On the evening of April 18, several hosts from Shanghai Radio and Television Station “stood” for Zhou Zhengyi’s birthday party. (Video screenshot)
Zhou Zhengyi, the former richest man in Shanghai who was released last year after 16 years in prison for the Shanghai Social Security case, recently hosted a lavish birthday banquet that alarmed Chinese Communist Party officials. The five hosts of Shanghai Radio and Television who were rumored to have “staged” Zhou’s birthday party have been blacklisted and banned from appearing on camera.
Zhou Zhengyi held a 60th birthday banquet at the Wanda Ruihua Hotel in Shanghai on the evening of April 18, inviting many celebrities from the entertainment industry to attend the banquet, among which six hosts from Shanghai were present collectively to “celebrate” Zhou Zhengyi’s birthday, arousing outside attention.
The six are Cheng Lei, Chen Rong, Zhu Zhen, Ni Lin, Fang Haiyan, and Dai Liu Fei of First Financial. Cheng Lei and Chen Rong have won the Golden Microphone Award, the highest honor for radio and television program hosts on the mainland.
Another host, Gao Yuan, was also present at the banquet, but he is not a contracted TV host.
A video posted online shows the hosts posing with Zhou Zhengyi, who is standing in the middle wearing a black suit. The hosts took turns to send their best wishes to Zhou, and even some meaty bragging. Among them, Chen Rong introduced herself by saying, “I am Chen Rong who has just met Zhou Gongzi and has become a good friend although I am a new friend of Zhou Gongzi.”
Chen Rong also said, “Are all our Eastern TV hosts out in full force? Eastern TV Spring Festival Gala is only this kind of lineup ah.”
Ni Lin, on the other hand, claimed to have known Zhou Zhengyi on this stage for the longest time, 23 years.
Dai Liu Fei introduced herself by saying that she met Zhou Zhengyi later, but “knew him like a friend”.
Cheng Lei, on the other hand, said that it was impossible not to know Zhou Zhengyi in Shanghai Beach. He has known Zhou Zhengyi for more than 20 years, but Zhou Zhengyi only met him last month, which means he is now “upscale”.
The incident has sparked heated debate on the Internet, some netizens think that these hosts are too flattering, can not understand why they participate in such activities, and also a mouthful of “Zhou Gongzi”, a sense of influence.
Others said that Zhou Zhengyi is not a rich man worthy of being touted, he has a long track record, has been arrested several times for crimes, and has been sentenced to years of imprisonment. The host’s behavior tarnished the station’s reputation.
(Web Screenshot)
The hosts’ collective “stand” for Zhou Zhengyi also alerted official intervention. A statement from Shanghai Radio and Television to the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee overnight was revealed on the Internet, in which the station confirmed that six hosts attended the birthday banquet, including Dai Liufei, who received an invitation directly from Zhou Zhengyi to attend the party.
(Web screenshot)
The TV station said it will further investigate and verify the incident, and asked each channel unit to interview the parties involved as soon as possible and do a good job in dealing with the aftermath.
At the same time, the TV station will strengthen the management of the host’s participation in social and public activities to ensure that it no longer participates in social activities that are incompatible with his or her personal identity and image.
On April 20, the news of the blacklisting of the above-mentioned hosts attending the banquet went viral in mainland media chat groups. Five of the hosts from Dongfang TV were banned from appearing on the show, but Dai Liufei from First Financial was not on the blacklist.
(Web screenshot)
The outside world speculates that Zhou Zhengyi, who was just released from prison, dared to hold such a high-profile birthday banquet, and was able to get all the famous hosts of Shanghai TV to support him, which is not something ordinary people can do, indicating that Zhou Zhengyi still has a “big shot” behind him to back him up.
Zhou Zhengyi background is not ordinary, he is the former chairman of the board of directors of Shanghai Real Estate Holdings Limited, the former chairman of the Nongkai Group of companies, “Forbes” magazine once sealed him as the richest man in Shanghai.
In September 2003, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly misrepresenting his registered capital and manipulating the price of securities trading.
In 2007, Zhou was involved in a case involving the misappropriation of Shanghai’s social security fund, which amounted to 33.9 billion yuan, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison and released in 2020.
Zhou is known to have close ties with Jiang Zemin’s two sons, Jiang Mianheng and Jiang Miankang. Free Asia has disclosed that Jiang Mianheng helped Zhou Zhengyi to borrow 5 billion from Shanghai’s social security fund, allowing Zhou to engage in land development. After Zhou Zhengyi got the money, he turned around and gave $240 million to Jiang Mianheng.
Chen Liangyu, the former Shanghai Party Secretary, also fell for the social security case, but Jiang Mianheng and Jiang Miankang, who were involved in the case, escaped punishment for the time being.
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