Entertainer Tang Zhiping’s 73-year-old mother was found dead on the top floor of her residence two days ago. After the incident, Tang briefly went missing and did not show up for the body examination yesterday. It wasn’t until this afternoon when he finally appeared at the Shilin District prosecutor’s office, claiming that the deceased woman was not his mother but intending to report his mother missing.
In an interview last night, Tang expressed that he is very optimistic and not in a state of despair.
Tang Zhiping arrived at the prosecutor’s office around 1 o’clock this afternoon to report, and after being questioned by the prosecution, he accepted a media interview. He stated, “She is not my mother. I can tell with my own eyes that she is not my mother.” Therefore, he did not collect the death certificate.
He recounted that when the police came to the community and informed him that there was a female corpse, “There were keys and a magnet with my mother’s belongings, indeed things that belonged to my mother, but when I went up to look, firstly my mother did not have green clothing,” and secondly, the person’s legs were thick, while he mentioned that his mother’s legs were very slim. Additionally, he was unsure whether it was due to changes in the corpse or livor mortis, but he confirmed that it was not his mother.
When asked why he did not attend the mortuary for examination as informed by the police yesterday, Tang expressed that since it wasn’t his mother, “Why would I go?”
Regarding the “cousin” who identified the body as his mother, he mentioned that the cousin and mother had no blood relationship and hadn’t seen each other for five years, implying that the cousin may have made a mistake.
Tang also mentioned that he had been unable to locate his mother for two to three days, and nothing unusual had happened before. “Perhaps I mentioned to relatives and friends that a month or two ago, there was a disagreement, more like different opinions,” mainly about family matters.
In relation to the disappearance of his mother, Tang said he asked the prosecutor how long it would take to report a missing person, stating, “Don’t want to make a fuss, if it’s a problem after one or two weeks of absence, it’s worrying after three weeks,” and added, “Let’s wait another month and see,” not ruling out reporting as missing.
According to SET News, Tang Zhiping appeared at the local police station last night and still insisted that the deceased was not his mother, saying, “It’s obviously not my mother,” and during the interview, he made his “final statement” on the matter.
Tang emphasized that firstly, he still doesn’t know the details of his mother’s situation, so he has no reaction yet, waiting for the results; secondly, he considers himself a very optimistic person, “Money is not everything, I am not in despair. If you think being in debt makes someone inferior, that is your view, it has nothing to do with me.” Lastly, he does not see himself as a celebrity, “Even if I provide artistic performances, now there are not many people asking for photos on the street, as long as you are polite, I will be very friendly and cooperative.”
According to ETtoday, if Tang Zhiping does not claim the body this time, the body will remain frozen in the funeral home in New Taipei City. The funeral home can only continuously advise morally and persuade the family to claim the body, and the current daily storage fee is 800 yuan (NTD). If the family wishes to claim the body, they must pay the fee in full before handling the funeral arrangements.