Outpouring of grief after former Chinese television host Li Yong dies at 50
- Fans leave condolence messages after wife of popular CCTV personality announces his death on social media
- Li became a familiar face on game show Lucky 52 and hosted the Spring Festival Gala 10 times
Condolence messages have been flooding Chinese social media for popular former state television host Li Yong, who has died at the age of 50 after a 17-month battle with cancer.
Li’s wife, television director Ha Wen, announced on Monday morning that Li died on Thursday in the United States from an undisclosed type of cancer, saying “I have lost my eternal love”.
Ha’s post on microblogging site Weibo had been viewed more than 760 million times and received more than 240,000 comments in just five hours on Monday.
A well-known television presenter, Li was known for his sense of humour and down-to-earth style. For two decades, he hosted a variety of arts programmes on China Central Television as well as the Spring Festival Gala that is broadcast annually for the Lunar New Year and gets as many as 800 million viewers across the country.
Fans expressed their shock and sorrow online. “It’s so sudden – I had no idea that he was even ill,” one person wrote on Weibo.
Another wrote: “I can’t believe it because it seems like he has been on our television screens the whole time.”
