Zhang Yong, an online game player from Guangzhou, has filed a lawsuit against Netease's (NTES) subsidiary, Guangzhou Wangyi Computer System Company, for deleting his online game avatar.

Zhang was playing a game called "Jing Ling" (Genius), and devoted so much time to building up his character named "Zhang Jinming" that he was ranked sixth overall in the game. However when he reached Level 87 of the game, Netease deleted his avatar and sealed his account for thirty days because he violated some rules of the game.

Believing that the "Zhang Jinming" character is his own legal property, Zhang's lawsuit seeks to have Netease reinstate his character "Zhang Jinming" and pay him CNY2100 for economic loss and CNY5000 for mental anguish. He is also seeking a public apology.

Guangzhou Tianhe District People's Court initially refused Zhang Yong's petition in May 2005. Zhang has now appealed to the Guangzhou Secondary People's Court, where a verdict should be handed down soon.