'Fatter than a motorcycle': singer Janice Vidal battles weight-obsessed Hong Kong media

For the better part of a decade Janice Vidal, who also goes by the Chinese pseudonym of Wei Lan, was recognised as one of the top female singers in the Chinese-speaking world.

Singing variously in English, Cantonese and Putonghua, the 32-year-old first carved a name for herself in 2005 after getting signed to East Asia Record Production - which was co-founded by the former Canto-pop star Leon Lai Ming - and coming up with memorably pleasing covers of Lai's classic hits for her debut album, .

But while her career has arguably shown signs of plateauing, the singer has found herself in increasingly dreadful situations in recent times - and they could only have happened in a mainstream culture that objectifies women as casually and maliciously as Hong Kong's. It began in January 2007, when the slightly chubby yet gifted singer was famously ridiculed by Lai as being "bigger than a motorcycle".

" than a motorcycle," Vidal corrects my translation at our interview - conducted in her first language of English - as if the statement could come out making any more sense. Isn't it humiliating?

"It is," Vidal raises her voice and repeats the reply three more times. Would she put up with that kind of nonsense if it weren't coming from her boss? "I wouldn't. I would beat him up," she says, before quickly adding with a chuckle, "Just kidding."