Heavenly queen Faye Wong and her ex-husband Li Yapeng have a daughter, Li Yan, who was born with a cleft lip and palate. As a result, the two of them became particularly attentive to children’s healthcare issues, and successively founded the 'Yanran Angel Foundation'. In 2012, they established the Yanran Angel Children’s Hospital, hoping to provide medical assistance to more children with cleft lips and palates. The hospital under their name has accrued unpaid rent and related fees amounting to over 110 million RMB (about 64.08 million MYR). Recently, Li Yapeng posted a video mentioning that increased rent has put great pressure on the hospital's operations; in response, the landlord spoke publicly through the media for the first time, bluntly stating that years of good-faith assistance ultimately turned into 'nurturing a tiger to be a threat.'
Li Yapeng once released a video nearly 31 minutes long, reviewing the hospital's 14-year journey in public welfare, and solemnly stated that the hospital may soon make its exit from history. In the video, he mentioned that the 'last straw' that broke the hospital was the landlord 'doubling the rent,' which made it even harder for the already struggling non-profit hospital. Many netizens sympathized with the hospital's predicament and blamed the landlord, thinking the landlord was 'maliciously raising the rent' at a critical moment. Donation campaigns then spread, and as of the 16th afternoon, donations from the public had exceeded 10 million RMB (about 5.82 million MYR), to which Li Yapeng expressed his gratitude immediately. However, the landlord believes that the video's content is misleading, over-simplifying the return to market prices as the main cause of the hospital’s hardship, which has resulted in serious reputational damage.
Mr. Zhang's assistant, Mr. Wu, responded by stressing that there’s a gap between public perception and the actual situation. He said that Mr. Zhang is nearly seventy years old and resides in Hong Kong, and since the hospital moved in, he has supported it with 'charity rent' at about half the market rate for a full ten years without adjusting the price. When renewing the lease in 2019, the rent was adjusted from about 5 million RMB (about 2.91 million MYR) to 10 million RMB—not as a sudden spike, but to end the long-term discount and restore to a reasonable market rate. Even during the pandemic, the landlord voluntarily reduced the rent further, lowering it to 800,000 RMB per month (about 46.6 million MYR). Mr. Wu added that in addition to the monthly rent, property management fees and utilities totaling over 20,000 RMB a month (about 11,000 MYR) were entirely covered by the landlord. He likened the landlord to 'Mr. Dongguo' from the ancient story 'The Story of Mr. Dongguo and the Wolf,' saying his good intentions in helping have only led to not being able to recover rent for a long time, emphasizing that 'Li Yapeng is the real beneficiary.'
Mr. Wu also stressed that Li Yapeng had signed a black-and-white contract back then and bore unlimited joint liability in person. Now, in his video, Li Yapeng uses vague wording, hinting at the rent hike being the trigger, essentially using public sympathy for 'moral blackmail.' Because of this, the landlord is taking a firm stance, demanding a public apology from Li Yapeng, otherwise refusing to compromise, setting the stage for an ongoing tug-of-war of public opinion between charity and contract.
Source: China Times News