On November 26th, a massive five-alarm fire erupted in the Hong Kong Tai Po Wang Fuk Court community, resulting in over a hundred deaths and hundreds still missing. The cause of this devastating disaster is being widely attributed to human error involving mainland China’s political and business sectors. Hong Kong martial arts star Donnie Yen’s wife, Cissy Wang, took to social media on the 28th to directly point the finger at mainland-made safety nets as the reason behind the Hong Kong inferno. This sparked strong backlash from mainland Chinese netizens, prompting her to quickly delete the post and issue an apology.
The fire that broke out on November 26th at the Hong Kong Tai Po Wang Fuk Court was the most severe since 1996. Fueled by strong winds, the blaze rapidly spread, engulfing seven out of the eight residential buildings in the housing estate, trapping countless residents and displacing thousands. As of the afternoon of the 28th, the death toll had risen to 128, with a significant number of casualties.
Recent revelations surrounding the fire have exposed issues such as contractor misconduct, government oversight negligence, and indications of political figures’ involvement in the construction project. Online reports have surfaced regarding a notice posted by the Wang Fuk Court contractor prior to the incident, showing that the safety nets around the buildings were produced by a company called Shandong Chenxu Synthetic Fiber Net Co., Ltd., with the product inspection report issued by the Shandong Binzhou Testing Center.
On November 28th, Cissy Wang posted on Instagram stories in English, stating, “The fire in Hong Kong was not caused by bamboo scaffolding. The main reason for the rapid spread of the fire was due to the contractor cutting corners, using substandard flammable safety nets made in China, and foam sealants to seal the windows.” She further emphasized that bamboo itself is not flammable and urged against blaming bamboo scaffolding for the incident.
Her post triggered attacks from nationalist internet users, criticizing Cissy Wang for condemning the quality of Chinese-made products and questioning her motives and intentions, stating, “As Donnie Yen is a top star and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, his wife’s ideology is problematic.”
In response, Cissy Wang swiftly deleted her post and issued an apology on Weibo, admitting her inappropriate remarks and failure to consider public sentiment, seeking forgiveness. However, some internet users who seemingly have never “climbed the wall” (a term for bypassing China’s internet censorship) remain skeptical, noting that while Cissy Wang criticized China on the overseas platform Instagram, her apology was posted on China’s Weibo, questioning whether there was a simultaneous apology on the international platform.
Born in Guangzhou, China, Donnie Yen moved to Hong Kong with his family at the age of two and later immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. Claiming to have renounced his American citizenship and appointed as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference for the Hong Kong region in 2023, in an interview with the British magazine “GQ Hype” in the same year, he labeled the 2019 Hong Kong “anti-extradition bill” protests as “riots.”
Donnie Yen’s statements have been endorsed by the CCP’s prominent online influencers and distributed fervently by the CCP’s loyalists who are unable to access international media, while also sparking widespread online petitions by Hong Kongers urging the Oscars’ Academy Awards Committee to rescind its invitation for Donnie Yen to present an award.