GNZ48 announced that three of their members—Shi ZhuJun, Lin Zhi, and Wang YuChen—were punished for violating the code of ethics.
Although it’s not clear exactly what rule was broken, fans are convinced it has a lot to do with the relationship status between Shi ZhuJun and Lin Zhi.
Both are known to be in a romantic relationship, but it’s considered unclear because some members have mentioned that Shi ZhuJun and Lin Zhi have other connections with fellow members.
It all started back in 2021 when Shi ZhuJun decided to leave GNZ48 due to health reasons. She returned in 2022, and it was revealed that the real reason for her departure was accusations of her being in a relationship with Lin Zhi.
These accusations came from a girl outside the group, who was said to be Shi ZhuJun’s girlfriend, claiming that Shi ZhuJun was dating Lin Zhi.
These two members have often accused each other of various things. It all came to a head when Lin Zhi accused Shi ZhuJun of having a romantic relationship with Wang YuChen from GNZ48 and Liang HuaiFang from SNH48.
After learning about this, GNZ48 management decided to give warnings to both members, as well as Wang YuChen, on August 28, 2024.
After direct discussions, GNZ48 management decided to temporarily suspend all three members until an unspecified time.
However, on September 3, 2024, GNZ48 management announced that they had officially demoted Shi ZhuJun and Lin Zhi from team members to trainees.
In addition to this, their Weibo social media accounts were suspended for one month, and both members officially became trainees as of September 4, 2024.