China’s biggest wine influencer built a six-million-follower empire that once sold RMB 350 million worth of wine a year. Now, the company behind Lady Penguin is heading to court over alleged smuggling.
The company behind the six-million-follower wine personality will face trial in Beijing, casting a shadow over a content-commerce empire that once generated RMB 350 million in annual sales.
The company behind Lady Penguin, China’s biggest wine influencer and one of the country’s most powerful online wine retailers, is set to stand trial in Beijing over alleged smuggling offences.
The Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People’s Court announced that it will publicly hear a case involving Beijing Lady Penguin Wines & Spirits Co., Ltd. and an individual named Li Baolong on Sept. 1, 2026. Both are accused of smuggling ordinary goods and articles, an offence that can carry a prison sentence of more than 10 years or life imprisonment in the most serious cases.
The court announcement marks a dramatic turn for a wine business that once represented the extraordinary commercial power of China’s influencer economy.
Founded around the online persona of Wang Shenghan, commonly known as Lady Penguin, she built an audience of more than six million followers by making wine accessible to young Chinese consumers. Wang converted that influence into a formidable e-commerce operation selling imported and proprietary wines.
At its peak, Lady Penguin generated annual sales of RMB 350 million (US$51.8 million), making it one of China’s most prominent examples of content-driven wine retail.
The criminal case is therefore likely to reverberate well beyond the company. It raises questions about the import practices and supply chains behind one of China’s largest influencer-led wine businesses, at a time when livestreaming and social commerce have become crucial sales channels for the country’s struggling wine trade.
Rumours that Lady Penguin was under investigation had circulated through the industry since Wang abruptly disappeared from public view in the second half of 2025. The court notice confirms that the company has been prosecuted and that the case has entered the trial stage. It does not establish guilt.
Public information has not disclosed which products are involved, the amount of tax allegedly evaded or the detailed facts underlying the prosecution. Wang herself is not named as a defendant in the court announcement.
From Wine Educator to E-Commerce Powerhouse
Wang first became an online celebrity in 2012 with A Female Student in New York, a self-produced satirical video series mocking the idea that studying overseas made someone inherently superior.
She studied wine at Le Cordon Bleu in France in 2013 and began publishing introductory wine videos under the name Lady Penguin the following year. Her relaxed, humorous explanations stood apart from the technical and often intimidating language then commonly used to sell wine in China.
The formula proved enormously successful. Wang demystified wine for a generation of younger consumers while building the trust needed to sell directly to them.
In 2015, prominent Chinese investor Xu Xiaoping invested RMB 1 million in the business. Lady Penguin subsequently secured several additional rounds of venture-capital financing and developed a commercial model combining wine education, personality-driven content, membership programmes and online retail.
Its portfolio once included a wide range of imported wines, alongside products such as Jägermeister and the company’s own low-alcohol sweet wines.
At a time when many Chinese consumers found wine confusing, Lady Penguin functioned as both retailer and purchasing adviser. Customers were not simply buying bottles; they were buying Wang’s recommendations.
That trust helped turn Lady Penguin into one of the most influential sales forces in China’s wine market.
What Happened to Its Imported Wines?
The imported wines that once drove Lady Penguin’s reputation and growth have gradually disappeared from its portfolio in recent years. In their place, the company increasingly promoted proprietary products made in China.
In 2025, Lady Penguin launched its own domestic wine brand, Guanghan Ji, with considerable fanfare. The company said the project had been in development since 2023, but its promotional methods generated controversy after the wines reached the market.
The contraction of its imported-wine business now takes on greater significance.
Was the change simply part of a strategy to improve margins and exercise greater control through proprietary brands? Or was it connected to compliance issues within Lady Penguin’s import business or supply chain?
The available court notice does not answer those questions. The Sept. 1 hearing may provide the first authoritative account of what allegedly occurred.
Recent discussion on Xiaohongshu has also highlighted the change in Lady Penguin’s business. A wine enthusiast using the name “Ms. Siqi Drinks in the Moonlight” published a detailed timeline of the case, prompting longtime customers to recall the company’s transition from imported wines to proprietary products.
