Sex tape scandal

Shortly after this defeat, on December 17, 2001, another local paparazzi magazine Scoop Weekly(獨家報導) published a lengthy story about Chu's alleged promiscuity and attached the exact issue with a 47-minute video CD secretly taken with a pinhole camera, purportedly showing Chu having sex with a man who was later confirmed as married Tseng Chung-ming. This video caused an immediate sensation and was soon spread throughout the world via the Internet. Embarrassed and desperate, Chu sued Scoop Weekly for libel, invasion of privacy, and distribution of obscenity on December 31, 2001, despite the fact that such action would mean Chu admitted her prior sexual intercourse with Tseng Chung-ming, and Tseng's wife would be eligible to sue Chu for adultery. Local authorities immediately ruled that the magazines in question had to be pulled from the market as a result, but not before the several thousand copies which were already sold. The damage had already been done when the video quickly found its way onto the Internet: search engine Lycos reported her name was among the most searched terms in January 2002.

This pinhole camera was later confirmed to be installed by Kuo Yu-ling(郭玉鈴), a vicious friend of Chu's, and a jobless divorced middle-aged mother with a teenaged daughter. In January 2000 Chu got acquainted with Kuo in a local avatar religious group where Kuo served as a "spiritual advisor". Kuo would never let other people know her real situation; instead, she pretended to be a celebrity by means of make-believe guise and personation. With her eloquence, boast and brainwashing, Kuo soon had Chu's confidence. Meantime Kuo also got acquainted with Tsai Jen-Chien.

In July 2001 when Chu traveled to the United States for two weeks, Chu asked Kuo to take care of her Danshuei condominium; being poor and knowing Chu's promiscuity, Kuo then took this opportunity to install a pinhole video camera inside a stereo set in Chu's bedroom so as to possibly threaten or blackmail Chu at a later date. Tsai Jen-chien also played a role in this event; Tsai was in anger right after his separation with Chu, and was seeking revenge(Tsai later claimed he gave Chu more than 20 million NT$ in cash and gifts between 1998 and 2001, including buying her a Hsinchu condominium, but when he asked Chu to return them back after they broke up, Chu refused and sold this Hsinchu condominium for more money instead). Local prosecutors later confirmed that Tsai helped Kuo to acquire the camera, as well as participated in planning, although it was Kuo alone that installed the camera and sold the tape. Kuo also took this chance to pocket 0.59 million NT$ from Chu's bank account, and Kuo's daughter Kao Chun-chun(高淳淳) assisted her mother in all these illegal things.

Kuo hawked this camera's tape to several local paparazzi magazines in October 2001. Next magazine and Scoop Weekly finally took it, and were believed to have paid Kuo unrevealed amount of money. In March 2006 Taiwan's Supreme Court finally sentenced Kuo to four years and eight months in jail, while the lawsuits against Scoop Weekly are still in process. Tsai Jen-chien was originally prosecuted too, but Chu later revoked her accusation toward Tsai because "I don't want to see Tsai's person any more". Tsai Jen-chien was also defeated in his re-election to Hsinchu Mayor on the December 1, 2001 vote. He has since retired from public affairs and is currently rumored to be teaching at a university in Fujian Province, China.

Besides Tseng Chung-ming, it was rumoured that Kuo still held another 2 unreleased "light-off version" video CDs, separately showing Chu having sex with Kuomintang official Chou Chih-wei(周志偉, who is also Chu's elementary school classmate) and independent Legislator Tsai Hau(蔡豪). The single Chou kept slient while the married Tsai strongly denied; the 2 CDs are not publicized so far.