Renowned Chinese painter Fan Zeng may already be 85, but it seems that age is not stopping him from getting married.
News of his upcoming nuptials was announced yesterday (Apr 10) with Fan Zeng posting a picture of him painting and a younger woman with long black hair looking on.
“Ms Xu Meng’s meticulous care has enabled me to fully recover physically and mentally,” he wrote.
Fan Zeng previously suffered from a stroke which reportedly impacted his work as a painter.
It is rumoured that the celebrated painter is worth as much as 1bil yuan (S$186mil), with many of his paintings selling for as high as 100mil yuan (S$19mil).
After pictures of Xu Meng were posted online, netizens quickly searched for more information on her online.
According to them, Xu Meng is Chinese model Ai Shangzhen who came in fourth at the Miss China International Pageant in 2008.
Shangzhen was also once known as “China’s supermodel with the best figure’ and modelled for international brands, including Armani, Calvin Klein, and Louis Vuitton.
Records show that she was born on September 9, 1988, making her 35, or 50 years younger than Fan Zeng.
This will be the third time Fan Zeng will be walking down the aisle.
His first wife is renowned poet and calligrapher Xu Lin whom he divorced sometime during the Cultural Revolution.
Fan Zeng then married fellow painter and classmate Bian Baohua but left her after he fell in love with his friend’s wife, Zhang Guiyin.
Guiyin was then the wife of Chinese actor Xu Zunde.
Changing her name to Nan Li, Guiyin married Fan Zeng five years after divorcing Zunde.
Unfortunately, she passed away in November 2021.
Netizens have been quick to pounce on their wide age gap between Fan Zeng and Xu Meng, with many dismissing the latter as a gold digger.
“50 years apart? She is definitely in it for the money!” wrote a netizen.
In a sea of naysayers, there was one netizen who commented: “Maybe it is true love?”