Fake Uncle
On July 17, 2021, an alleged "uncle" of Zhang Zhehan published an essay to defend him against recent smear hot searches on Weibo. This "uncle" claimed:
- He is an old colleague of Zhang Zhehan's mother from their hometown of Jiangxi.
- He is a policeman.
- He claimed to have edited a book about police life called 警察情怀.
- He met Zhang Zhehan at the hotel attached to the golf course where he scored the hole-in-one.
A lot of rumors about Zhang originated from this essay. These rumors include:
- Zhang is a spy.
- Zhang's mother's company name was inspired by the Japanese.
- Concerning his parents' background.
- His mother's relationship with this "uncle."
Among them, the first one is the most serious and received significant traction during 813. This can be seen in the fortune telling tarot reader who used her tarot cards to claim he was a spy. But these rumors were not part of the clarifications crafted by Sophie soon after 813.
Su Shifu also seemed to know a lot about this "uncle."
This uncle's account is linked to his real identity. None of his claims in the essay are true.
- He never worked with Zhang's mother.
- He was never a policeman but he did work at the Public Security Bureau.
- He did not edit that book. It was edited by a man named 李勇 Li Yong. This uncle's last name is 丁 Ding.
He has a friend in real life 刘伟 who is an executive at 杭州本末映画文化创意有限公司, an ex-subsidiary of Songcheng. 杨欢 Lao Ahyi was an executive director at this company.
Before this uncle cleaned up his following list from 114 to 7 people, this friend was second on his following list. They were mutuals. His wife also follows familiar accounts, including Tony and Zhang's mother. She first liked one of Tantan's posts about Word of Honor in March 2021 (he wasn't even a big account at the time) and in July liked a post by Su Shifu's publication.
His wife interacted with Chen Liying on one of her Weibo accounts, that was quickly deleted after the identity of the fake uncle was exposed on Twitter. Her last name is 杜 Du; she is an amateur playwright and co-wrote a play called "那一刹" that failed to get chosen for a regional competition. This couple appear to know the Chens through their relative Ma Lijin and her car enthusiast husband. The wife is also in the teahouse and teaware business and attended the same tea exhibition as the Chens and Ma Lijin 马丽金 a number of years ago. It is possible that she was the actual author of the fake uncle essay and crafted a persona using her husband's account.
This uncle wrote the essay on July 15 and posted it on July 17. He led fans to him by reposting Zhang Zhehan's studio's donation post for the Henan flood, specifically calling him "nephew." This was the same day that the Wang Peiwen "debunks" (in actuality spreading the rumor) appeared on Zhihu.
Fake uncle's account posting the essay
Fake uncle reposting ZZH's donation
WPW rumors on Zhihu
Fake uncle essay
Book that fake uncle claims he edited
Fake uncle's essay talking about the book
Smears spawned by fake uncle essay
Clarifications list from Sophie
Fake uncle's friend
Public records for 杭州本末映画
Fake uncle's wife's follows
Fake uncle's wife's likes
Fake uncle's wife's teahouse
Fake uncle's wife selling teaware
