Six universities in Australia have gradually closed their Confucius Institutes, which have been alleged to have ties to the Chinese government. Several universities did not publicly disclose the reasons for the closures; some cited the COVID-19 pandemic, while others stated they were developing their own China-related curricula. (Lu Ming / Dajiyuan)
[People News] Recently, a Chinese woman in Sydney has sparked huge speculation on Chinese social media. According to reports, this woman, named Yang Lanlan, allegedly posted a 70 million AUD bail after crashing a luxury car in Sydney. As rumours spread widely at home and abroad, on August 11, the Australian judicial authorities denied the sky-high bail story.
The term “Yang Lanlan” even briefly made it onto mainland China’s Weibo trending list, with related searches like “Who is Yang Lanlan?” and “Whose descendant is Yang Lanlan?” The incident began with a car accident in the early hours of July 26 at around 3:30 a.m. when a Rolls-Royce collided head-on with a Mercedes in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The crash may leave the 52-year-old driver of Australian radio host Kyle Sandilands seriously injured and possibly disabled. Yang Lanlan herself was unharmed.
According to a statement from New South Wales police, the Rolls-Royce was driven by a 23-year-old woman. She was breath-tested at the scene, which returned a positive result, and later refused a second breath test. Police added that she was subsequently granted conditional bail pending court appearance.
Media such as the Daily Mail reported that the 23-year-old woman, identified as “LanLan Yang,” is a wealthy Chinese national.
It was noted that she had been driving a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, valued in the high six figures or even over a million USD. On the day of the crash, she wore Chanel and other luxury brands worth a total of about USD 5,000, accompanied by a bodyguard.
The Daily Mail also reported she owns another Rolls-Royce Ghost Convertible and lives in a penthouse apartment. Yet in stark contrast to her wealth, very little is known about her identity—no social media accounts, no business or property registrations, and no information on LinkedIn. Nothing is known about her family, parents, corporate ties, or the source of her fortune.
Neighbours say Yang Lanlan is polite but keeps to herself, never socialising deeply: “You can tell she doesn’t want people to know who she is.”
Online, rumours swirled that she easily posted a 70 million AUD bail (about NT$1.365 billion) and holds high-value assets and deposits in Australia.
On Monday (August 11), the New South Wales Courts and Tribunals told BBC Chinese that police had set “no monetary conditions” for her bail.
A spokesperson said the bail conditions included surrendering her passport, reporting to police regularly, not leaving her residence at night, and not driving again.
When asked about the online rumours, the spokesperson said: “These rumours are most likely extremely inaccurate.” The spokesperson did not respond to questions about the woman’s identity.
The incident triggered massive attention after it reached China, with netizens continuing to dig into Yang Lanlan’s real background.
An Australia-based user, “Jonathan,” claimed on Zhihu on August 8 that Yang’s English name is “Wendy Yang,” and that she works in iron ore trading—mainly reselling Australian iron ore quotas to Chinese listed companies or state-owned enterprises, maintaining long-term close ties with officials at “Sino Steel” (China’s Sinosteel Group).
On X (Twitter), the account “Capitalpedia” suggested that Yang Lanlan may be among the 1% of “red aristocracy” in China’s elite, questioning whether these people at the very top have siphoned off 99% of Chinese taxpayers’ wealth, leaving the remaining 99% of taxpayers to live on pickled vegetables and cornbread, while using patriotic films like Nanjing Photo Studio to stir nationalist sentiment.
Many Chinese netizens believe Yang must be a so-called “official second generation” (offspring of high-ranking officials), pointing out that her bodyguard appears to be a former member of China’s elite armed police special forces—akin to receiving “top national leader” security treatment—leading to her being nicknamed “Heavenly Dragon Girl.” But others claiming long-time acquaintance with her say she simply accumulated wealth through years of business and is not some political elite. None of these claims has been confirmed.
According to court records, Yang Lanlan will make her first appearance at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Friday morning (August 15). She faces charges of “reckless conduct causing bodily harm” and “refusing or failing to submit to a breath analysis.”
Former editor-in-chief of the CCP’s Global Times and well-known commentator Hu Xijin dismissed the high-bail rumour as fake news. He wrote: “Yang Lanlan’s mysterious existence in Australia is indeed intriguing, but some people have fabricated false stories to stir our emotions. Let the bullet fly a while and see what happens next.” △
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