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Yating Yang

A 61-year-old Chinese business tycoon has remarried a woman the same age as him after a bitter six-year divorce battle.
The fresh nuptials, which challenge the stereotype of wealthy older men marrying much younger women, have earned the successful businessman widespread praise online.
Li Guoqing, 61, is a Peking University graduate and the co-founder and former CEO of Dangdang, one of China’s first and most well-known online book retailers.
Founded in 1999 with his former wife, Peggy Yu, Dangdang became a household name in China’s e-commerce sector. The two married in 1996 after dating for three months.

On August 16, Li married his new wife Zhang Danhong in a wedding with the theme “Still Believe in Love”.
The ceremony was attended by notable figures including Zhang Chaoyang, CEO of Sohu Inc, and Yu Minhong, founder and president of New Oriental Education & Technology Group.
Zhang Danhong, a German-Chinese, is a well-known economic journalist and former Deputy Director of the Chinese Department at Deutsche Welle.
She is also the author of the book From Charlemagne to the Euro: Europe’s Dream to Be Integrated.
Zhang went to Peking University and earned a degree in German Language and Literature.
Their wedding invitation clearly stated “No gifts or red envelopes” and encouraged guests to donate 500 yuan (US$70) to support the rural Tianzige Primary School and help underprivileged children.

“Two trains that once missed each other finally meet at the same station in our sixties. We still believe in the beauty of love,” the invitation read.
The path to their new life together was not easy.
Li revealed that Zhang had gone abroad in the early 1990s to pursue her career after graduation.
In an effort to win her back in 1995, he once promised her an array of riches if she would return to China and marry him.
Zhang, however, was furious and snapped back: “Why is it all about money?”
Li’s remarriage also follows a bitter and very public six-year divorce battle with his ex-wife Peggy Yu, which began in December 2018.
The dispute, which included public accusations of infidelity and financial impropriety from Yu, as well as an incident in which Li reportedly seized the company’s official seal, finally ended in June 2025.
The resolution saw Yu retain full control of Dangdang.com, while Li received a substantial cash settlement, the exact amount of which remains confidential.
In 2019, Li said: “If I marry again, I will not choose a businesswoman. I want someone pure and sweet, because I am just a pure and sweet guy myself. I cannot afford to be hurt a second time.”

He also implied that his relationship with Zhang began only after his divorce, countering speculation of an affair during his previous marriage.
Li’s choice has been widely praised online as a story of “pure love”.
Many other Chinese tycoons, such as Wang Shi, founder and chairman of China Vanke, the country’s largest real estate enterprise, who married Tian Pujun, who is 30 years his junior.
One online observer said: “Much respect to Li Guoqing. With his wealth, most men would have chosen someone younger. Instead, he married someone who is the same age and is also an intellectual.”
Another person said: “When successful men start valuing the wisdom of women their own age instead of calculating their youth, when marriage shifts from being a status symbol to a ‘soul contract’, we can truly see the possibility of love breaking free from prejudice.”


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Decision of ‘pure and sweet’ wealthy businessman, 61, to ‘intellectual’ woman of same age challenges stereotypes and earns online praise


Decision of ‘pure and sweet’ wealthy businessman, 61, to ‘intellectual’ woman of same age challenges stereotypes and earns online praise.


E-commerce

‘Still believe in love’: China tycoon whose divorce gripped public remarries ex-classmate

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Decision of ‘pure and sweet’ wealthy businessman, 61, to ‘intellectual’ woman of same age challenges stereotypes and earns online praise

Decision of ‘pure and sweet’ wealthy businessman, 61, to ‘intellectual’ woman of same age challenges stereotypes and earns online praise