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.

According toSouth China Morning Post (SCMP), Li stunned fans on January 14 when he revealed that the Beijing Smile Angel Hospital, the charity facility he founded with Wong in 2012 to support children born with cleft lips like their daughter Li Yan, was drowning in debt and facing imminent closure.

The hospital has performed free surgeries ...