Singer? Dancer? Model? The documentary doesn’t really make that clear.
“I don’t think it will influence society,” Hung said in a telephone interview. “I think it is much more influenced by Chinese society, mainly by the world of the internet. She just confirmed what the Chinese public expects of wealthy children in China ”.
Ms. Yao is the youngest of three children by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s tough leader, who was compared to Steve Jobs for his role in building an award-winning company in China for its ability to compete with large multinational telecommunications companies like Cisco, Nokia and Ericsson.
Ms. Meng and a half brother, Ren Ping, are the children of Mr. Ren’s first marriage. The son is the president of Huawei’s subsidiaries that own hotels and import food and wine.
Huawei became the focal point of a geopolitical battle between China and the United States, as the Trump administration tried to contain the country’s technological advances. Ms. Meng, who for years was the public face of the company, was arrested in Canada in 2018 on a United States arrest warrant, where she faces charges of financial fraud related to evasion of sanctions against Iran.
Ms. Meng’s fate during what turned out to be a long process of extradition soured opinions about the United States. Chinese authorities portrayed her as an innocent victim of a highly politicized case to harm the company.
The public’s sympathy for the Huawei dynasty, however, declined sharply after a company employee was arrested for 251 days; he had sued the company for a bonus and was arrested for revealing trade secrets, although the charges were dropped. It was a story that raised the concerns of a middle class that is increasingly facing economic difficulties for the first time after decades of explosive economic growth.
Ms. Yao, daughter of Mr. Ren’s second marriage, unquestionably grew in privileges, perhaps more than her older half brothers. She traveled extensively, living in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Britain, according to her own biographical descriptions. Her movement around the globe was such that she recently had to dodge questions from the Chinese media about her nationality, saying she was born in Kunming, a city in southern China and carries a Chinese passport.