, and who exclusively dates and prefers white men. This can be considered a mutation of the Pinkerton Syndrome. The term first achieved international notoriety after the 1994 publication of Jim Aitchison's book "Sarong Party Girl", which offered a satirical portrayal of the SPG and related aspects of Singaporean culture.

[edit] Personal life

On 12 December 2006, Xiaxue got a free nose job by Dr Martin Huang, a consultant plastic surgeon.[19] The whole process or most of it, was filmed in the show "Girls Out Loud" with her being the host.

She currently dates Mike, her American boyfriend of whom has been mentioned repetitively in her blog.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Xiaxue. "Monday, July 02, 2007", 2 July 2007. 
  2. ^ Top Seven Most Disgusting Bloggers (In the Singapore blogosphere)
  3. ^ Fairvue Central >> Bloggies >> Fifth Annual Weblog Awards
  4. ^ Ephraim Loy, "Spare us these foul phrases", The Straits Times, 9 September 2005
  5. ^ Benjamin James Saram. "Avoid Sowing the seeds of Hate", Today, 16 January 2006. 
  6. ^ a b "157 seek Orchard Rd ban for Xiaxue", Today, 18 January 2006. 
  7. ^ "Don't let attacks bog down your blog",The Straits Times, 27 March 2007
  8. ^ a b Chua Hian Hou, "Blocked out of their own blogs", The Straits Times, 22 July 2005
  9. ^ Xiaxue.blogspot.com - Everyone's reading it
  10. ^ mrbrown: L'infantile terrible of Singapore: Xiaxue's email and blog has been hacked
  11. ^ On my birthday | My Very Own Glob {Curiosa Felicitas}
  12. ^ Xiaxue.blogspot.com - Everyone's reading it
  13. ^ Jeremy Au Yong, "Toilet blog whips up more stink", The Sunday Times, 6 November 2005
  14. ^ Jeremy Au Yong, "All flushed over toilet blog", The Sunday Times, 30 November 2005
  15. ^ Serene Luo, "Hard-hitting blogger flushed with success", The Straits Times, 31 December 2005
  16. ^ Xiaxue.blogspot.com - Everyone's reading it
  17. ^ Arlina Ashad, "Netizen petitions against blog", The Straits Times, 29 January 2006
  18. ^ a b http://www.todayonline.com/articles/95806.asp
  19. ^ "The Girl with a Fake Nose"