By HU HI
Kidnapping Correspondent
BEIJING (China Daily Show) — Concerns are mounting over the whereabouts of former politician Zhang Gaoli, who hasn’t been seen since the weekend, according to Zhang’s beady-eyed wife.
“He usually has a friend over on Saturdays,” long-time marital companion Madam Zhang told reporters Wednesday. “But I’ve been standing outside his special room for the last three days, and haven’t heard a single grunt, moan, scream or whimper — it doesn’t make sense.”
Zhang, a beloved ex-Politburo member often seen at local fetes and ‘sweet sixteen’ parties, has not been spotted in public since leaving a Jinjiang County Women’s Tennis Club luncheon last Friday, friends say.
Guests at the luncheon told reporters they recalled nothing unusual about the tennis enthusiast’s behaviour that day.
“I do recall bumping into [Zhang] in the ladies’ bathroom at one point,” said housewife Kang Xie, 23. “But he just grabbed my throat, and warned me not to open my bitch-mouth ever again. Looking back now, I wonder, though — should I have said something?”
Compounding the mystery has been the strange public behavior of his friend, tennis star Peng Shuai, who is believed to be leading a normal life at home with friends and does not wish to be disturbed.
A former member of the Politburo Standing Committee until his retirement in 2018, Zhang remained in the public eye with regular appearances on talk shows but is best known for his long-running role as Death the Puffer Fish in the hit children’s cartoon series The Monkey King: Underwater.
As the search spread last night to nearby tennis lawns and playgrounds, dozens of security guards were seen burning documents outside Zhang’s humble compound.
“Hopefully, he’ll see the smoke,” said one neighbor, “and remember why he got into politics.”
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Do you know who Zhang Gaoli is? Please contact the All-Chinese Patriotic Women’s Medicinal Tennis Federation immediately