SHANGHAI, Jan 30 — Li Yapeng has spent years being roasted online as a “greasy uncle”, a “serial failed entrepreneur”, and, occasionally, “that ex-husband of Cantopop queen Faye Wong”. 

But the former actor, now 54, has unexpectedly become the internet’s new favourite comeback story — and all it took was a hospital on the brink of collapse, a tearful confession, and a very persuasive donation link.