Baidu founder Robin Li’s water attacker detained as stunt goes viral - and you can even buy a t-shirt

The man who drenched Baidu’s billionaire co-founder Robin Li Yanhong with water as he was giving a presentation at the company’s annual tech event in Beijing on Wednesday will be detained for five days for the offence.

Chaoyang district police announced the detention on their Weibo account on Thursday after concluding an investigation into the stunt, which shocked attendees, stole the limelight from the company’s latest AI announcements and sparked a social media frenzy in China.

The man, identified by police only as Cheng, jumped on stage and poured a bottle of water over Li’s head, while the co-founder and chairman of China’s search engine giant was speaking about the future of artificial intelligence and connected cars.

Looking shocked, Li responded by saying “What’s your problem?” in English, before the man left the stage and was tackled by security. There were gasps from the audience and then sporadic applause as Li resumed his presentation, saying “as you can see, there are many unexpected things in the development of AI too.”

The motivation behind the action remains unclear. The man did not immediately respond to inquiries sent via his purported Weibo account, on which he had posted messages leading up to the attack, including pictures of train and event tickets which gave his name as Cheng Guanqi.