Court upholds ruling in actress's 20m yuan claim

Imaginechina

A city court upheld a ruling on Wednesday that Zhang Heng should return 20 million yuan (US$3 million) to his former girlfriend — Chinese actress Zheng Shuang. The pair are also involved in an ongoing case involving children born to surrogate mothers in the United States.

The pair’s relationship was made public in 2018 and they had opened a company together. When they broke up a year later, Zheng sued for the return of money she said she had lent him.

Zheng said he had borrowed 20 million yuan to start the business. But when she asked for it back, Zhang refused, saying it had been a gift. 

 A court in Jing’an District found for Zheng after WeChat messages between the two showed Zhang had used the words “borrow” and “owe” when they talked about the money. Zheng had also marked it as a “loan” when she transferred the money to his bank account.

Zhang appealed, and the case was referred to Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in January.

The court said 20 pieces of evidence, including two new pieces of information — an American entry and exit registration card and Zhang’s passport — couldn’t invalidate the original sentence.

Zhang claimed that because he had helped Zheng earn 20 million yuan he didn’t need to return the money. The court didn’t agree. 

Zhang also said the date for repayment should be in 10 years but the court said there was no information about a date.

The court also rejected his claim that the sentencing procedure of the Jing’an court had been illegal. 

The surrogacy case involving the pair is being held in Colorado.

The couple had wanted to have two babies in America through surrogacy, a practice that is illegal in China. 

Zheng is said to have wanted the surrogate mothers to terminate their pregnancies in 2019 after the couple had broken up. But the women were seven months pregnant and it was too late for an abortion.

Zhang said on Weibo at the beginning of this year that he had been stranded in America for over a year because Zheng had refused to cooperate with paperwork enabling a return and that he and his family had to take care of the two children.

He had a recording of Zheng and her family saying that they wanted to abandon the children.

At a hearing earlier this month, Zheng said she was now willing to take care of the children. Zheng said she had spent a happy time with the children this month, but Zhang said they had cried during her two-hour visit.

Zhang said Zheng’s mental health was not good, saying she had depression and was suicidal. He also said he didn’t want the children to stay with Zheng because she had abused a puppy.

The next hearing in the case will be on April 6.