A cautionary tale of Internet times
- By Wu Yixue
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E-mail China Daily, August 5, 2014
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Infamous internet celebrity Guo Meimei has eventually been held by local police in custody for gambling, in Beijing. |
It spread across the country in a farcical manner three years ago and has now come to a disturbing end.
The detention of Guo Meimei was bound to draw attention after the stir the young woman caused in 2011 by ostentatiously flaunting her lavish lifestyle while claiming to be a commercial manager for the Red Cross Society of China.
Police in Dongcheng district of Beijing have announced that Guo is facing charges including gambling and prostitution, and the heavily veiled cover over the 2011 incident has now been lifted and the truth has finally emerged.
But judging from the facts produced by the police, it seems there are still some things we should reflect on, as the online publicity seeker is now the principal actor in a much darker and more sordid tale.
The police have confirmed that the 23-year-old had no ties with the Red Cross Society of China, which will no doubt have come as welcome relief to the charity, as the public has remained suspicious of it ever since Guo first made her claims despite the charity's repeated denials that she had any connection with it. And its actions have been under constant public scrutiny ever since.
It was her claim that she became the general manager of a commercial branch of the Red Cross Society of China after talks with an "adoptive dad", a euphemism that is often used to describe a sugar daddy, while posting photos of herself with luxury handbags and an expensive car on her micro blog in 2011 that first propelled her into the spotlight. She said in an undisguised manner that these were gifts she had received from one of her adoptive dads, who is now also in police custody.
Guo's extravagant lifestyle and her ostentatious flaunting of it immediately precipitated the Red Cross Society of China into the vortex of controversy and an unprecedented crisis of public confidence.
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