Sexual Assault Survivors In China Are Speaking Out. Is Anyone Listening?
Since the #MeToo movement kicked off an international reckoning around sexual assault, an unprecedented number of women in China have come forward with allegations of misconduct by powerful men in media,
sports, business, and academia.
While a handful of these women — just like in the U.S., they call themselves “the silence breakers” — have sought legal recourse, many others cannot; their cases are either blocked by government censors or counter defamation lawsuits in the notoriously male-dominated country that still maintains tight control over its judicial system and grassroots activists.
Inspired by the dozens of women who accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, screenwriter Zhou Xiaoxuan is one of just a few women who has been able to get her case heard in court after coming forward with accusations of misconduct at the hands of one of the most recognizable faces in Chinese television: Famed celebrity interviewer Zhu Jin.
Zhou's case, which was reportedly stalled earlier this month, has united Chinese feminists in support of the country's fledgling #MeToo movement. Here's everything you need to know about Zhou and the history of #MeToo in China.
"First step in the Long March" against sexual assault.
China’s #MeToo movement took off in 2018 when a former Beihang University student publicly accused her professor of sexual harassment. Luo Xixi published her allegations online and later on the social media platform Weibo, China's version of Twitter, claiming she was one of seven women harassed by the professor. Her account, widely considered to be China's first viral #MeToo moment, led the university to remove the the professors' teaching credentials, according to the BBC.
Luo, who told the BBC that the #MeToo movement in the U.S. gave her "a lot of courage" to come forward, is credited with inspiring other women to speak out about their experiences. According to The New York Times, some have even described her story as the “first step in the Long March” against sexual assault in China.
Zhou Xiaoxuan's life-changing letter.
Zhou Xiaoxuan, now 27, was one of several women to came forward with allegations of sexual assault in 2018 after the #MeToo movement first gained traction. According to The Washington Post, Zhou published an essay accusing China Central Television host Zhu Jin of groping and forcibly kissing her in a dressing room when she was a 23-year-old intern on his show.
When Zhou reported the case to Chinese police, she was told that coming forward might damage Zhu's image and "hurt the feelings of those who admired him," according to The Guardian.
The continued impact of Zhou's case in China.
It is highly unusual for sexual-harassment claims to make it to court in China, and hardly any of the country's state-run media outlets have reported on Zhou's case. She is reportedly seeking a publicly apology and $7,600 in damages from Zhu, who has denied claims against him, according to The Washington Post.
“I’m very nervous,” Zhou reportedly told AFP before a hearing on December 2. “But whether we win or lose the case, it has meaning. If we lose, it allows the questions we raised at least to remain in history. Someone will have to give us an answer.”
After a long day in court, judges adjourned the trial and decided to hear the case another day. It's unclear what happens next, but experts believe it is significant that the court agreed to hear Zhou's case at all. "Has Chinese society changed since the #MeToo movement? I can't say," Lu Pin, a feminist campaigner in China until 2015, told The Washington Post. "But 20 years ago, society was willfully ignorant or aggressively denying sexual harassment and rape culture. Today, we've at least forced the debate."
Today, in Beijing and in Hong Kong, young people outside of the courthouse. (Photos from @roseluqiu) pic.twitter.com/0BqVGu6Lua
— Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 (@Yaqiu) December 2, 2020
#MeToo protests in China.
China has a "zero tolerance for collective actions," Human Rights Watch researcher Yaqiu Wang wrote in a Washington Postop-ed, meaning that the country’s #MeToo movement hasn't resulted in massive street protests like it has in the U.S. Outside Harvey Weinstein's trial, for example, 150 women wearing masks and dressed in all black chanted: "It's not my fault! Not where I was, not how I dressed! The rapist WAS you! The rapist IS you!"
The scene outside the courthouse where Zhou appeared earlier this month was much more subdued: A group of demonstrators held signs offering support and took pictures of her. “I saw people holding slogans to support Xianzi, I felt excited and moved to see people here to support each other,” Yang Ruiqi, a third-year university student, told the Guardian. “The whole #MeToo movement is an inspiration to me, making me realise that things which made me feel uncomfortable before were wrong, it wasn’t because I was being too sensitive.”
"The verdict isn't important," Li Tingting, a women's rights activist there in support of Zhou, told The Washington Post. "What was important for our movement was the moment, the process, the involvement of people who gathered physically from across the country and the foundation we've laid."
Has there been any progress in protecting victims of sexual harassment in China?
A new civil code enacted in China this summers tries to hold schools and businesses accountable for sexual harassment, though it's been called "largely symbolic."
“The state is taking steps toward giving victims a path for vindicating their rights,” Aaron Halegua, a specialist in Chinese labor law at New York University, told The Wall Street Journal. “However, the law is still very vague and leaves many questions unanswered.”