In an online video, Wang Gongquan sings about his love-life drama.
It turns out there is something far worse than the e-mail breakup. Or even the Post-it note breakup. It's the social-media breakup that goes viral. Yes, a billionaire Chinese investor has taken the cowardly dump to a new level. And no, he didn't just switch his Facebook status to "single."
Using a Twitter-like microblogging site called Sina Weibo, Wang Gongquan not only told his family and friends he was leaving his wife, but that he was eloping with his mistress last month, according to the Huffington Post.
"I am giving up everything and eloping with Wang Qin," he wrote, according to the Wall Street Journal. "I feel ashamed and so am leaving without saying goodbye. I kneel down and beg forgiveness!"
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Wang's confession has since been careening around the web: "The 49-year-old's post was republished by other users about 60,000 times within 24 hours. Other bigwigs felt compelled to weigh in. 'Please get in touch with me as soon as possible!' Mr. Wang's friend, Pan Shiyi, the billionaire chairman of Soho China Ltd., one of Beijing's biggest real-estate developers, wrote to him on Weibo. 'Your family is incredibly anxious. ... Please contact them.'"
After the revelation, Mr. Wang continued to post emotional messages on his account, then followed up by linking to a video where he stands in front of the water and sings about his personal drama, according to New York magazine. A taste:
Always facing the whispers of the wind with a heart longing for love/
I loathe nothing more than labouring for profane achievements/
Who has ever seen mountains of gold and silver last through 10,000 generations?/
Throughout the ages, the only precious thing is this feeling
None of the principals have been reached for comment. While one is tempted to feel sorry for a man so clearly in need of a filter, one mainly wonders how his wife has handled the exponential humiliation.
Should we brace ourselves for a wave of messy social media breakups? Is there a setting to block them?