News of the pending divorce of Wendi Deng and News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch fueled a lively discussion on China’s biggest on-line social platform Weibo on June 14 where the Chinese are wondering who will be Deng's next target. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose divorce was also recently exposed, seems to have won the most “votes” as the “Chinese-recommended hubby-to-be” for the 45-year-old who will add billions of dollars to her bank account when the divorce comes through.

The Chinese apparently are getting a big kick out of talking about the possible candidates as Deng's next husband:

@马也的叨: Putin, beware.

@ONLY岚迪: Steve Jobs was spared, thankfully.

@赵亮-cscdf: Could it be Obama?

Uhhh... Wendi Deng Putin, Really?  Photo: Zhao Xu/ sino-us.com

Deng has long been a controversial figure in China. Some Chinese consider her as a legend, and some think of her as nothing but a gold-digger. The news of the divorce between her and her 82-year-old rich husband came as no surprise to many Chinese. “It’s finally time.” said many in their comments, “It took a bit longer than we thought.”

Since China is grappling with its own divorcing trend, some of the jokes about the Deng-Murdoch divorce were cleverly directed at the Chinese government, an unlikely victim of the news.

Zhang Quanling @张泉灵, a popular TV host with China Central Television posted, “My colleagues are saying that Murdoch and Deng must be thinking about buying another apartment here in Beijing.” According to the latest government policy, commonly referred to as GuoWutiao(国五条) by the Chinese, a couple was allowed to buy only one apartment in big cities like Beijing which forced many couples to resort to fake divorce in order to purchase new properties.

Former president of Google China Kai-Fu Lee @李开复, the popular Weibo celebrity known for his authority-defying outspokenness, certainly would not let go of such a golden opportunity. “Salute to the power of GuoWutiao(国五条) !” He joked in his Weibo.

Kai-Fu Lee's Weibo picture. Photo: weibo.com