A six-year-long sexually harassed case in China
By: Katherine Dong
Tags: Metoo, Feminism, China, Sexual Harassment

Feminism in China

One thing for the difficulties of this case and also why it receives these much attention is its relation to feminism in China. Male superiority deeply roots in Chinese culture throughout history. Confucianism, as an ancient Chinese belief, is popular throughout China and even overseas. However, this belief advocates the superiority of men over women. There is a popular saying by Confucius:

“Of all people, female and servants are the most difficult to behave to.”

This saying is still quoted by many males today in China. When it gets to Maoism, promoted de-genderization to achieve gender equality in politics and society. And feminism is considered a Western bourgeois ideology and has been criticized and banned. In this case, although there is a law protecting women’s rights in the public, it doesn’t help women’s rights in private spaces like family. In recent society, there is a lot of effort working on women’s rights, and women in the new era with knowledge pay more attention to protect their rights. However, China as a country with large popularity, the effort still has a long way to go. Especially among uneducated people and those who live in rural areas, male superiority is still a huge phenomenon.

When this case first came out, the public is more toward Xianzi’s side. However, as the case was referred to as the Chinese #MeToo movement by some western media like New York Times and BBC, conspiracies of the hatred of feminism start to appear on the internet, claiming that it is pushed secretly by some western power. And since the case is pretty much base on Xianzi’s description and there is no much evidence to prove, some people start to think of this whole case as a conspiracy to push “western feminism” to Chinese culture. Additionally, another case that happened a month ago in November 2020, increase people’s doubt about the sexually harassed case like this even more. A college senior girl from Tsinghua University claimed she was touched by a junior boy during her lunch at the canteen at Tsinghua University. She later made the information (name, college, grade) about the boy public, and the boy was denounced by the public throughout the internet. However, later, through the security camera, it found out that the boy did not touch the girl and it was his backpack accidentally “touched” the girl’s private part because the canteen was crowded. Then the public all turned to the boy’s side, denounced the girl for publishing the boy’s information without making sure what actually happened. This case largely affects some people’s attitude toward such no-evidence sexual harassment. These thoughts were populated throughout social media and mostly conducted by the male. If the victim is male, it is highly possible that it will not be considered slander since there is no “benefit” from doing so. Through this, it can see the road to gender equality is still difficult in Chinese society.

Altitude toward Protest

After the case attracts attention, it was referred to as the #MeToo movement in China and was support by a lot of people who also fighting for feminism and gender equality. When this case finally reached the court, many people, mostly females, waited outside the court to support Xianzi. However, protest is not used in China and there is a conspiracy saying these people were paid to go support. The negative attitude toward protest, to a large extend, is related to the Hong Kong protest. The Hong Kong and mainland China split causing some violence and unfair treatment toward people from mainland China in Hong Kong is viral in media. People from mainland China saw too many depicting of the negative side of protest and it largely affects their altitude toward such movement. In this case, when the media starts framing the support outside the court as a protest movement and depicting supporters as holding signs of the #MeToo movement with slogans, the public relates it to the Hong Kong protest and starts having a negative attitude towards it. They claimed that the protest doesn’t help feminism, but split females and males which causing gender inequality.

Social media’s role

Social media plays an important part in escalating this event. Using social media to get a voice heard is one effective method used by most people in China today. Social media Weibo has the most important role in this case. Xianzi’s friend reposted Xianzi’s article on Weibo and it caught the public’s attention. It is an important reason that this case finally reaches the court. There are no many sexual harassment cases that reach the court so it is progress. When there are benefits, there will also have negative effects on the case. People who have doubt, suggests that the girl is trying to use the mass of public opinion to “kidnap” the decision of the court. Once there are conspiracy theories, they also escalating throughout the social media and some people will turn toward Zhu’s side. This will be an opportunity for Zhu to turn over the public altitude to some extend.

A survey conducted in 2019 of workplace sexual harassment in China

A survey conducted in 2019 suggesting that there are 54.4% of people claimed that they have experienced sexual harassment at the workplace and 38.8% of them are female.

There is no further update on the decision of the court for this case, but no matter what will be the result and who will win, this case is a landmark of sexually harassed cases and will be a huge encouragement for those who were sexually harassed and cannot fight back. Let’s wait for the result and wish for justice.