New partner, who is almost 3 decades younger than terminally ill husband, says relationship is based on ‘love not money’ amid gold-digging jibes
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenFran Luin BeijingPublished: 9:00am, 6 Apr 2026A terminally ill Chinese man left 300 million yuan (US$43 million) to his wife who is 28 years younger than him, causing a dispute with his ex-wife’s family.
The 61-year-old from the southern Chinese island of Hainan, surnamed Hou, reportedly left all his fortune to his young wife, Liyuan, who is 33.
Liyuan said she had been with him since she was 21. They married 10 years ago and have a five-year-old son.
In November, the couple announced on their social media account, which has 44,000 followers, that Hou had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Liyuan said she grew up overnight, from a little girl wanting to be looked after, to a cancer patient’s carer.
She received many comments speculating that she would run away when her husband was ill.
But she said his illness and her reaction to it were a test that they are destined to overcome together.
