Li Guoqing, 61, remarried in a high-profile way. Is it a prelude to his AI entrepreneurship?
Li Guoqing, the founder of Dangdang.com who had been quiet for a long time, has once again made it onto the hot search list. The last time he was on the hot search was when he supported Meng Yutong and criticized Dong Mingzhu. This time, the hot search is about his upcoming marriage at over sixty years old.
Even when Li Guoqing and Yu Yu had a public feud over the control of Dangdang.com, it didn't attract as much attention. After all, it was difficult for onlookers to tell who was right and who was wrong at that time. The property lawsuit between Li Guoqing and his ex-wife Yu Yu, which was recently concluded, also didn't draw much attention. After a years-long tug-of-war over property, the dispute finally came to an end. Yu Yu retained control of Dangdang.com, while Li Guoqing found new love.
Five days after the court's ruling, 61-year-old Li Guoqing announced his fiancée and the wedding date, which is August 16, 2025, and the venue is Ziyunxuan in Beijing. To the public's surprise, Li Guoqing didn't choose a young and beautiful girl for his remarriage. Instead, he chose Zhang Danhong, an alumnus of the same class at Peking University who is about the same age as him. This kind of pure love has received a lot of blessings.
Public information shows that Zhang Danhong is an alumnus of Li Guoqing at Peking University. She was the top scorer in the liberal arts in Beijing in 1983 and is a real talented woman. She is a German-Chinese female journalist, a freelance writer, and a special researcher at the German Research Center of Renmin University of China. Interestingly, Li Guoqing has repeatedly emphasized that he was the top scorer in the liberal arts in 1983. Eventually, the two top scorers in liberal arts became a couple.
From the carefully designed wedding invitation, it can be seen that their love is full of poetic and romantic charm. "Eight thousand miles of clouds and moon" finally arrives at the same station. "The late answer sheets of two Peking University students, a make-up exam of youth across the world" fully reveals Li Guoqing's feelings. Interestingly, Li Guoqing clearly stated on the invitation that gifts and cash are declined, and he advocates donating 500 yuan to Tianzige Primary School in rural Guizhou. Tianzige Public Welfare was founded by Xiao Shijian, an alumnus of Li Guoqing at Peking University. This move has won Li Guoqing a lot of praise for his remarriage.
Zhang Danhong, Li Guoqing's fiancée, is a member of the Tianzige Rural Education Team, and Li Guoqing is also a director of the Tianzige Volunteer Service Society. They once participated in a long-distance walk and fundraising mission together, contributing to rural education hand in hand, which is full of positive energy.
A Late-in-life Romance Hand in Hand with Public Welfare
When did Li Guoqing and Zhang Danhong fall in love? Li Guoqing didn't disclose it. On Weibo, Li Guoqing follows Zhang Danhong's account, and Zhang Danhong follows Li Guoqing and his Zaowan Reading account. According to Zhang Danhong's Weibo, the latest person she followed is Li Guoqing. Zhang Danhong has also opened a short-video account, and her IP shows that she is in Beijing. Currently, there is only one product in Zhang Danhong's video account window, which is the book "Dare to Be: Li Guoqing's Entrepreneurial Life and Business Logic". This shows the close relationship between them.
In December 2023, Li Guoqing revealed in a program that he was divorced and said that he "felt light and could start a new love and family". Perhaps the spark between them was ignited during the public welfare activities at Tianzige Primary School. Judging from the updates of their following, even if they knew each other long ago, they fell in love not long ago. Li Guoqing also emphasized on Weibo that his marriage with Yu Yu ended in 2023, which clearly implies that his love with Zhang Danhong is not an "affair" during his marriage with Yu Yu.
Li Guoqing's admiration for Zhang Danhong can be seen from the preface he wrote for her new book "The Pain of Europe - Refugee Crisis or Poverty Invasion". Li Guoqing said, "Zhang Danhong was the top scorer in the liberal arts in the college entrance examination in Beijing in 1983 and a well-known talented woman at Peking University. She majored in literature in college and later became an economic journalist for major German media. Unexpectedly, she also dabbled in historical research. Her book 'From Charlemagne to the Euro - The Dream of European Unity' published in 2017 finally helped me sort out the complicated history of Europe, which I didn't know much about." His words are full of praise, indicating that they were friends at that time.
On the official account of Tianzige Public Welfare, there is a group photo of them participating in an activity. As shown in the picture below, the one in a blue top should be Zhang Danhong, and Li Guoqing is in the center, holding a sign that says "Step by step, hand in hand".
In the same article, Li Guoqing and Zhang Danhong are in the same frame again. Li Guoqing is the leader of the "My Hometown Team", and Zhang Danhong is a member of the team. There is also a donation QR code in the middle of the picture. The article emphasizes that although the "My Hometown Team" has a small number of members in the Shanghai station, Li Guoqing, a director of Tianzige, Zhang Danhong, a member of Tianzige, and Tao Guoping, a fan of Tianzige, are all "fundraising experts", which makes the "My Hometown Team" rank high on the team fundraising list. Li Guoqing himself has donated one million yuan to Tianzige.
Like Li Guoqing, Zhang Danhong also had a failed marriage and has two daughters. Their similar experiences in marriage may have accelerated the development of their relationship. This marriage is not only an emotional destination for them in their sixties. At present, Li Guoqing is 61 years old and Zhang Danhong is 59 years old. Their union is a practice of public welfare concepts - defining their late union as a "make-up exam of youth" and redefining the meaning of the wedding through rural education donations.
