This article reports about a court case between Zhou Xiaoxuan “Xianzi”, an intern, and Zhu Jun, a famous CCTV host. Zhou Xiaoxuan alleges that in 2014, Zhu Jun sexually harassed her during her internship with CCTV by kissing and groping her. In 2018, Zhou Xiaoxuan addressed this issue on a famous Chinese social media site, Weibo, during the time when the MeToo movement was at its peak. After she publicized the sexual harassment she faced she become a voice of China’s MeToo movement.
Zhou Xiaoxuan wanted $7,600 and a public apology from Zhu Jun upon completion of the case. After three years of this ongoing often delayed court case, it has finally been decided that Zhou Xiaoxuan has lost due to a lack of evidence. Zhou Xiaoxuan is now facing a countersue from Zhu Jun for defamation of character. Zhou Xiaoxuan is planning to appeal due to the fact that the court stopped her from getting evidence. The evidence that the court blocked was police reports from her family and video footage of outside the dressing room.
This case is so important because this case is connected to China’s MeToo movement, gender equality in China, and not many cases are publicized like this in China. Also, she has faced lots of backlash since publicizing this accident. Some people seem to think she’s lying and others think that this may be a larger ploy for people to take control over China. Zhou Xiaoxuan has been banned for a year from Weibo and they made people stop sharing her original post. Some media outlets in China will not run this story. Through all this, in 2020, China passed a civil code to help protect people from sexual harassment. I think Xianzi’s voice needs to be heard and amplified. A change needs to happen.
Zhou Xiaoxuan “Xianzi”
Sources:
the article discussed in this blog -> https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/09/15/1037360295/court-ruling-deals-a-blow-to-chinas-faltering-metoo-movement
More articles on the topic
-> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/world/asia/china-zhou-xiaoxuan-metoo.html
-> https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/15/china/xianzi-zhu-jun-sexual-harassment-case-mic-intl-hnk/index.html
-> the youtube video!
Thank you for shedding light on this issue. I feel that it’s very important to look at not only the impact of the #MeToo movement in America, but in other countries and cultures to gain a more global perspective. I feel that the success and/or limited success in other countries taps into the question of “is it a movement or a moment?” as well.
I personally was unaware of this case and appreciate you sharing it. Countersueings of defenstiom of character after a sexual harassment case are actually a lot more common than you would think—despicable, I know. It’s just one of the many more fears that may keep people from deciding to take action against their harasser. And unfortunately, when dealing with the legal aspects of sexual harassment, it is often more difficult to “prove” to a court persay, as much of the evidence would have to come from the plaintiff’s retelling of evidence, and any witnesses (or cameras if there are any), but there is very often not any physical, hard, tangible, evidence that can be gathered and can meet the burden of proof. It is a lot of sort of hearsay and “he-said she-said”. It’s very difficult and heartbreaking to accept and not get any form of justice for these things, and even more stinging, invalidating, and bittering to essentially be told by a court or other system that they do not believe you or that the trauma you endured at the hands of this person wasn’t “sufficient enough” to meet that definitive level of proof, as if your trauma and experiences are somehow not good enough for justice.
Sexual harassment is not just an American issue, found in the realms of higher education, the entertainment industry, politics, etc., but an issue that permeates into every workplace and social institution across the globe. It is not a uniquely American issue, and we need to be able to look at these women’s issues of violence as part of the greater issue of gender violence in a global society, not just an American Eurocentric bubble.