A four-page advert in a Beijing newspaper that appears to be a man’s apology letter to a lover has raised eyebrows among the mainland’s internet users. “I just want you to know how important you have been and how sorry I’m still feeling … Your love can do so much others can’t,” reads the letter in Thursday’s Beijing Youth Daily . It is signed “Scott Xu, from your left wrist”. While some web users assumed the advert was the elaborate gesture of a wealthy young man, others questioned whether it was a publicity stunt. The advert, written in English, began with a full-page photo of a young man and lady, with the words “Life never did run smooth” on the bottom right corner. The inside facing pages were almost blank except for the sentence: “I leave this page empty because I suddenly don’t know how to write anymore”. Asked whether the advert had been placed by a company or an individual, a staff member from the newspaper’s advertising department said she wasn’t sure. She said the normal rate for an advert of this size was more than a million yuan (HK$1.26 million). However, an unnamed colleague claimed the charge for this particular advert had been between 500,000 yuan and 600,000 yuan. One Weibo user commented: “You can be self-willed when you are rich”, using a term popularly used to refer sarcastically to the spoiled and wilful behaviour of the rich. But a user of WeChat was more sceptical. “It’s more hype, and may relate to some sort of promotion.”
