Harlem Yu celebrates 60th birthday by donating 15,000 popsicles made from mangoes

Taipei — On July 28, Taiwanese singer Harlem Yu turned the big 6-0 and to celebrate the occasion he decided to send out gifts instead of throwing a big party for himself.

On July 26, Yu donated over 15,000 popsicles to police stations in Changhua and Kaoshiung with the help of representatives from Taiwanese frozen snack brand Ki A Peng Sian. It was reported that the mangoes were worth over a total of over NT$600K (SGD29K)

Yu accompanied the gift with the message: “Seeing the hardworking handsome men and beautiful women of the police force happily eating popsicles to cool off during a hot summer is the most precious birthday gift to me!”

Besides wanting to show his gratitude to frontline heroes, there is another very meaningful reason behind Yu’s unusual and seemingly random gift, as reported by 8days.sg. Last month, farmers in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County revealed that sales of their famous Aiwen mangoes were badly affected after the country’s first outbreak of the COVID Delta variant was reported in the area.

Following that, there was a stigma against the fruit and many orders were cancelled, affecting the livelihoods of small farm workers. Yu and his team sprung into action after hearing about the plight of the farmers. They bought 25 tonnes of mangoes from small farmers in Tainan City’s Yujing Market and had them made into the popsicles.

“If you can kill two birds with one stone, then why not!” Yu said. “Taiwan isn’t called the ‘Kingdom of Fruit’ for nothing. I guarantee that the Aiwen mangoes have absolutely no problem! They are first class!”

That is such a thoughtful move of Yu.

Born on July 28, 1961, Harlem Yu is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, television host and businessman. He is particularly well-known for singing the theme song, Qing Fei De Yi, for the 2001 television drama, Meteor Garden. He made a cameo in both that version and the 2018 remake, Meteor Garden performing Qing Fei De Yi (情非得已). Best known for being one of the first artists in the Mandopop music industry to experiment with R&B and rap, he has released more than 15 studio albums since 1986./TISG