Duan Weihong (; pinyin: Duàn Wěihóng; born December 29, 1966), also known as Whitney Duan, is a Chinese billionaire. She is known as a business partner of the family of former Chinese premier

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao ( zh, s=温家宝, p=Wēn Jiābǎo; born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the 6th premier of China from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behin ...

. Duan was secretly detained in 2017 and resurfaced in 2023. In a memoir written by her ex-husband

Desmond Shum Desmond Shum (; b. November 1968) is a Hong Kong businessman and author of memoir ''Red Roulette'' (2021). He was married to Chinese billionaire Duan Weihong. Life Shum was born in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution. His father, a Chinese ...

titled ''

Red Roulette ''Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today’s China'' is a 2021 memoir by Desmond Shum (ghost-written by John Pomfret). James Palmer of ''Foreign Policy'' wrote that the work serves as "one of th ...

'', Duan cultivated extensive political and business connections in China, especially with

Zhang Peili Zhang Peili (; born 1941), or Zhang Beili (), is a Chinese geologist and the wife of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Zhang created the principal institutions which regulate the gemstone trade in China, the National Gemstone Testing Center a ...

, Wen's wife. Duan was secretly detained on 5 September 2017, possibly at the order of

Wang Qishan Wang Qishan (; ; born 19 July 1948) is a Chinese retired politician who was one of the leading members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Wang gained prominence in China's financial sector in the late 1980s. In 1994, Wang became the governor ...

in relation to an investigation into

Sun Zhengcai Sun Zhengcai (; born September 25, 1963) is a former Chinese politician and senior regional official. From 2012 to 2017, Sun served as the Party Secretary of Chongqing, an interior municipality, and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Co ...

, both her cultivated connections. She is said to have fallen victim to the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

's use of "extralegal kidnappings" to facilitate opaque investigations. Shortly before ''

'' was published, Shum received a call from Duan—her first contact with the outside world since her disappearance in 2017—asking him to cancel the publication out of concern for their son's safety. Shum refused, believing she was under duress to make the phone call.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duan, Weihong 1968 births 2010s missing person cases 21st-century Chinese businesswomen 21st-century Chinese businesspeople Chinese billionaires Chinese prisoners and detainees Enforced disappearances in China Female billionaires Living people Missing Chinese people Missing person cases in China

See also

References