The messy break-up of investment guru Zhao Bingxian, known as China's Warren Buffett, and his wife of more than two decades is being described as the mainland's most expensive divorce.
Zhao's wife, Lu Juan, has been waging a long battle for half the family's assets, valued at more than 2 billion yuan (HK$2.5 billion) - mostly from the 49-year-old businessman's China Capital Investment Group, where he is chairman and president, and which has stakes in listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Lu has accused him of domestic abuse and having extramarital affairs, the Beijing Morning Post says. She is seeking an equal split of the family assets after the divorce and full custody of their 23-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.
The couple married in 1988 when they were serving in the army. After they were discharged in 1993, they founded their first company and earned their 'first bucket of gold' in the mainland's budding stock market by speculating on stock- buying quotas.
In those days, only the holders of certificates issued by the Shanghai Stock Exchange were eligible to participate in lucky draws to buy shares. As more companies went public from 1992, investors like the couple scrambled to buy certificates to improve their stock-buying chances.
After years of trading, the family assets have snowballed and now include more than half of the total shares in Wohua Pharmaceutical, which is worth more than 700 million yuan; more than 300 million yuan worth of stocks in Luolai Home Textile; and a 300 million yuan stake in Shanghai Guangdian Electric.
Lu has written on her blog that her husband turned violent after the family became wealthy, and that the abuse got worse after she gave birth to their son in 2003.