FIRST ON FOX: A female educator, pageant winner, and interpreter from China who has multiple ties to the Chinese Communist Party has cozied up to several top Democrats in New York over the last four to five years, a Fox News Digital review found.

Wang Zaozao, who also goes by “Linda,” was born and raised in Anqing, China. After going to school and specializing in “Chinese-English interpretation for three years” in her native country, she moved to the United States to further her education at Columbia University, according to her website bio. Her education then led to her founding the Zao Learning Center in 2018, which caters to the “training of children models/actors with bilingual language skills” and has multiple training centers in New York and Taiwan.

In addition to working as an educator and teaching hundreds of children of Chinese descent in New York, she has been a “bilingual emcee/TV host for about a decade” at dozens of “large-scale cultural events,” which have featured several top Democrats, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. An archived version of Wang’s Zao Center says it provides “excellent learning atmosphere and professional training to set you off to succeed in the mainstream modeling/entertainment industry.”

As part of her educational qualifications, she touts on her website that she has obtained the “Advanced Interpretation Qualification Certificate” and the Teacher Qualification Certificate issued by the Ministry of Education of China (MOE), which is a key organ of the CCP and plays a crucial role in helping “formulate the curriculum” in Chinese schools and abroad for international educational exchanges, according to their website.

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The MOE also directs the “construction of the [Chinese Communist] Party in institutions of higher learning” in addition to working with multiple other CCP departments. A 2017 report from The Diplomat revealed that the Ministry of Education spent five years revising liberal arts textbooks in order to emphasize the importance of “socialist core values” for students. The report went on to highlight how “new textbooks focus on strengthening the revolutionary tradition of the CCP.”

“Chinese textbooks include a large number of articles about Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and other CCP leaders,” the report continued. “The new textbooks elaborate on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s more hard-line foreign policy, making sure that the students have a strong sense of China’s territorial situation.”

Wang has posted over 2,000 photos on her Instagram profile, which includes a mix of pageants, Chinese cultural events, and includes several photos with Democratic politicians and CCP diplomats. Earlier this month, she posed for a “selfie” with a smiling Mayor Adams and CCP diplomat Chen Li, who is serving as the consul general of the People’s Republic of China, in New York, at the AAPI Heritage Month parade in Manhattan.

“So happy to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new friends,” said Wang, who has taken several photos with Adams over the years. “Snuck in a quick photo with Consul General Ambassador Chen Li and Mayor Eric Adams before dashing to the next event.”

On June 3, she posted on Instagram that she hosted the 2025 East Coast Chinese Alumni Associations’ Summer picnic and Culture Festival and that it was “such a joy to share the stage with Congressman Josh Gottheimer, the Mayor and Council Members of Palisades Park.”

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A Gottheimer spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the Democratic congressman “was invited by a local Chinese American community association and shared the stage with several other people during that event.”

“Congressman Gottheimer and his team have no relationship with the individual in question, and the Congressman is leading multiple pieces of legislation to crack down on the Chinese Communist Party — our known adversary,” the spokesperson continued.

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In February, Wang posted a video on stage with Li, who has repeatedly praised the CCP and denied Uyghur genocide, and Schumer at the Brooklyn Lantern Festival Parade. Wang not only served as the parade’s host, but also served as a translator for Schumer’s address.

Schumer came under fire earlier this year for posing with Li at the Lunar New Year Parade. 

Another post from September 2024 shows Wang posing with Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., at an opera event in New York. A Goldman spokesperson said, “We have no idea who this person is” after Fox News Digital reached out for comment.

“It was my third time hosting the AAPI culture heritage month parade in mid-town Manhattan New York City,” Wang wrote last May with a photo of her and Adams smiling together. “Glad to see [NYC Mayor] Eric Adams again.”

Wang also says she is “currently a consultant to the Association for the Promotion of China’s Peaceful Reunification in New York, and a special reporter for the overseas station of ‘Fujian Daily’ Southeast Network,” which are both directly tied to the CCP.

The Association for the Promotion of China’s Peaceful Reunification in New York has been repeatedly mentioned in reports coordinating with the CCP’s United Front system, which has been called a “magic weapon” by Chinese President Xi Jinping due to its success at advancing the CCP’s interests at home and abroad. According to a 2012 holiday greeting to House and Senate lawmakers, the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR) formed at least 17 affiliates, including the New York chapter. A 2019 report from the Jamestown Foundation also said the United Front acts as one of the “key executive agents” of the council “to exert control over ethnic Chinese communities abroad.”

“Front organizations such as the CPPRC represent one of the primary mechanisms employed by the CCP in its patient, long-term campaign to undermine the democratic norms and open debate—not only within China itself, but internationally—that the CCP views as threats to its own hold on power,” the report continued.

Fujian Daily Southeast Network, is the same Beijing-backed organization for which Winnie Greco, a disgraced former fundraiser for Adams who served as a special adviser and his director of Asian Affairs, was a consultant. Greco’s home was raided by FBI agents in 2024 amid a federal probe related to political fundraising during Adams’ 2021 campaign. The corruption indictment against Adams was dropped earlier this year. It is unclear whether Greco is in China or New York.

