Chinese Actor’s Divorce from Wife Goes Viral on Social Media

A high-profile divorce between a Chinese celebrity couple is the talk of social media after the actor, Wang Baoqiang, announced on his Weibo account on Sunday morning that he is divorcing his wife, actress Ma Rong. The reason for the separation is that the wife allegedly has an affair with the actor’s manager, Song Zhe.

Wang Baoqiang's announcement elicited almost 1.7 million comments from netizens. The post had gone viral with over 3 billion views on different social media sites with the hashtag “Wang Baoqiang’s divorce” and 6.73 million comments on Weibo.

Because of the grievous harm to their union and family, he was forced to divorce Ma and fire Song, the actor said. Many netizens, or 47 percent of posts, condemned Ma for entering into an extramarital affair, according to statistics released by Weibo.

The couple were married in 2009 and have a daughter and son. On many times, such as the Cannes Film Festival, they have shown public affection. Wang described himself as a loyal husband who always placed his family first, noted What's on Weibo.

The actor rose to fame when he appeared in the 2004 movie of Feng Xiaogang “A World Without Thieves.” His role then was an innocent village boy who brought his life savings home while traveling on a train. After that, he starred in more movies such as “Monk Comes Down the Mountain” and “Lost in Thailand.”

However, five hours after Wang’s post, Ma Rong wrote on the Weibo account, “Trying to hide would only make matters worse, the good and the evil each have their truth. Karma will have its turn in due time, if not now.”