National Post (National Edition)
China's pop culture diva overshadowed by billionaire dad, imprisoned half-sister
For her 23rd birthday last week, an impressive media blitz pushed a new career for Annabel Yao as definitely-not-a-princess entertainer: a glitzy music video, bio-pic, advertising deal, the cover of the Chinese edition of Harper's Bazaar, and publicity photos of her in knee-high boots with stiletto heels crushing a crown lying at her feet.
The reception in China has not been warm.
The well-funded buzz for her nebulous new career, and the ensuing controversy, stems from the same source: Yao is the youngest daughter of Ren Zhengfe, the billionaire founder and CEO of telecommunications giant Huawei.
And if that isn't lineage enough to draw a response, she is the half-sister of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, who is under house arrest in Canada fighting an extradition request from the United States.
Meng's arrest in 2018 sparked an international incident that continues. Nine days after her arrest while changing planes in Vancouver, China arrested two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, in an apparent tit-for-tat.
That Yao's music video, for an uptempo pop song heavy on black miniskirts and red lipstick, is called Back Fire now seems prophetic.
In it, in English, she sings: “Such a princess, don't make me man up.”
In the biographical documentary, she says: “I have never regarded myself as a so-called princess,” according to published translations. “Like many peers, I had to spend a lot of effort and study extremely hard to be admitted to a good school.”
Yao's attempt at humility against a backdrop of extreme privilege and luxury sparked a swift backlash on social media. Her dance moves were called derivative, her vocals underpowering, her lyrics goofy, in wide scrutiny new artists rarely face.
It's not her talent being criticized, not really. It's her timing, her tone; not reading the room.
Yao is parading a lavish life of jet-setting privilege as many in China, once enamoured by the potential for economic growth, show increasing disdain for its super elites, and particularly their offspring. Even more so under the chaos of pandemic.
The Chinese have a word for them: Fu'erdai, a snarky term for the “rich second generation” who are born into wealth, akin to a derisive “silver spoon” in English. Yao was branded a wannabe Chinese Kardashian.
She awkwardly referenced Meng in the documentary on her life, asking why her older sibling seemed more likable to the public, according to a New York Times translation.
A pro-government Chinese newspaper, Global Times, which often reflects the views of the Chinese Communist Party, at first reported on Yao's new career as “an entertaining artist” with enthusiasm.
When Yao registered an official account on Weibo, a Chinese platform similar to Twitter, and posted a selfie, Global Times reported “the topic went viral,” and that her debut musical release “quickly topped the search trending list of Sina Weibo.”
Soon after, though, even the Global Times noted the problem.
“The sharp contrast in the lives of Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei's two daughters sparked heated online debate on Chinese social media,” the Global Times wrote.
While Yao was planning her flashy debut, her sister, Meng, was fighting for freedom in court after facing death threats mailed to her residence in Canada, the paper reported.
Yao was referred to as the “debutante daughter” and “a member of China's ultrarich class”; Meng was called “a political hostage” and “an iconic figure amid US-China confrontation.” The paper complained that Yao's debut received three times more traffic than posts discussing Meng's incarceration.
In many ways, Yao's treatment seems unfair.
Yao graduated with a degree in computer science from Harvard University last year and has worked from a young age, as a ballerina.
Yao was born to Ren's second wife, Ling Yao. She is a generation apart from her older sibling. Meng, Ren's eldest child, was born 25 years before her. Ren is divorced from Meng's mother, Meng Jun, who was a commissar of Mao's Red Guards when they met. Ren's son, Ren Ping, is an executive at a Huawei subsidiary and shares a mother with Meng.
And it is not as if Meng's immense family wealth isn't making her life, even while under restraint in Canada, profoundly more comfortable.
Out on $10-million bail, she lives in a multimillion-dollar mansion with her family and has freedom to roam, shop and dine out. Court heard an entire Vancouver restaurant was booked for Meng to host a Christmas dinner for 14, and has had visits from a masseuse and art teacher.
That's a far grander lifestyle than most fellow citizens and considerably better than Canada's “two Michaels” in prison in China.
This month it was learned that a Boeing 777 jet had been chartered in May so Meng could be whisked back to China had she won an appeal in her case. She lost the challenge and remained in Canada.
The first time Yao stepped into the limelight she also was overshadowed by Meng.
In November 2018, Yao was presented publicly in socialite circles. France's Paris Match magazine called her “the daughter of the emperor of Chinese telecommunications” and “the pearl” of the Bal des Débutantes, an exclusive coming-of-age gala in Paris.
A few weeks later, on Dec. 1, 2018, Meng was arrested, and attention immediately shifted to the elder sibling, and comparisons between them.
A week ago, it happened again. On Weibo, on Jan. 14, Yao's birthday, she posted a link to the documentary on her young life, saying: “The first step on the way forward is to be yourself.”
According to the Post's data, she sent it from a Huawei phone. Being herself can only bring so much distance from her legacy.
SHE SINGS: `SUCH A PRINCESS,
DON'T MAKE ME MAN UP.'