section_path: Controversies/Zhang Lan's livestreaming
section_name: Zhang Lan's livestreaming
paragraph_text: Zhang Lan's livestreaming
  
  In 2020, Zhang Lan, a Chinese- Kittian businesswoman and mother of Wang Xiaofei, co-founded the hotpot brand Ma Liu Ji, primarily managed by Wang, and launched a Douyin -based livestreaming e-commerce business, which she operated mainly to promote the brand. Her pivot to livestreaming followed a series of setbacks, including her 2015 ousting from South Beauty, the high-end restaurant chain she founded in 2000. She had sold the company to CVC Capital Partners in 2013 after failed IPO attempts during a bet-on agreement with CDH Investments and declining sales amid Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. After the sale, CVC accused Zhang of misrepresentation and initiated arbitration through the China International Economic and Trade Commission (CIETAC), which awarded CVC over US$142 million. CVC enforced the award in Singapore, Hong Kong, and New York, securing asset-freeze orders in all three jurisdictions and piercing the Taiwan-based family trust nominally set up by Zhang for Wang and his children. In 2018, Zhang was sentenced in absentia by the Hong Kong High Court to one year in prison for contempt of court after failing to comply with its 2015 order, effectively rendering her a fugitive from Hong Kong.
  
  During Hsu's marriage to Wang, Zhang regularly invoked Hsu's name in her livestreams, at times claiming Hsu would appear or simulating call-ins from her, though Hsu never participated. For three years following Hsu's divorce from Wang until her death, Zhang increasingly relied on Hsu's name and celebrity effect, frequently using abrasive parodies and spreading sensational rumors about Hsu and the Hsu family, generating high traffic but also drawing significant criticism for alleged sexism, misinformation, and cyberbullying—including from Wang, who publicly severed ties with his mother on three occasions during this period, citing her exploitation of Hsu as the primary reason. During the first major flare-up between Wang and Hsu, Zhang's livestream sales surpassed 100 million RMB in the ten-day period from November 21 to 30, 2022—a more than 100-fold increase—while her Douyin account gained over four million new followers. Another notorious example occurred in March 2024, when Barbie—making her first public appearance with Koo Jun-yup after their marriage—attended the funeral of Dee's grandfather-in-law. Her black sheer outfit revealed undergarments under camera flashes, which Zhang later parodied in a livestream to promote undergarment sales. According to Ma Liu Ji CEO An Yong, the brand's online sales revenue was three to five times higher than that of its physical stores. Xu Jing, a media scholar at Xi’an Jiaotong University, described Zhang's livestreaming as a platform-driven "gossip economy" that stood out by blurring the line between e-commerce and tabloid entertainment.
  
  In May 2024, after Zhang claimed on Douyin that Hsu's son had been expelled from school, Hsu refuted on Weibo, saying that she had filed for an injunction with the Beijing Internet Court over Zhang while appealing to the court, the All-China Women's Federation, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and Douyin to take action over Zhang's repeated spreading of false information. On August 19, 2024, the court granted Hsu's injunction, which Zhang effectively ignored the same day by posting a video in which a female host suggested Hsu—without naming her—meant to send Zhang and Wang to jail and questioned her fitness as a mother due to her remarriage with Koo three months after her divorce. The case was heard twice in court but had not reached a judgement by the time of Hsu's death in February 2025.
  
  After Hsu's death, Zhang mourned her on Douyin. However, on February 5, 2025, Zhang endorsed a Douyin video where her godson, Xia Jian, falsely claimed that Wang had paid for the chartered flight carrying Hsu's ashes from Japan to Taiwan, prompting another dispute with Wang over her rumor-mongering for attention. After Dee, who paid for the flight, and the flight company denied Xia's claims, on February 8, Hsu's first seventh-day memorial (頭七), Douyin indefinitely banned the accounts of Wang, Zhang, and Xia for spreading misinformation and "disrespect for the deceased," a decision endorsed by Chinese state media, including the Guangming Daily. In the 30 days leading up to her ban from Douyin, Zhang hosted 102 livestream sales sessions, generating between 10 million and 25 million RMB in revenue. Both Zhang and Wang contested the ban, with Wang claiming that he never spread misinformation. However, Zhang later approved of the ban, describing it as a way to “protect” her. Zhang continued to livestream on TikTok, Douyin's international version, and opened new accounts through her team on Douyin and other platforms. Following Douyin, Weibo removed over 2,100 posts about Hsu containing "the falsehoods from external sites" and imposed penalties on over 100 accounts, including the suspension of live-streaming on Zhang's account. On 2 March, Kuaishou banned Wang and Zhang from posting videos on their accounts.
  
