Zhao Wei Shares First Photo After Divorce, Wearing Black Linen Robes Suspected to Have Converted to Buddhism.

Chinese actress Zhao Wei, who has been banned for nearly 4 years, celebrated her 49th birthday on March 12. On that day, she rarely posted a selfie wearing a black linen robe on her recently unblocked Weibo account, and wrote a Buddhist prayer in English, appearing to have converted to Buddhism.

This is the first selfie Zhao Wei has posted since her divorce. On December 18 last year, Zhao Wei suddenly announced her divorce from businessman Huang Youlong on her newly unblocked Weibo account, ending their 16-year marriage. Prior to this, Huang Youlong was reported to owe a huge debt totaling 753 million Hong Kong dollars; Hong Kong socialite Cai Yifeng also stated that Huang owed 300 million, bringing the total debt to a staggering 1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

It is said that Zhao Wei, who had already divorced Huang, kept it a secret until she saw herself repeatedly mentioned as “Huang Youlong’s wife” on the media’s debt list, prompting her to make a public announcement about the divorce. At the same time, Zhao Wei proactively submitted divorce information to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, deleting her disclosure in Huang Youlong’s company. According to the documents, Zhao Wei had already “severed ties” with Huang Youlong on July 23, 2021, before she was banned in August 2021.

Reported by the Hong Kong Economic Times, Zhao Wei submitted documents to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 21 this year, showing that she divorced Huang Youlong on July 23, 2021. She requested not to be regarded as having spousal rights in 35 billion shares of “Sun Dragon Holdings (00361)” from that day onwards, reducing her original 67.5% stake to zero.

In fact, Zhao Wei was spotted with a new boyfriend by mainland media between June and September 2020, sparking rumors of marital issues with Huang Youlong. Zhao Wei even deleted photos of herself and Huang Youlong, but her studio denied the divorce rumors, suggesting that they were separated but not legally divorced. Zhao Wei and Huang Youlong never made an official announcement afterwards, leading to speculations that they were trying to appease creditors by creating an illusion of not splitting assets, especially when Huang Youlong’s father passed away and Zhao Wei appeared in the obituary as his daughter-in-law.

Since being labeled as a “discredited artist” by the authorities, Zhao Wei has remained elusive. Despite attempts to make a comeback, her shareholding rights were recently frozen.

On March 8, Zhao Wei posted a nighttime picture on Weibo, with a suggestive caption: “Tonight’s moon… the moon at that time.” This was her first public statement since confirming her divorce from Huang Youlong at the end of last year. Sharp-eyed netizens noticed that the location of Zhao Wei’s post was in Yunnan, and she had also shared a picture of spinning tops on Instagram in November last year, a traditional sport popular in Yunnan. Some daringly speculated that “Zhao Wei is likely living in Yunnan recently.”

Sure enough, Zhao Wei was spotted by many netizens in Yunnan’s Wengji Ancient Village with a group of friends, with some revealing sightings of her in a local coffee shop. Photos of Zhao Wei with friends were shared online, showing a visibly plumper Zhao Wei seated on the far right.

On March 12, Zhao Wei posted a bare-faced solo photo and a scenery picture on Weibo. Her attire was similar to that of the day she met with friends, accompanied by an English caption: “May all sentient beings be enlightened,” conveying the wish for a world free from confusion and suffering, where all beings can awaken. Netizens speculated that “Zhao Wei may have already converted to Buddhism to some extent, likely for some time now, as evidenced by her meaningful attire that day, wearing a black linen robe.”