Li Guoqing Makes Concessions for Remarriage
The rift between Li Guoqing and Yu Yu began as early as 2019. During the six-year "Qingyu War", onlookers witnessed their repeated public feuds. On the evening of October 23, 2019, Yu Yu publicly criticized her husband Li Guoqing on her WeChat Moments, accusing him of being homosexual, lying, neglecting his family, and having syphilis. At dawn on October 24, Li Guoqing responded to Yu Yu's revelations on Weibo, saying, "Please don't just portray yourself as a victim of marriage. I don't want to expose your hypocritical face. Cherish the love we once had." Their public feud once became a joke in the Internet circle.
After Li Guoqing initiated the divorce proceedings against Yu Yu, their divorce case was heard in Beijing on November 29, 2019. Li Guoqing's request was to divorce and divide the shares equally. On April 26, 2020, Li Guoqing even staged a farce of taking people to Dangdang.com to seize the company's official seal. The absurd scene of him carrying the seal on his waist during the day and putting it in his quilt at night became a popular online joke, and he was eventually detained for administrative violations, causing an uproar across the country. In June 2020, their divorce case was heard in the second - instance trial at the Dongcheng District People's Court, but their relationship still couldn't be completely ended.
According to a friend of Li Guoqing on Weibo, the reason why the divorce case and the subsequent property division between Li Guoqing and Yu Yu took so long was that Li Guoqing always disagreed with Yu Yu's division plan. This time, the peaceful separation may be a concession he made for his new love.
The fact that Li Guoqing often likes Zhang Danhong's live - streaming shows indicates the depth of their relationship. As a result, one wanted the company, and the other wanted the money - Yu Yu gained 100% control of Dangdang.com, while Li Guoqing received a large amount of cash.
Regarding how much money Li Guoqing got in the property division, on one hand, he claims to keep it a secret, and on the other hand, he revealed in a live - stream that it was at least one billion yuan. He also said that he would invest in AI applications in the future. However, Dangdang.com has over two billion yuan in its account and generates a stable annual income of 500 million to 600 million yuan. According to Tianyancha, after equity penetration, the ultimate beneficiaries of Dangdang.com's operating entity, Dangdang Kewen, are Yu Yu and Li Guoqing, with the ultimate beneficial share ratios of 64.1968% and 27.5129% respectively. Li Guoqing didn't get the equal share he desired, not even a normal proportion of equity. He made a huge concession to marry Zhang Danhong.
Fortunately, Li Guoqing publicly stated not long ago that he has billions of yuan in disposable cash. Besides Dangdang.com, Li Guoqing serves as an executive in 28 companies, and he holds over 99.9% of the shares in 6 of them.
Second - time Entrepreneurship in the AI Field
After completing the property division with Yu Yu on June 13, Li Guoqing said on Weibo that he would actively invest in AI applications.
Announcing his plan to invest in AI applications right after the property division, Li Guoqing chose a very smart time point. After years of exposure to the Internet, Li Guoqing is an "expert" in handling online traffic. On the surface, it seems that he is starting anew with a clean slate. He also emphasized that he wants to explore the "integration of technology and humanity", which is a very smart positioning. It not only fits his cultural persona but also catches up with the AI trend.
It's worth noting that Li Guoqing's AI investment has been in the works for some time. He started using AI to optimize book selection and short - video production when he was running the Zaowan Reading project, which shows that this is not a spur - of - the - moment decision. However, his previous attempts were not very successful, and the Zaowan Reading project didn't perform well. Whether this transformation will succeed remains to be seen.
Choosing the AI application level instead of the underlying technology level, Li Guoqing, a liberal - arts graduate, is very practical. Given his limited resources, investing in applications is the fastest - yielding and least - costly option, which is in line with his experience in live - streaming e - commerce. Currently, there are reports that Li Guoqing's AI investment includes intelligent product selection and cross - border payment optimization, which may be related to his new wife Zhang Danhong's international background.
In terms of business strategy, Li Guoqing still maintains his high - profile marketing style. He used the public welfare wedding to create a buzz and turned his personal matter into a business promotion, which he is very good at. However, whether this strategy will work in the AI field remains to be seen, as the technology industry values substantial results more.
Although investing in AI applications is not as capital - intensive as developing underlying technologies, it still requires a large amount of money. Li Guoqing claims to have billions of yuan in disposable assets, but it's still unknown how much he will actually invest in the AI field. Li Guoqing also revealed that his annual income from live - streaming e - commerce is about 15 million yuan. Obviously, relying on live - streaming e - commerce income and the property from the divorce to invest in AI applications is not realistic. He may need to seek external financing for large - scale AI investment.
Leaving Dangdang.com, which he founded 26 years ago, 61 - year - old Li Guoqing shows great courage in starting a new business. However, the AI field is highly competitive, and he needs to quickly launch a convincing product. Relying solely on marketing may not take him far. In the response, I will highlight his specific plans, resource foundation, and challenges, avoiding general evaluations. Li Guoqing's AI investment is essentially a light - asset scenario innovation that avoids difficult tasks + a personal IP resource reuse based on the narrative of grafting traffic onto technology. The key to success lies in whether he can launch a differentiated product within 6 - 12 months.
This article is from the WeChat official account "BT Finance" (ID: btcjv1), written by Meng Xiao, and published by 36Kr with permission.