TVB Actress Ali Lee Said To Be Secretly Dating Hongkong's 'King of Cordyceps' For Over A Year

Last November, the gossip mill was rife with rumours that TVB actress Ali Lee, 39, was seeing billionaire businessman Mark Chan, who is more famously referred to as Hongkong's ‘King of Cordyceps’.

The rumours started when the pair were spotted together at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, though they maintained that they had met up to discuss work when quizzed by reporters.

However, there's now talk that Ali and Mark have actually been secretly dating for a year.

The couple spent Christmas together in 2020

According to a close friend of Ali’s, Mark began wooing the actress in 2020 when she was still dating TV presenter Danny Chan, whom she broke up with the same year.

"They were in a love triangle for some time. Later, when Ali publicly broke up with Danny, Mark was overjoyed," said the friend.

Ali's friend, if we can even call her that, added that the actress and Mark have secretly dating for more than a year and even provided pics of the couple as “proof”.

In one of the photos, Ali and Mark could be seen posing in a garden decorated with fairy lights.

According to the friend, the selfie was taken on Christmas Day in 2020 in Mark’s Beacon Hill mansion in Kowloon and that he had even prepared artificial snow to impress Ali.

His birthday gift to her was equally special

There were also pics of Ali's birthday celebration last year and shots of a diamond brooch that Mark had gifted her.

The brooch is in the shape of the Chinese character for “heart”, which is also part of Ali’s Chinese name, and was specially designed by Mark.

A gift from the heart

When asked about the rumours, Mark insisted that he and Ali are just good friends and declined to comment more.

He said he gave her the brooch as a birthday gift because he wanted to show his support for her. As for the dinner, he said it was just a “meal between good friends”, which is “very normal”.

As to whether there is a chance that they will take their relationship to the next level, he replied: "She is a good woman and I hope so, but I don’t want to comment so much [on the matter]… I just want to protect Ali."

Photos: Ali Lee/Instagram, Oriental Daily