Carina Zhang Dragged for Photoshopping Hotel Logo off Balloon Pic

Romance or Retail? Raymond Lam's Wife Carina Zhang Dragged for Photoshopping Hotel Logo off Balloon Pic

It’s another day, another Internet debate — and this time, it’s all about a beach, a balloon, and a suspiciously missing hotel logo. Carina Zhang Xinyue, model, wife of Hong Kong star Raymond Lam, and lowkey Weibo magnet for drama, is once again in the spotlight. But not for what she wore or said — nah, this one’s about her 520 post. And apparently, a love-shaped balloon has got folks proper fired up.

Let’s set the scene. On May 20th — aka China’s unofficial “I Love You” day — loads of celeb couples were online, sharing their romantic moments. Carina joined in with a sweet snap of a heart-shaped balloon on a sandy beach, the words “loving you is so romantic” floating across it. Cute, right? Fans flooded the comments with “520 Happy!” and gushed over how romantic Raymond must be.

But the Internet being the Internet, it didn’t take long for someone to clock something was off.

Turns out, that very balloon wasn’t exactly a bespoke gesture from Raymond Lam. Some eagle-eyed Netizens matched it to a decorative display put up by a hotel along the beach in Xiamen — a photo-op spot for guests checking in. And more importantly? The original balloon had the hotel’s logo printed on it. Carina’s version? Logo gone. Poof. Airbrushed into oblivion.

Cue the conspiracy theories.

Some reckon Carina was trying to make it seem like the whole setup was a private surprise arranged by her hubby, when really it was just a cute display anyone could walk up and snap a pic with. “So she wants us to think Raymond went out of his way to set up a heart balloon on the beach?” one commenter wrote. “Please. It’s a standard hotel gimmick.”

Another went further: “They weren’t even together on 520. He’s filming abroad. So is she faking it for clout?”

Yikes.

Still, not everyone’s buying into the balloon backlash. Quite a few Netizens leapt to her defence — and honestly, they’ve got a point. One user wrote: “Why wouldn’t she edit the logo out? Otherwise people would say it’s an ad. You lot are just looking for something to moan about.”

Another chimed in with, “People take pictures with decorations all the time. Doesn’t mean they’re pretending it was personally made for them. She posted a cute pic, so what?”

Carina Zhang herself eventually replied to one supportive comment, confirming that it wasn’t that deep. “We just went there for dinner,” she wrote, even bigging up the food. “Highly recommend it — their dishes were really tasty.” No love charade, no sponcon — just a nice dinner and a well-angled photo.

It’s not the first time Carina’s caught heat online. Since marrying Raymond in 2019, she’s been at the centre of more than a few Netizen storms — from accusations of being a gold-digger to complaints about how she handled her nanny’s last day on the job. Some folks just seem to have it out for her no matter what she posts.

But at this point, maybe she’s used to it. And judging by how chill her reply was this time round, she’s not about to let a heart-shaped balloon ruin her mood.

To be honest, Carina Zhang can be quite amusing. 

Her husband didn’t spend the holiday with her, yet she still managed to put on a solo performance. But as the saying goes, nothing stays hidden forever — Carina seriously underestimated Netizens’ detective skills.

Carina’s behaviour has always been a bit baffling. 

She once posted what looked like a knock-off version of a well-known phone case brand, claiming she bought it for 60 yuan. But in reality, the original brand sells it for over 400 yuan — which led many to question whether her “rich wife” image was starting to fall apart.

Then there was the whole drama with how she treated her nanny on the nanny’s last day, which stirred up a fair bit of backlash. Carina Zhang was criticised for being disrespectful and squeezing out the very last bit of value from someone who was leaving.

Whether you think she’s faking the fairy tale or just caught in a storm of over-analysis, one thing’s clear: the Internet never misses a chance to turn even a beach balloon into a full-blown scandal.