Journey with a purpose
It’s easy to spot hiker Xiao Yue on the road, with the small white board proclaiming “feminist hiker— from Beijing to Guangzhou” on her backpack. Without any transportation, she has been on her feet since she started this excursion in September, a campaign against sexual assault in schools in China.
“Women should have freedom, the freedom not to be sexually violated and to do what we want to do. We should strive for that on our own. I want to change the society with my action, even if only for a bit,” says 24-year-old Xiao, who is better known as Xiao Meili, her online name.
With an art design degree from a university in Beijing, she has been drawing media attention in recent years with activities to promote gender equality. On Valentine’s Day in 2012, she wore a bloody wedding dress with two other young women and walked around Beijing’s tourist street at Qianmen to raise awareness against domestic violence.
She has covered Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong, clocking about 2,200 kilometers. She is in Guangdong province now and will end her tour inMarch.
In May 2013, news of at least eight cases of sexual violation involving children reported by the media shocked the nation. The cases, all within a span of 20 days, included one which involved two men who molested a boy in a kindergarten. Most violators were teachers or headmasters of victims.
“We should build better school environments and give students proper sex education. There should be a certain liability scheme for teaching staff,” she says.
“I’ve passed by many small cities. It’s a lot more meaningful promoting gender equality and prevention of sexual violation in those places, because residents there receive less of such information than those from big cities.”
Xiao has written letters urging government to establish a system to prevent and control sexual violation in schools, protect victims from secondary injuries and make such information public.
She collects signatures for her letters from the local residents by explaining and persuading in every place that she goes to and mails the letters to the local government, education bureau, and public security bureau.
She has mailed more than 140 letters, and received 50 replies. Most responses were perfunctory and only three were positive. For example, the Education Bureau of Xingtai, Hebei province, said it was establishing such a system.
Xiao is not alone in her endeavor. Her feminist friends and those who learned about the activity online take turns to join her.
But her sole companion now is 23-year-old Deng Jiawen, who joinedXiao inNovember and will finish the rest of the excursion with her.
“Most people are pragmatic about life, concerned about buying an automobile or a house. Few people are like Xiao, caring about something more meaningful,” says Deng, a senior student from a university in Changchun, Jilin province.
To raise public awareness, Xiao and others deliver speeches to share their concerns and experiences.
When they were in a university in Wuhan, Hubei province, a female student shared her story about an attempt at sexual harassment by her teacher. She fled before he had the opportunity to harm her.
“She is very brave to talk about this in front of acquaintances. In China, people tend to blame the victims rather than the violators. We want to change that,” Xiao says.
On the Spring Festival eve, they hiked for about 37 km before arriving in a small hotel in Leiyang, Hunan province, at 9 pm. To celebrate the festival, the two bought some fireworks on their way and lit them.
Most restaurants were closed that evening. While most Chinese were enjoying heartwarming dinner with their families, the hikers had to be content with different flavors of instant noodles, which were the only food available to them for days.
Their journey is sponsored by netizens and kind-hearted strangers they have met on their way. Some netizens even offer accommodation. Since she started her expedition, Xiao only eats simple meals, lives in cheap hotels and updates her expenses online. She also keeps diaries about her bittersweet hikes, posting both texts and cute cartoons online.
“I’m impressed that most people are positive about preventing sexual violation on campus. Their attitude toward feminism is not as critical as those on the Internet. I hope more people will know about feminism and what we’re doing.”