No westernised women for him, thank you very much.

Shanghai-born Singapore-based MediaCorp actor Dai Yang Tian was the subject of rumours a few months ago when he was spotted having dinner with former local actress Fiona Xie in his hometown. Many netizens concluded that the good-looking pair were dating secretly.

Xie, 31, who left MediaCorp in 2009, has lived in Hong Kong and Taiwan and is now based in Shanghai.

Dai couldn't be contacted when the rumours started as he was filming in China. But the 28-year-old, who was recently in town, cleared the air with The New Paper, saying: "A mutual friend had asked me to take care of Fiona as she was setting up a shop in Shanghai. "I was considered because I live there.

"I had spoken to Fiona a few times prior to that, so I asked my friend for her number and said that it was no problem, I would help her with whatever she needed in Shanghai.

"We got in touch and had meals together. It was nice, she's a very dreamy sort of girl."

Definitely attractive

When asked if he had thought of asking her out on a date, Dai admitted: "Fiona is definitely attractive.

"But I would never consider her a potential girlfriend because she is just too Westernised for me."

We caught up with Dai when he walked the runway for local fashion brand Depression as part of the Asia Style Collection music and fashion event held at the Singapore Expo last Saturday.

Thanks to his passionate fans amid the 7,000-strong crowd, he received the loudest screams among all the local male celebrities, which included Tay Ping Hui and Andie Chen.

But Dai said that he "almost went mad" because many of the Caucasian, Japanese and Korean female models were taller than him.

Wearing three-inch platform shoes hardly helped the 1.85m hunk, and the "traditional guy" in him simply wasn't comfortable with that.

Said Dai: "I rarely meet women who are taller than me. I was telling (fellow China-born Singapore-based actor Zhang) Zhenhuan, who is also more than 1.8m tall, that we're so short.

"I still like the 'traditional' sort of girls."

Dai, who said he is still unattached, wants to get hitched and have a family by the time he turns 35.

In the last two years that he has been filming in China, he has been focused on his career only. Dai can be seen in the upcoming travel show Just Go Shanghai, which he co-hosts with Taiwanese host Luo Yao. It premieres on Channel U on July 3 at 9pm.

He just couldn't fathom the K-pop craze in Singapore now.

When the event's headliner, K-pop girl group Girls' Generation, took to the stage during the finale at the Asia Style Collection, he was shocked by the loud screams.

Dai, who listens to rapper Eminem and US rock band Linkin Park, said with a laugh: "I had no idea who they were. I also didn't want to ask people because they would have been incredulous.

"K-pop is a genre of music that I don't listen to, it just never caught on with me."

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