To celebrate its anniversary, TVB will be holding a series of exhibitions in three major shopping centres in the three forthcoming weekends and their "Jade New Army" was sworn in yesterday as part of the launch of this. Led by Production Resources Department Deputy Chief Lok Yik Ling, the six men and six women were announced as Linda Chung, Vivien Yeo, Fu Sze Sze, Kwan Yee Tung, Winnie Shum, Cecilia Yeung, Lai Lok Yi, Chui Kin Pong, Jack Wu, Lau Ka Chung, Charles Szeto and Vin Choi.
Ms Lok indicates that she had previously met with sixty or seventy people and had selected the twelve that she felt had the most potential to be promoted. They will have a lot of press exposure as wel as training in acting, hosting, singing and dancing and they have all signed long-term contracts with TVB for at least five years to allow their skills to develop. As for who she thinks will succeed, she says they are all very good

After TVB's "Six Olympic Stars", the company will be promoting another six male and six female young artistes and these have now been confirmed as "Jade's New Soldiers" with the final shortlist to include Lai Lok Yi, Jack Wu, Chui Kin Pong, Charles Szeto, Lau Ka Chung, Vin Choi, Vivien Yeo, Fu Sze Sze, Cecilia Yeung, Winnie Shum, Linda Chung and Kwan Yi Tung. As well as becoming promotional ambassadors for TVB events, they will also become the target of promotion and focus by TVB and so there was little wonder at the level of competition to be on the shortlist.
TVB has been actively screen testing the potential of the newcomers and after discussion by the executives, this list was drawn up before General Manager Chan Chi Wan met with each of them. From the list of names, Miss Hong Kong winner Kate Tsui and first runner up Queenie Chu are not present, but second runner up Fu Sze Sze is on the list alongside fellow Miss Hong Kong contestants Cecilia Yeung and Winnie Shum.
As for Lai Lok Yi who was a member of the 'Six Olympic Stars' as well, it was felt that out of the six stars in the last promotion, only Lok Yi was left behind, so TVB are going to give him another push in the hope of making him a leading star.
The list of names has been confirmed by Mr Chan and he emphasises that TVB will continue to work on its legacy of producing newcomers for the industry, so for those who have not been selected this time, they should not become disheartened. He also admits that he has met with each of the twelve young stars and he is very pleased with them all. TVB will be arranging for them to receive dancing, singing and kung fu training in the hope that they will become all round artistes and outstanding new leading stars.

Joe Ma and Jack Wu were filming yesterday for new series "Passion for Black Forest" in Kowloon Bay for a car crash scene. Although the crew had already applied for a permit to close the road for filming, there were still complaints of obstruction from the locals. After the police arrived to understand the situation, they were allowed to continue filming.Yesterday's scene tells of Joe being interfered with by Jack in the car and this causes him to lose control of the car and in real life, Joe has one experience of a car crash: "That night it was raining hard when I finished work and when I skidded on Clearwater Bay Road, I crashed into the side of the hill. Luckily I did not hit anyone and I was not injured, but the car was damaged quite badly and had to be towed away. Finally the damage cost $20,000 to repair. (Do you drive fast usually?) Sometimes I will speed, but not as much now. Allowing more time to get to work means I don't have to drive too fast. I have matured now and the laws are stricter and I will never drink and drive."

Bobo Chan, Myolie Wu, Joe Ma, John Tang and Jack Wu were among the cast members from TVB's "Passion for Black Forest" filming a cake-making examination yesterday. Before the shoot started, Bobo, John and Jack were picking at the cakes on the set and Bobo reveals that there are different cakes for them to try in every scene, so since filming started, she has put on a few pounds. She laughs: "When I see myself on the screen now, I am worried that my face will become wider and wider."

As TVB furthers its cutbacks, it continues to look internally for stars and after the 'Six Olympic Stars', there are plans to promote twelve "Jade Ambassadors" during the anniversary months who will be responsible for making appearances at celebratory events and will have plenty of opportunity for exposure. As a result, this has become the target of many up and coming young artistes.Reports suggest that TVB are currently selecting their ambassadors from the Miss Hong Kong and Miss Chinese International contestants, the cast of "Sunshine Heartbeat" and "Ten Brothers" and hot favourites include Linda Chung, Vivien Yeo, Carlene Aguilar, Kate Tsui, Jack Wu and Charles Szeto.When asked about this, TVB Production Resources Deputy Chief Lok Yik Ling indicated: "We are currently selecting six men and six ladies, tentatively for 'Jade Ambassadors', but this has not been confirmed yet. They will not only be for the anniversary, but will also lead into the new year, representing TVB for various promotional events and so in the next six months, they will have plenty of opportunity for exposure as well as plenty of promotion from the company."Would this also indicates that TVB will continue to 'promote from within'? Ms Lok responds: "Of course the company will continue to require some high class stars and singers from external sources to help bring up some of the larger productions, but as the head of the artiste department, then of course I have a responsibility to gain as many opportunities for our own staff as possible."