Lin Dan affair sends Weibo into frenzy
Hashtag on badminton champion generates 2.5 billion views
The Sina Weibo hashtag about the extramarital affair of Olympic and world champion Lin Dan attracted almost 2.5 billion page views and comments as of Sunday, after the affair was exposed online.
Lin, a badminton player and national superstar known as Super Dan, admitted Thursday that he had an extramarital affair during his wife’s pregnancy, shortly after intimate photos of him inside a hotel with a model were posted online.
The hashtag “Lin Dan’s affair” has been viewed nearly 2.5 billion times on Weibo alone as of press time, with netizens posting 690,000 comments on the topic.
The hashtag “Lin Dan out of control after drinking” generated 1.4 million clicks on the microblogging platform and was listed as the top trending hashtag of the day on Sunday after an account named “Zhao Yaqi Studio” said on Saturday that the model, surnamed Zhao, was a victim in this scandal and accused Lin of losing control after drinking.
Celebrity scandals have often been the hottest topics online in China. The hashtag related to the divorce of Wang Baoqiang, a Chinese actor with a ragsto- riches story who accused his wife Ma Rong of infidelity on his Weibo account on August 14, has been viewed over 11.8 billion times on Weibo as of press time.
The Xinhua News Agency criticized the frenzied interest in Wang’s divorce on October 19. Xinhua said that it’s shameful for people to publicize their personal family issues and thereby expand their social influence.
Li Yinhe, a sociologist and marriage expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday, “The Chinese public tends to have higher interest in celebrity topics compared with national policies or reports on accidents. That is because celebrity gossip, which everyone is able to join, is not a taboo subject in China.”
“The ban on pornographic films and television programs in China has also increased public attention to celebrity gossip,” Li added.
The hashtag “the landing of the Shenzhou 11” spacecraft has received 35,000 page views on Weibo and the US election 1.5 billion views.
Lin’s wife, Xie Xingfang, who is also a badminton player, gave birth to a baby on November 4 and said on her Weibo account on Friday that she would support him because he took responsibility for his actions.
Lin has resumed his training in the shadow of his affair, Sina Entertainment reported on Saturday. But he has not made any comments on the model’s claims that the affair was due to him losing control after drinking.