Chinese internet celebrity jailed after flaunting lavish lifestyle

Guo Meimei’s perfectly made-up face became emblematic of the vulgar, morality free nouveau riche of China’s boom period, flaunting her Maserati cars and Louis Vuitton bags as she falsely claimed to work for the Red Cross, earning the scorn and envy of hundreds of millions.

She has also become the poster girl for China’s crackdown on corruption and extravagance, as the internet celebrity was jailed for five years for running an illegal casino by a Beijing court.

In China, Ms Guo's conviction is seen as one of the first nails in the coffin for the reign of the "tuhao" people, which translates as "tacky rich" and is used as a derogatory term for the nouveau riche.

However, in the current climate of austerity, overseen by president Xi Jinping, there is little tolerance for such frivolity.

Other associates including Ms Guo’s former boyfriend, a foreigner, will face trial at a later date.

Born Guo Meiling in Yiyang, Hunan province, in 1991, she moved to Shenzhen after a troubled childhood, according to a movie about her life, and later attended the Beijing Film Academy in 2008.

A photograph of an expensively clad Ms Guo draped across a Maserati sports car earned her notoriety in China, along with photographs of expensive handbags and jetskis, antiques and accessories. She then claimed to be a manager of the Red Cross in China, which led to a huge drop in donations for the organisation, despite their claiming to know nothing about her, and sparked public concerns about fraud and how charities are run.

Her glamorous ways struck a chord with the young and aspirational, and she has millions of followers on social media.

It was a very different-looking Guo who appeared in Dongcheng district people’s court this week, without make-up, dressed simply and wearing glasses, her hair tied back and looking puffy-faced.

During the trial, she agreed with many of the prosecution’s claims, including inviting a group of people to play Texas Hold’em poker between March and July 2013. Gambling is illegal in China.

She was picked up on suspicion of running gambling sessions, engaging in prostitution and of posting fraudulent information on her website.

The court was told she organised three different nights of gambling altogether, involving the use of money totalling 2.1 million yuan (about €260,000), at an apartment complex in Chaoyang district.

In August last year she appeared on state broadcaster CCTV wearing orange prison gear and shedding tears of remorse for her flamboyant lifestyle and for destroying the reputation of the Chinese Red Cross.