It has been more than a year since Zhou Zhennan finished first in Tencent’s Produce Camp 2019 to debut as a member of the Chinese boy band R1SE. This year has been a busy one for him with the 20-year-old idol even ranking 46th in the 2020 Forbes China Celebrity List. However, Zhou Zhennan was suddenly caught in a controversy after his parents were slammed for allegedly owing a huge amount of debt that has netizens questioning their privileged lifestyle. On the same day, his father’s company and his agency has released their respective statements.
Zhou Zhennan Breaks Silence A Day After Parents’ Controversy
On October 26, Zhou Zhennan addressed the controversy as he took to Weibo to say, “In my eyes, my parents are like every other parent, always caring for their children, but also strict in disciplining and never condoning, hoping that I can learn to be independent and self-reliant. I am very grateful to my parents for raising and educating me. I don’t know business matters, I was protected very well since I was a child. To suddenly face reality, I feel very tormented. I feel guilty for not caring about my family enough, for not discovering the problems early and for causing hurt towards everyone who has accompanied and loved me, I feel even more guilt for bringing so much trouble to everyone.
I have been trying hard to digest the issue these days, I know that I should stand up and that I must stand up. I wish to say that legal matters will be resolved by law, but regardless of whether I have to take legal responsibility for my father and his company, I’ve always believed in my heart that I must help him through the difficulties and help everyone who suffered from this recover their losses both psychologically and economically.
I am willing to do everything I can to give my love and spend more time with my family, to accompany my parents through this and to work harder to help them through difficult times. Maybe this process will take a long time but I will not escape. I hope everyone can give me time.
Finally, I am sorry for everyone who was hurt by this incident. I will bear and face this together with my parents and deal with everything as soon as possible.”
Source: 1
Seriously
Wtf kimd of backward world is Chinese (asian culture) still living in? Sins of the parents should be the burden of their children. Being filial is one thing, holding an grown ass adult accountable for their own actions is another. I don’t know if one should laugh or pity this horrible trait of asian culture.
Anon
@Seriously – If you do not understand Chinese culture, please shut up. A culture is not right or wrong. How and when it evolves over hundreds and thousands of years is for them to determine. If you have been watching Chinese dramas for so long, you should already understand where they are coming from. Almost every Chinese drama revolves around family, responsibility and helping each other out; if not, where would you get all those plots of revenge, sacrifice and making reparations whether for parents or children or spouses. If you are a westerner and brought up in the Christian culture, you should also be aware that the Bible says – the sins of the father shall be visited upon their sons to the 3rd and 4th generation. This concept is common to almost all ancient cultures where the concept of family is strong. Have some respect for other people’s cultures and beliefs, even if you don’t like them.
Just by saying all these right words, Zhou Zhennan would have already earned more respect and love from people. He would have been destroyed if he had said what you meant – that his father’s problems are not his concern and nothing to do with him.
Seriously
Bull shit, I’m effing asian dumb ass. It’s your philosophy that ties generations to ideology that is outdated. To anyone who needs this man to apologize for his parents debts/behavior is DUMB as the people who criticize him for it. Get your ass out your head, it’s 2020, almost 2021, antiquated culture has no place to flourish in today’s society. Grow up and use your brain (if you have one, which I doubt). And people who quote bible verses, NO just no.
Anon
It’s so sad.
Sunny
Well said @Seriously. It is so wrong that children are held accountable for their parent’s debts.
Laila
I can see where each side is coming from but I don’t know how much he benefited from what his parents did or if he even knew about. I don’t know much about this scandal, mind you. Nonetheless, I still believe that a child should not be held accountable for their parent’s actions. Just because someone is a child of these kinds of parents does not mean that the child is always aware of what goes on behind the scene at the parents’ work. Like if my sibling, me child, or one of my parents committed some sort of crime, I should not be held accountable for their actions. I mean, now if he knew about it and did nothing then that’s a different story.
Lily
In 2020, many media in Mainland China start to disclose Zhou’s parents are legally in debt. Zhou’s families ran a real estate business and cheat a huge amount of money from their customers, who are just ordinary people from the wage-earning class. However, Zhou and his families still enjoy the luxurious life and reject to repay the debt. His parents secretly transfer the dirty money to Zhou. Zhou’s entire so-called “music dream” is paid for by the money stole from those poor people. That’s the reason why he needs to apologize!