KUALA LUMPUR: In August 2020, 23-year-old Annabel Yao, the daughter of Chinese multinational giant Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei, reportedly formed a pop trio with two other daughters of tycoons.
Chinese news portal Global Times reported yesterday that Annabel's girl group comprised of the late Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho's daughter Alice, Chinese multinational Sanpower chairman Yuan Yafei's daughter Donna Yuan, and herself.
Even though it turned out to be mere speculation by the Chinese media, there was some truth to it because Annabel, a singer in her own right, recently released her debut single Back Fire.
Not your ordinary teen pop idol, Annabel is a Harvard University graduate with a degree in computer science.
Furthermore, she learnt dancing as a child and took ballet lessons when she was five.
"People like to call me the Huawei Princess. Some have asked me why I can't just be a good girl and not enter show business," she said.
"I'm very lucky to be born into a good family and I'm grateful to my parents for everything they've done for me.
"However, I think everyone has a different definition of a princess, so I don't think of myself as one.
"I always believe in working hard towards attaining my dreams, to become a successful recording artiste," she said.
Annabel added that her background made her receive a lot more attention than other singer-songwriters who were not the children of tycoons.
"I see this as a double-edged sword. There will be higher expectations of me, so I have to work even harder to do better than everyone else.
"And that's the only way to reach the standards that others have of me," she said.