Wife outs adulterous CCTV anchor
Affair accusation becomes hit Internet video
BEIJING -- China state broadcaster CCTV and media watchdogs are reeling from an Internet clip of the country's top TV sports anchor being lambasted by his wife and accused of having an affair at a high-profile Olympics press conference.
Speaking in a controlled voice, Hu Ziwei, wife of CCTV 5 sports anchor Zhang Bin and herself a well-known broadcaster, got onto the stage in Beijing and accused her husband of cheating on her.
This was TV dynamite as Zhang, 38, was presiding over the launch of CCTV Sports' Olympics coverage at the time.
"Today is a special day for the Olympic Channel, and it's a special day for Zhang Bin, and for me, it's a special day, too. Because just two hours ago, I found out that, besides me, Zhang Bin has been having an improper relationship with another woman," she said.
CCTV is trying to limit the fallout after a three-minute clip of the incident, which occurred late last week, became the most watched video clip on the Internet, even though it was cut from the broadcast show.
Hu told colleagues who tried to pull her off the stage that her husband's infidelities would bring shame on the mainland and the Games.
Her comments about a lack of morality in China are sure to earn her official censure, but her husband's position is equally perilous.
Zhang, who married Hu in 2002 after divorcing his first wife, is one of the most famous TV anchors in China, though there has been little if any coverage of the incident on the mainstream media.
However, rumors that he may have already resigned are rife online after he failed to appear for a scheduled TV slot over the weekend.
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China's answer to Des Lynam humiliated by his wife on national television
Last updated at 23:22pm on 01.01.08
It was a moment to make angry wives applaud and two-timing husbands – and the Chinese government – squirm.
With eight months to go to the Beijing Olympics, Zhang Bin, the Des Lynam of Chinese sports broadcasting and one of the most famous faces on the nation's television, was proudly relaunching its main sports network, CCTV-5, as the Olympics Channel.
As Zhang talked enthusiastically into the cameras before a studio audience, a small woman in a brown duffel coat clambered on stage, bore down on him and grabbed his microphone.
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The sports anchor was left gobsmacked after his wife entered the stage and accused him of having an affair
Onlookers immediately recognised Zhang's wife, Hu Ziwei, herself a well-known sports anchor.
But what came next surprised everyone as Mrs Hu launched into a blistering attack on her husband for having an affair with another woman. Only two hours earlier, she said, she'd discovered his "improper relationship."
And as Zhang stood open-mouthed, uncertain what to do, she bravely coupled his infidelity with her country's poor human rights record.
"Today is a special day for the Olympics Channel, it's a special day for Zhang Bin, and it's a special day for me too," she said.
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Then quoting a French diplomat who has been critical of the Games she added that if China's values don't improve, the Games will have been for nothing.
Fighting off attempts to remove her, she said: "That French foreign diplomat also said that until Chinais able to start exporting its values, it won't be able to become a great power." "Yet Zhang Bin can't even face up to his own hurt wife. I think China, to succeed as a great power...
"Don't any of you have any conscience? Let go of me! We're very far from being a great country."
Even at this late stage, Zhang thought he might avoid public embarrassment because as usual in a nation always anxious to censor out any unwanted disclosures, the show was being pre-recorded.
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The host's wife claimed she discovered his infidelity two hours before she humiliated him on stage
His wife's outburst could be edited out, he thought. But, as has happened in the past, the authorities underestimated the power of the Internet and the mischief of its enthusiastic devotees. Within hours a renegade tape of the three-minute confrontation was posted on the Chinese websites tudou.com and Sina.com.
As Chinese authorities scrambled to remove it from those, it was switched to YouTube and other international sites they could not control - and they reported that hundreds of thousands of people were watching it.
Chinese reaction to Mrs Hu's outburst was divided.
The nation's leaders, always eager to paint a picture of a perfect society, were said to be deeply embarrassed.
On the streets many people chuckled over the wandering husband's humiliation. But others pointed out that Mrs Hu should not have been surprised because Zhang left his first wife for her.
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Con un par. Hu Ziwei se enteró de que su marido le ponía los cuernos, se plantó en la rueda de prensa de presentación del canal olímpico chino, presidida por su honorable pariente y, ahí, delante de las cámaras le dijo que era un impresentable ¡Hala! A chincharse. Que lo sepa toda la familia y el resto de la China Popular, como diría Josep Lluis. Sí, que China queda lejos, pero aprendamos todos de Hu, esa guerrera samurai, y denunciemos públicamente los incumplimientos y retrasos que perpetran los políticos, que esto es común a toda la susodicha clase. Para empezar, las ruedas de prensa iban a ser más divertidas. Es más, incluyamos en esta campaña a los fabricantes de adelgazantes milagro, clínicas de estética, o firmas de telefonía, que no hay manera de aclararse con las tarifas. Hu, aprovecha el tirón y crea un movimiento ciudadano para que media humanidad deje de tomar el pelo a la otra media. Así, el responsable de turno se lo pensará dos veces antes de recomendar contención salarial ante una subida de precios. Hu, eres mi héroe.