One commenter said Lady Penguin’s earliest wine selections had been good but argued that product quality deteriorated as it moved into sweet, low-alcohol drinks.
Another wrote that the company had been among China’s better domestic wine merchants during its middle period, offering a strong membership programme and attractively priced wines, but said its appeal declined after it began selling more self-produced products.
These are individual consumer opinions and do not constitute evidence regarding product quality or business conduct. They nevertheless illustrate how sharply perceptions of the brand have changed.
The Legal Stakes
Wine imported into China is generally subject to customs duty, value-added tax and consumption tax, producing a combined tax burden of approximately 42%.
Customs criminal lawyer Li Yunhao wrote in his account that common methods encountered in wine-smuggling cases include under-declaring transaction values and falsely declaring the nature of the trade.
If the true transaction price differs substantially from the value declared to customs, authorities may investigate the transactions and calculate liability based on the amount of tax allegedly evaded.
Under Article 153 of China’s Criminal Law, penalties for smuggling ordinary goods and articles depend partly on the amount of tax evaded and the seriousness of the conduct. Particularly large tax losses or other exceptionally serious circumstances can result in imprisonment of more than 10 years or life imprisonment.
It is too early to determine whether such penalties could apply in the Lady Penguin case. No public information has identified the goods involved, the alleged tax loss or the prosecution’s detailed allegations.
It’s worthy to note the public announcement named Lady Penguin’s company as one of the two defendants.
According to corporate records published by Qichacha, Beijing Lady Penguin Wines & Spirits has registered capital of RMB 1.055252 million. Chen Dan is listed as its legal representative, while Liao Xiaoyi is identified as its ultimate controlling shareholder, with a 49.1886% stake.
Wang is currently listed only as a company supervisor, even though being the founder and face of the business. Public information identifies Liao as Wang’s mother and describes her as an environmental advocate and philanthropist.
The lawyer further noted that smuggling cases are subject to a “dual-penalty” system, under which both the company and responsible individuals may be held criminally liable. Responsibility is determined not by job title, but by a person’s actual role in the smuggling operation and the extent of their knowledge. As a result, ultimate controllers and founders cannot necessarily avoid liability.
Questions Surround the Second Defendant
Li Baolong, the other defendant named in the court announcement, does not appear on the company’s publicly available list of principal personnel.
A Vino Joy News search found an individual with the same name who worked for China Customs and previously participated in a customs-policy briefing organised by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association. At that event, he explained policies governing the proper declaration of imported alcoholic beverages.
At this stage, we can’t confirm if Li named in the investigation is in fact the customs officer, and there were rumors claiming Li was Wang’s boyfriend but at this stage this can’t be verified.
Not Its First Legal Controversy
The smuggling prosecution is not the first legal controversy involving Lady Penguin.
In 2020, the company was accused of using corporate resources to post negative reviews targeting an industry competitor. The affected company disclosed the conduct and pursued legal action.
Lady Penguin lost the case and was ordered to pay RMB 200,000 in 2023. Beijing Lady Penguin Wines & Spirits was later placed on China’s list of companies with abnormal business operations after authorities were unable to contact it at its registered address.
Those earlier disputes were far smaller in scale than the criminal case now before the Beijing court.
Despite the looming trial, Beijing Lady Penguin Wines & Spirits remains registered as an active company, and Lady Penguin continues to sell wine online.
Media reports said its official flagship account was livestreaming wine sales on the evening of Aug. 7. Checks by Vino Joy News found that Lady Penguin’s stores on Taobao and Douyin remain open and continue to offer wine.
The scale of the business, however, appears to have contracted sharply.
At the time of publication, its Douyin storefront listed only six products, while its Taobao flagship store carried just over a dozen—a fraction of the extensive portfolio Lady Penguin offered at its height.
Wang has also remained absent. Her last appearance in a short video posted through the account was on Sept. 27, 2025.
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