Profile | Li Yapeng, ex-husband of Cantopop queen, goes from ‘greasy uncle’ to ‘hero’ after funding appeal
Serial ‘loser’ in business undergoes a reputational rejuvenation; is hailed as a ‘philanthropist’ after helping treat kids with birth defects.
Former Chinese actor and businessman Li Yapeng, who is also the ex-husband of Cantopop diva Faye Wong, hit the headlines recently after he admitted that a charity hospital he founded was in serious debt.
Li, 54, announced on January 14 that the Beijing Smile Angel Hospital, which he and his ex-wife Wong founded in 2012 to help children born with a cleft lip like their daughter Li Yan, was facing closure over unpaid rent.
According to the hospital, it has operated on 11,000 children with a cleft lip for free.
The private children’s hospital also has other departments that charge fees and has treated 500,000 patients.
Li claimed that the hospital was in debt due to the doubling of its rent since 2020, which was agreed between them and the landlord in 2019, plus a slump in revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kind-hearted online observers flocked to the hospital’s donation link and in a few days, the hospital raised 20 million yuan (US$2.9 million), enough to pay the overdue rent.
Li’s social media account also reportedly attracted nearly 1.5 million followers in a week. His live-stream sales session on January 17, which lasted for five hours, generated more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) in sales.