TV anchor 'outs' central government official after questionable 'romance' ends

A mainland TV anchor has said on her verified micro-blogging account that an official at a central government agency lived with her for four years and gave her a stipend at least 10,000 yuan (HK$12,580) a day, without telling her he was married, before eventually dumping her.

Ji Yingnan, a 25-year-old anchor on the China Travel & Economic Channel made the affair public on Sina Weibo on Friday, posting intimate pictures of herself and Fan Yue, a deputy director of the policy and legal affairs office under the State Archives Administration. Most of the posts were taken down on Saturday.

Ji, using her weibo account, said Fan had splashed out more than 10 million yuan on her between 2009 and 2012, raising questions about how a middle-level official could afford such lavish expenditure on his salary.

When they met, Fan, who previously worked for the Communist Party Central Committee's General Office as an inspector of legal affairs, told Ji he was single and proposed to her in public on June 4, 2011, Ji's weibo said.

"But it turned out he's got a wife and a family," Ji said. "He gave me some 'economic compensation' and then dumped me at the end of last year."

Ji also said she had suffered a breakdown, "gone crazy", and wanted to kill herself, but wanted to see Fan punished first.