Chinese property tycoon Wang Shi denies break-up with actress girlfriend

Wang Shi, the 62-year-old Chinese real estate tycoon who founded China Vanke, the largest real estate company in China, has posted a photo of himself and his girlfriend, 32-year-old actress Tian Pu-jun, having breakfast tea in Cambridge, England, on his Wechat social media account, countering rumours of the couple’s break-up.

Over the past two weeks, rumours that the one-year controversial relationship was over have been spreading throughout the internet in China after a Weibo account affiliated with the arts director of the TV programme China’s Got Talent claimed the couple had split up.

Wang and Tian’s photo was later republished by Thinker, a China Citic Press online magazine, which received the photo from an anonymous source.

Thinker’s microblog also posted a message saying that Wang would continue to study Jewish history and culture in Cambridge until the end of the year.

In the picture, Tian holds a phone in one hand with news of the supposed break-up displayed on its screen, while her other hand gives the thumbs-up sign, which has been interpreted to mean that all is good with the couple and a denial of the recent break-up gossip.

Wang captioned the photo with a simple sentence “Good morning! Cambridge!” And Tian commented on the post with smiley faces.