Taiwan court upholds “right to look good”

Concerned toupee wearers everywhere will be heartened to hear the latest hairpiece news from Taiwan: A man who tore the wig off a telegenic Taiwan legislator last year was sentenced to five months in jail for depriving the MP of his freedom to look good, a court spokesman said Tuesday. Chiu Yi (shown above arguing ...

585127_090609_chiuyi5.jpg
585127_090609_chiuyi5.jpg

Concerned toupee wearers everywhere will be heartened to hear the latest hairpiece news from Taiwan:

A man who tore the wig off a telegenic Taiwan legislator last year was sentenced to five months in jail for depriving the MP of his freedom to look good, a court spokesman said Tuesday.

Chiu Yi (shown above arguing with police during voting in the 2004 elections) is a sometimes-controversial Chinese Nationalist Party politician, known for his many accusations against the opposing Democratic Progressive Party. But freedom of expression took a new form in this case:

“The judge thought Chiu Yi had the freedom to wear what he wanted, and Chiu felt the wig made him look prettier,” court spokesman Huang Chin-ming said. “The judge thinks that to remove it intentionally was to take away that right.”

Remember, don’t hate someone because they’re beautiful

PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

James Downie is an editorial researcher at FP.
Read More On East Asia

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.