CHINA’S MOST famous teacher of English, Li Yang, has been forced to apologise publicly for beating his wife Kim Lee, who is from the United States.
Ms Lee prompted a huge outcry when she posted photographs of her injuries online.
Mr Li, best known for the “Crazy English” method of language learning involving shouting in large groups as loud as possible, has millions of devotees and lectures to crowds of up to 30,000. His books sell in the millions.
His wife posted pictures in late August of her swollen forehead and knees, and her bleeding left ear, and a message saying: “Li Yang, you need help.”
In her posting, Ms Lee said the violence only stopped after one of the couple’s three daughters screamed and scratched his arm. Ms Lee then ran to the police station with her daughter and was sent to hospital by police officers.
“I wholeheartedly apologise to my wife Kim and my girls for committing domestic violence,” Mr Li microblogged at weibo.com, China’s most popular social media site. “This has caused them serious physical and mental damage.”
His abuse of his wife prompted a wave of online contempt and shocked the country.
Mr Li said he and his wife were reconciled at a police station on Friday. He agreed to desist from violence, apologise on the web, seek counselling and donate 1,000 yuan (€157) to a centre for victims of domestic abuse.
“Kim said she received messages of sympathy and support from many other domestic violence victims. I decided to co-operate after she said she was doing so [making the issue public] to help other families with similar problems,” he said in an interview on the Beijing News website.
He said he hoped his case would help accelerate China’s legislation to prevent domestic violence.
Millions of Chinese are learning English. The English-language training industry is worth €1.7 billion a year and there are more than 50,000 English training organisations in China.