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China

Hong Kong Tycoon: Who Wants To Marry My Lesbian Daughter (For $65 Million)?

ORIENTAL DAILY, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST(Hong Kong), LONDON EVENING STANDARD (UK)

Worldcrunch

HONG KONG - Cecil Chao Sze-Tsung, a Hong Kong real estate tycoon, has offered a $64 million “marriage bounty” to any young man “who can impress my daughter and give her happiness,” reports the China Times.

Oriental Daily reported a week ago that 33 year-old Gigi,the tycoon’s daughter, had announced that she had wed her girlfriend of seven years Sean Yeung in France five months ago. After initially denying the same-sex wedding, Cecil Chao launched an appeal for a man to "love his daughter."

According to the South China Morning Post, the tycoon is very close to his daughter. “Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks, who is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work."

Regarding the ideal man for his daughter, Cecil Chao told the South China Morning Post, “I don’t mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted.”

Hundreds of ffers have been pouring in, including from the U.S., Nigeria, South America, Turkey… One man suggested his brother, “a George Clooney body double,” would be the ideal candidate.

Speaking to London’s Evening Standard, Gigi said “My father … wants me to live in the closet and marry a man to promote my social status and he thinks marriage is a prestigious thing. Hong Kong is a long way from even talking about legalizing gay marriage but we need to change first social perceptions so the word ‘gay’ doesn’t immediately cause blushing and embarrassment.”

“Due to my parent’s high public profile, I don’t flaunt my sexuality”, she says. “And that’s a very Chinese cultural way of life. We accept people in the closet. In Europe, one could say to be gay is cool, but in Asia we’re far from that.”

Gigi and partner Sean:

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food / travel

Pasta v. Fascists: How Italy's Staple Dish Became A Symbol Of Resistance

Pasta may not be considered controversial today, but it played an important role during Italy's fascist years, particularly in one family's celebration of community and liberation.

Photo of the Cervi family.

Photo of the Cervi family, whose seven children were shot by the Fascists on December 28, 1943, at the Reggio Emilia shooting range.

@comunisti_alla_ribalta via Instagram
Jacopo Fontaneto

ROME — Eighty years ago — on July 25, 1943 — the vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism, leading to Benito Mussolini's arrest, set off widespread celebrations. In Campegine, a small village in the Emilian province, the Cervi family celebrated in their own way: they brought 380 kilograms of pasta in milk cans to the town square and offered it to all the inhabitants of the village.

The pasta was strictly plain: macaroni dressed with butter and cheese, seen as more of a "festive dish" in that period of deprivation. As soon as the Cervi brothers learned about the arrest of Mussolini, they procured flour, borrowed butter and cheese from the dairy, and prepared kilos and kilos of pasta. They then loaded it onto a cart to distribute it to their fellow villagers. Pastasciutta (dry pasta) specifically regards dishes with noodles that are plated "dry", not in broth. That would disqualify soup, risotto, ravioli...

Even though pastasciutta is the most stereotypical type of pasta today, it had a complicated relationship with the government during Italy's fascist years.

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