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September 20, 2017

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When romance, Internet and law collide

On September 7, 37-year-old Su Xiangmao, WePhone app founder, jumped to his death, leaving a note blaming his “extremely vicious ex-wife Zhai Xinxin.”

They met via Jiayuan, one of the biggest dating websites in China. Su fell in love with this Zhai, and married in less than a year. Being loved by her was hazardous, however.

When they divorced about a month after their marriage, Su had already spent about 13 million yuan (US$2 million) on her. She wanted more, demanding 10 million yuan and property in compensation, resorting to threats that he was guilty of tax evasion and that his WePhone app was a “gray business.”

She allegedly threatened to use the influence of her uncle to have the app suspended and Su fined. She also arranged for ruffians and some low-life gangster lawyers to harass Su.

The latest revelations suggest her family background was complicated, and her love life was more messy than first reported.

Su was not the only victim. In Zhai’s previous marriage (unknown to Su until quite late), the man ended up paying her 200,000 yuan. Nor was this guy the first victim. Media are still trying to track down earlier victims. Apparently this Machiavellian schemer and seductress had turned failed relationships into a lucrative business.

Predictably, following reports of the case, there has been an outpouring of compassion for Su, and anger against Zhai. Sharing these sentiments are two well-known lawyers, Zhang Qihuai and Yu Jing, who have recently decided to represent Su’s relatives in suing those responsible for Su’s death.

This sounds encouraging, for Zhang and Yu handled a similar case involving entertainment celebrity Wang Baoqiang, who found discovered that his wife had an affair with his agent, Song Zhe, and that the pair had shovelled Wang’s assets elsewhere.

Su and Wang’s marriages seemed to fit a certain pattern — beautiful women marrying rich but less good-looking men.

The investigation into Wang’s case has been encouraging: On September 12, Beijing police decided to place Song in criminal detention, on suspicion of embezzlement by taking advantage of his professional capacity, while Wang’s ex-wife has been banned from leaving the country.

Some netizens acclaimed the verdict, saying “Justice has been served.”

But in Su’s case, although the consequence is more tragic, it is probably not easy to bring justice to the wronged party, for on the face of it, this looks more like a family matter.

We Chinese traditionally are reluctant to submit a family dispute to official arbitration, on our reluctance to have dirty linen aired in public, and for fear that even an upright official finds it hard to settle a family quarrel.

No small matter

But Su’s case is by no means a small-time family squabble.

While it is easy enough to throw the book at a burglar who had made away with 1,000 yuan, or fraudsters who palmed off some bogus products, it has been technically difficult to make an example of a schemer who has made away with 10 million yuan, simply because she can resort to marriage as a front, which seems to provide a criminal with considerable immunity.

This insight into the limitations of the law probably emboldened an adventuress like Zhai, and allowed her to repeat her success. She would have gone to her next prey now if she had not over-reached herself.

In Wang’s case, Song has been brought to justice for embezzlement in his professional capacity. This is probably difficult to apply in Su’s case.

A good place to start is probably to sue the dating platform for sponsoring false information about Zhai — for instance her marriage history. But much of the significance of the tragedy would be lost if our attention is only restricted to the dating service.

We will feel let down if the law proves to be powerless against the obviously evil intent of Zhai.

In an interview with thepaper.cn website, lawyer Yu said: “We want to provide some guidance in terms of moral values and legal concepts. This case reflected some typical problems in Chinese attitudes towards marriage.”

This calls for restoring our innocence, by cleaning the Augean stable of vice and sin peopled by the likes of Zhai. There is no underestimating the pernicious influence of these lost sheep on the moral fiber of our youth.

If Zhai succeeds in getting away with this, or is let off with a slap on the wrist, there is no guarantee some women would not take a leaf out of her notebook in the future.




 

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