Taiwanese pop singer Show Luo Zhi-xiang signed a lucrative contract with record label EMI this week.
Despite heavy rain, the contract signing ceremony was held on a cruise liner in Victoria Harbour on Monday afternoon.
Luo (right) was astonished when a video was screened in which his idol, Canto-pop star Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, wished him all the best in his music career. 'I was shocked,' he said. 'I wouldn't have expected him even to remember my name.'
Luo first entered showbiz imitating Kwok when he was only three years old, but his music career sputtered. He became a TV presenter on Taiwanese entertainment shows and released his debut album, Show Time, in 2003. It sold 80,000 copies.
Of the four albums Luo has made, Speshow, his most recent, has proved the most popular, with sales of more than 100,000 copies since its release last year.
At EMI, Luo joins Mando-popsters Sherry Chang Hui-mei, Stanley Huang Li-xing, Jolin Tsai Yi-lin and Singapore's Stephanie Sun Yanzi, all signed to the label in the past 18 months.