China Orders Billionaire to Lie Low After Poem Post Sparks Fury

  • Billionaire Wang summoned after posting controversial poem
  • Food delivery giant still faces an antitrust investigation
Wang Xing in 2018.Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
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China’s government summoned Meituan’s Wang Xing to a meeting recently and warned him to keep a low profile, after the founder of China’s third-largest tech corporation last month posted a controversial poem that convulsed markets and sparked a social media furor.

Beijing officials called Wang in after the food delivery mogul posted a millennium-old poem regarded by many as implicit criticism of the government, according to people with knowledge of the matter. They warned him to refrain from courting the spotlight, at least temporarily, the people said, asking not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.