Actor Recalls One and a Half Years With Father Hsu Pu-Liao Before His Death

Actor Chou Ming-tseng has been away from the entertainment industry for some time, but a recent photo of him with veteran performer Wu Fan revived memories of his brief relationship with his father, the late comedy star Hsu Pu-Liao.

Chou met Hsu when he was 13. The father and son spent only about a year and a half together before Hsu died. Chou later said that his father’s remarried family treated him as an outsider when Hsu was at the height of his fame. He described the people around Hsu as determined to keep others away from the star.

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The women around him, his first wife, second wife and driver, were all ghosts. Whenever someone tried to get close to this cash cow, they kept pushing that person away.

Chou recalled that Hsu sometimes had to secretly give him money by slipping it into his son’s socks. He said Hsu should have given the money to Chou’s mother and cared for her more, but people around the performer repeatedly tried to drive him away.

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He should have given it to my mother, and even taken better care of my mother.

The pair also kept their closeness hidden. When Chou visited his father backstage, Hsu would hold his hand for one or two hours and ask him not to leave. Chou said his father sometimes told him to lie on a table and pretend to sleep while Hsu covered his own face with a white towel. They spoke quietly so people nearby could not overhear them.

Chou said his father gave him only a year and a half, and that they met fewer than 15 times. He remembered watching Hsu perform on stage, inject drugs and drink, as well as seeing his mother suffer. Despite those experiences, Chou later said, "I have never failed to forgive my father."

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I have never failed to forgive my father.