Gu Kailai and the body double debate

By Yuwen Wu 
 BBC Chinese

 

Observers said Gu Kailai in court looked different from previous photos

When Gu Kailai was given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British business man Neil Heywood, speculation began that the woman in court was a body double. So what do these kinds of suspicions tell us about modern China?

As soon as footage of Gu Kailai appeared in the official report of the trial, rumours began to circulate on the internet about the identity of the woman in the dock.
Several posts and re-posts surfaced on Chinese social media sites on the same day, with a screen grab of the courtroom scene, suggesting that the woman - who appeared plumper than Gu - was a body double.
One internet user posted some "before and after" photos and asked: "Are we looking at the same woman? There are rumours that the woman who appeared in the court room is a body double, because whether you are thin or fat, your bone structure shouldn't change."

Some questioned whether this was indeed Gu Kailai

Another user said: "Please note the corner of the mouth, the bags under the eyes and the ears, especially the ears. You might flatten the bags, but you can't change the shape of your ears."
This kind of speculation continued through the verdict and sentencing on 20 August and then newspapers joined the fray. One Hong Kong paper - Apple Daily - even reported rumours on 21 August that the stand-in was named Zhao Tianyun, who had been hand-picked by the wife of premier Wen Jiabao.
But the paper also quotes journalist Jiang Weiping, who was in contact with Gu and her husband Bo Xilai for a number of years, as saying that judging by the face and the gestures, it was really Gu.