  In 2020, Zhang Lan, a Chinese- Kittian businesswoman and mother of Wang Xiaofei, co-founded the hotpot brand Ma Liu Ji, primarily managed by Wang, and launched a Douyin -based livestreaming e-commerce business, which she operated mainly to promote the brand. Her pivot to livestreaming followed a series of setbacks, including her 2015 ousting from South Beauty, the high-end restaurant chain she founded in 2000. She had sold the company to CVC Capital Partners in 2013 after failed IPO attempts during a bet-on agreement with CDH Investments and declining sales amid Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. After the sale, CVC accused Zhang of misrepresentation and initiated arbitration through the China International Economic and Trade Commission (CIETAC), which awarded CVC over US$142 million. CVC enforced the award in Singapore, Hong Kong, and New York, securing asset-freeze orders in all three jurisdictions and piercing the Taiwan-based family trust nominally set up by Zhang for Wang and his children. In 2018, Zhang was sentenced in absentia by the Hong Kong High Court to one year in prison for contempt of court after failing to comply with its 2015 order, effectively rendering her a fugitive from Hong Kong.
  
  During Hsu's marriage to Wang, Zhang regularly invoked Hsu's name in her livestreams, at times claiming Hsu would appear or simulating call-ins from her, though Hsu never participated. For three years following Hsu's divorce from Wang until her death, Zhang increasingly relied on Hsu's name and celebrity effect, frequently using abrasive parodies and spreading sensational rumors about Hsu and the Hsu family, generating high traffic but also drawing significant criticism for alleged sexism, misinformation, and cyberbullying—including from Wang, who publicly severed ties with his mother on three occasions during this period, citing her exploitation of Hsu as the primary reason. During the first major flare-up between Wang and Hsu, Zhang's livestream sales surpassed 100 million RMB in the ten-day period from November 21 to 30, 2022—a more than 100-fold increase—while her Douyin account gained over four million new followers. Another notorious example occurred in March 2024, when Barbie—making her first public appearance with Koo Jun-yup after their marriage—attended the funeral of Dee's grandfather-in-law. Her black sheer outfit revealed undergarments under camera flashes, which Zhang later parodied in a livestream to promote undergarment sales. According to Ma Liu Ji CEO An Yong, the brand's online sales revenue was three to five times higher than that of its physical stores. Xu Jing, a media scholar at Xi’an Jiaotong University, described Zhang's livestreaming as a platform-driven "gossip economy" that stood out by blurring the line between e-commerce and tabloid entertainment.
  
  In May 2024, after Zhang claimed on Douyin that Hsu's son had been expelled from school, Hsu refuted on Weibo, saying that she had filed for an injunction with the Beijing Internet Court over Zhang while appealing to the court, the All-China Women's Federation, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and Douyin to take action over Zhang's repeated spreading of false information. On August 19, 2024, the court granted Hsu's injunction, which Zhang effectively ignored the same day by posting a video in which a female host suggested Hsu—without naming her—meant to send Zhang and Wang to jail and questioned her fitness as a mother due to her remarriage with Koo three months after her divorce. The case was heard twice in court but had not reached a judgement by the time of Hsu's death in February 2025.
  
  After Hsu's death, Zhang mourned her on Douyin. However, on February 5, 2025, Zhang endorsed a Douyin video where her godson, Xia Jian, falsely claimed that Wang had paid for the chartered flight carrying Hsu's ashes from Japan to Taiwan, prompting another dispute with Wang over her rumor-mongering for attention. After Dee, who paid for the flight, and the flight company denied Xia's claims, on February 8, Hsu's first seventh-day memorial (頭七), Douyin indefinitely banned the accounts of Wang, Zhang, and Xia for spreading misinformation and "disrespect for the deceased," a decision endorsed by Chinese state media, including the Guangming Daily. In the 30 days leading up to her ban from Douyin, Zhang hosted 102 livestream sales sessions, generating between 10 million and 25 million RMB in revenue. Both Zhang and Wang contested the ban, with Wang claiming that he never spread misinformation. However, Zhang later approved of the ban, describing it as a way to “protect” her. Zhang continued to livestream on TikTok, Douyin's international version, and opened new accounts through her team on Douyin and other platforms. Following Douyin, Weibo removed over 2,100 posts about Hsu containing "the falsehoods from external sites" and imposed penalties on over 100 accounts, including the suspension of live-streaming on Zhang's account. On 2 March, Kuaishou banned Wang and Zhang from posting videos on their accounts.