In 2022 and 2023, Wang posted multiple photos posing with Schumer and Adams at various parades, including the Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown. A few of the 2023 photos that included Schumer thanked him for “always supporting our Chinese community event.” More photos from 2022 show her posing with Mayor Adams, including her attending an Asian Pacific Cultural Heritage month event at Mayor Adams’ mansion.

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“New Mayor of NYC! You are our old friend,” Wang captioned a photo on the same day Adams was sworn into office. The event appears to be from a fundraiser for Adams as part of the transition ahead of the inauguration. The photo shows the pair sitting close together and giving a thumbs up while she held a microphone.

Months before becoming the mayor, Wang posted a photo at an Adams fundraiser and said she “hosted the fundraising event for mayoral candidate [Eric Adams.]”

The following month, she posed with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has come under fire for hiring multiple CCP-tied staffers, and Schumer at the Lunar New Year Parade. Fox News Digital exclusively reported earlier this month that a top ex-aide to Hochul was the daughter of a former Chinese journalist whose archived biography says he worked for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “Education Department of the News Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department” as a deputy director and served in multiple leadership roles at state-run media outlets.

“Honored to be the host [Eric Adams] is our old friend who listens to us and help[sic] us,” Wang said in a July 2021 Instagram post that includes a photo of Wang holding an Eric L. Adams “Asian Volunteer Group” certificate signed by Adams.

Despite Adams taking several photos with Wang at various events, including earlier this month, hosting a campaign fundraiser for him, and attending at least one event at the mayor’s mansion, a spokesperson for his office distanced the mayor from her, telling Fox News Digital that the “Adams administration does not work with this individual.”

“Thousands of community members take photographs with the Mayor at public events,” the spokesperson added.

Arran Hope, the editor of China Brief at the Jamestown Foundation, sounded the alarm about Wang when Fox News Digital reached out about her CCP ties, noting how she “appears to be deeply involved with organizations in New York City that have strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s united front system,” including “anniversary galas for united front organizations such as the U.S.–Fujian Tangtou Friendship Association (美国福建塘头联谊会) and the New York Chapter of the United Chinese American Association (美国华人华侨联合总会纽约分会).”

“Wang’s ties to the CCP go beyond merely compèring events. As reported on the website of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Body, the central united front organization led by a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Wang is the general secretary (秘书长) of the New York branch of the United Chinese Association of America (美国华人华侨联合总会纽约分会),” Hope said. “She is also an adviser to the New York Association for Peaceful Reunification (纽约中国和平统一促进会) and has been a guest reporter for the overseas coverage of Fujian Daily, a Party media outlet.”

“Her work has been featured in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the CCP Central Committee, and other state outlets,” he continued. “In February 2020, at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, she responded to the call of the United Front Work Department to support epidemic prevention measures in China, helping to coordinate sending funds and other items to frontline workers in Wuhan.”

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In addition to Democrats, Wang posted several photos with Huang Ping, the controversial predecessor to Chen Li who was referenced dozens of times in the unsealed indictment against Gov. Hochul’s former deputy chief of staff, Linda Sun, last year. The unsealed indictment revealed that a speechwriter for then-Lt. Gov. Hochul wanted to mention the “Uyghur situation” in China for her 2021 Lunar New Year message, but the plight of the minority group being persecuted by the Chinese government was ultimately omitted after Sun overruled the speechwriter. 

The indictment says Sun revealed to Ping what the speechwriter wanted to include but insisted that she would not let her boss mention Uyghurs after admitting that she was “starting to lose her temper” with the speechwriter. Ping appeared to chalk up the speechwriter’s suggestion as a clueless American who had never visited China and that U.S.-China relations could “sour” because of “people like the speechwriter,” the indictment said, prompting Sun to concur that the speechwriter had never visited China. Ping would go on to post Hochul’s Lunar New Year message days later on his Facebook page, which did not mention Uyghurs.

In addition to taking several photos with Ping, who has repeatedly called the CCP a “great party,” she revealed on her company website that she was “invited by the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York to teach adult English courses for its staff.”

“Photos with Ambassador Huang Ping and his beautiful wife and world renowned soprano – Inva Mila,” Wang wrote in September 2024 on Instagram. “It was an honor to share the evening with such esteemed guests and artists.”

“Honored to host the farewell dinner for Ambassador Huang Ping as we celebrate his remarkable contributions to strengthening ties between the U.S. and China,” Wang wrote. “A night to remember, full of warmth, gratitude, and unity.”

In an Instagram post from 2022, Wang posted a “selfie” and said she was “honored to be the MC and met Chinese Counsel General Ambassador Huang Ping at the first Asian Pacific American Cultural Parade.”

Wang told Fox News Digital in a statement after publication that she is “proud of her professional background” and that the certificates she received are “standard professional qualifications required in China” that are “not political in nature.”

“I also want to emphasize that I am a Republican voter, and I voted for President Trump,” Wang said. “Like many immigrant Americans, I care deeply about this country and its future.”

Wang went on to say that appearing in photos with elected officials is “commonplace” as part of her job as a translator and interpreter. 

“Any suggestion that my work or community service makes me an agent of foreign influence is not only false, but also harmful to the spirit of inclusion and civic engagement that we should encourage in immigrant communities,” Wang said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Hochul and Schumer.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to include a comment from Wang that was submitted after publication.