Chinese art of reveling in another's pain

I have always been a fan of Zhang Ziyi. She is beautiful, hardworking and talented. However, her reputation has been tarnished by a series of scandals which has unraveled in the public eye in the past six weeks. What we see is a real life drama of power, greed and sex that is in everyway as tantalizing as Dallas, and better.

I have always been curious about the German word schadenfreude which is such a perfect translation of a Chinese proverb - xing zai le huo (幸災樂禍). Kind of funny how only the Germans and Chinese have been able to nail down that nasty sentiment in their respective languages. The fall of Zhang is nothing less than a schadenfreude fest for the press, the public and whoever it is that wants to see her fall.

It all started with "Ink Gate". Apparently, some goons showed up at the Park Hyatt residence in Beijing late last December and splashed black ink all over an OMEGA ad billboard which featured Zhang. This was a totally planned act, since someone actually notified the press beforehand so that the paparazzi could get the photos and spread the word around. As a result, it was all over the Chinese Internet. Speculation was rife as to who was behind Ink Gate.