Best Mandarin Female and Male Singers Tanya Chua (L) and Gary Cao pose backstage with their award trophies at the 19th annual Golden Melody Awards ceremony in Taipei, July 5, 2008. [Photo: ent.sina.com.cn]

Although absent from the 19th Golden Melody Awards on Saturday in Taipei, pop king Jay Chou managed to retain his musical throne by winning the most awards at the Chinese Grammys.

Chou received four awards, including best composer, best song of the year for "Blue and White Porcelain," best instrumental producer and best instrumental composer in the instrumental category for "Secret," a soundtrack from his directorial debut of the same name.

That made Chou a rare honoree in the history of the awards by winning honors in both the singing and instrumental categories, according to the Oriental Morning Post.

Meanwhile, "Blue and White Porcelain" brought Chou's long-time collaborator, Vincent Fang, a best lyricist award.

Tanya Chua and Gary Cao were named the best Mandarin female and male singers, respectively. Pop-rock band Sodagreen won the award for best group. Karen Mok took home the award for best Mandarin album for "L!VE is Karen Mok."

The annual Golden Melody Awards are considered to be the Chinese equivalent of the Grammy Awards.