ByteDance founder Zhang asks village to remove stone tablet that calls him a ‘spiritual idol’, according to reports
- Zhang has maintained a low profile since stepping down as chairman of ByteDance in 2021
- Stone tablet was installed at the end of 2022 to commemorate Zhang’s donation of 2 million yuan to an ancestral temple, according to images
Zhang Yiming, the billionaire founder of TikTok parent ByteDance, has asked a village in his home province to remove a stone tablet that called him a “spiritual idol”, according to local media reports.
Images of a stone tablet dedicated to 40-year-old Zhang began to circulate on Chinese social media platforms this week during the Lunar New Year holiday amid speculation that it had been removed.
According to the image, the tablet was installed at the end of 2022 to commemorate Zhang’s donation of 2 million yuan (US$280,000) to an ancestral temple in Kongfu Village in southeastern Fujian province.
Zhang has maintained a low profile since stepping down as chairman of ByteDance, which also operates TikTok sister app Douyin on the mainland, in November 2021.
iFeng.cc, a news portal backed by Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, reported on Thursday that the stone tablet – a traditional Chinese way of recording a major donor’s name and achievements – had been removed. Leiphone.com, a Chinese online technology media outlet, reported on Friday that Zhang had personally requested the village to remove the tablet.
Two Kongfu Village residents told the South China Morning Post via a phone call that they were unaware of the tablet’s existence.
