Rare #MeToo trial is making history in China
Most of them came alone: on their lunch breaks, after class, into the December cold, to support a young woman they’d read about for two years but never met.
She’d dared to speak of her alleged sexual assault by a famous TV host while working as an intern at state broadcaster CCTV. Whenhe sued her for defamation, she countersued, demanding a public apology and about $7,600 in damages. Her trial had been delayed for two years, but now, she was going to court.
Zhou Xiaoxuan, 27, more widely known by her nickname Xianzi, became a pioneer of China’s #MeToo movement in 2018, when she accused Zhu Jun of groping and kissing her in a dressing roomin 2014. Despite police warnings, pressure on her family, online censorship and harassment, Zhou has persisted — one of the few to make it into court on claims of sexual misconduct, which China did not recognize as grounds for legal recourse until last year.
“Xianzi, jia you! Add oil!” shouted supporters who gathered in front of the Haidian People’s Court this week, using a Chinese phrase of encouragement. Some raised signs that read: “We demand an answer from history.” A young woman pulled out her lipstick to write #MeToo on another woman’s mask.
It was a rare glimpse of public demonstration in China, where civil society and protest have been suppressed in recent years. The numbers were small: about 100 supporters in person, along with about 2,500 people who joined We Chat groups following Zhou’s case. The accused TV host did not attend. The hearing was closed to the public and dragged from 1:30 pmto midnight with no conclusion, only an announcement that the trial would continue later.
Even if Zhou loses, supporters said, she had clinched a victory forwomen’s rights by getting her case into court and drawing strangers together in a cathartic moment of solidarity.
Police officers patrolling outside the court ordered supporters to not display their signs, but otherwise allowed the crowd to stay.
Most were women, standing and shivering in twos and threes, some passing around heat packs to keep warm.
Linda Wang, 30, a former journalist now working in tech, still wore her company lanyard and a blue puffer jacket. She had never met Zhou, but likened her to an egg hurling itself against a rock. “That only happens when the weak have already tolerated more than they can bear,” she said. “I sympathize with the egg, because I’ve also experienced being weak and crushed.”
Wang was also preparing to file a lawsuit soon for workplace exploitation, though not related to sexual misconduct. “I hope our society can have more equality and dignity for regular individuals,” she said.
Lind say Qi said she’d been following Zhou’s case since 2018, when a small wave of #MeToo cases gained notoriety in China. Women began to speak publicly about sexual harassment and assault from men in high positions at universities, religious institutions, nonprofits and media and tech.
“Before that, many of us just thought, as long as it wasn’t rape, it’s not a big deal,” said Qi, 44, who also works in tech .“Many women are harassed not once, but multiple times growing up. You don’t even tell your closest friends or family. You bury it in your heart. It’s a sort of shame, and it becomes something you suppress, and it affects your future thoughts and actions.”
Qi had hesitated about whether to come to Zhou’s hearing. People her age were mostly too busy and cynical to get involved in social issues, she said—“they know that in China, fighting for such things brings no results.” But Zhou inspired her to seek change even within a flawed system, she said: “She gives us all the courage to protect ourselves.”
Such courage is hard to summon when challenging men such as Zhu, one of the nation’s most powerful TV personalities. His face and voice are recognizable in every Chinese household, given that he has co-hosted CCTV’s Chinese New Year gala program 21 times since 1997. He has been praised in official channels as a model of “positive energy,” a political euphemism pushed by President Xi Jinping for filling Chinese media with propaganda while censoring criticisms.
Zhu stopped hosting the New Year gala in 2018, the same year Zhoufiled her lawsuit. But he moved immediately to producing, directing and starring in a new CCTV program called “Trust in China,” a series that used letters written by Chinese Communist Party members to tell inspiring stories about their sacrifice and struggle for the nation.
A former coal industry worker who gave his name only as Bing, 34, was “99% sure” Zhou would lose her lawsuit because of lack of evidence. “But winning or losing isn’t the goal,” he said. “Our goal is to put this in the spotlight, so that all those in powerful positions will think twice before they try to do something like this.”
Sexual harassment also affects men, he added: “It’s just that no one dares to speak up. But I believe there will be someone like Xianzi, who is not afraid of being smeared, in the future. There will be more and more who dare to speak.”