Employee who bragged about wealth on WeChat suspended

A 28-year-old equity manager in Jiangxi province who made provocative posts online about his personal wealth and powerful family has been suspended from his job amid an ongoing investigation, according to an official statement.

Recently, screenshots of WeChat posts made by Zhou Jie, who claimed to be an employee of Jiangxi State-owned Capital Operation Holding Group, went viral.

The screenshots showed him bragging about his family’s wealth and discussing his father’s job promotion.

The incident drew widespread criticism and speculation online with many netizens wondering whether Zhou’s family had accumulated its wealth from corruption and whether his father was promoted through abuse of power.

The company issued a statement on Tuesday night saying that the posts on Zhou’s WeChat were first published two years ago.

Zhou’s father, 59, is a fourth-level investigator in the freight logistics division of Jiangxi’s comprehensive transportation development center.

His father used to work in the passenger and cargo transport division of Jiangxi’s former highway transport administration and was promoted to his current position in September 2020.

The investigation showed that his promotion was in line with regulations, according to the company.

The statement said that Zhou and his parents bought six houses with a total area of 705 square meters from 2006 to 2022, for which they collectively paid about 6.55 million yuan ($968,500).

They also bought two shops comprising about 82.7 square meters for a total of 1.91 million yuan. They are currently repaying a 2.53 million yuan loan.

Additionally, Zhou posted that a provincial-level official once offered him cigarettes and that he drank tea worth 400,000 yuan per kilogram. These stories are false, the statement said.

On Monday, the company issued a notice saying that Zhou made the posts on his WeChat moments from September 2019 to June 2020, and that the content was later forwarded by others.

6 houses were bought by Zhou Jie and his parents with a total area of 705 square meters from 2006 to 2022.