On this episode of China Uncensored,
why women in China are becoming rice bunnies.
Welcome to China Uncensored,
I'm your host, Chris Chappell.
Thursday, March 8 was International Women's Day.
It was originally a socialist holiday
popularized in the Soviet Union.
Now, it's an official holiday in China,
where women get a half day off of work
so they can have afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai.
And do lots of online shopping.
Vladimir Lenin would be so proud.
I bet he's looking down right now from communist heaven and...
oh, wait.
Never mind.
In the past,
China has celebrated International Women's Day
in some unique ways,
like having a one-handed bra-undoing contest.
Which really seems more like something that should be done
to celebrate International Teenage Boys' Day.
But that was two years ago.
Today, as the Me Too movement
against sexual harassment
is making waves across the globe,
have things changed for women in China?
For more on this,
we go to China Uncensored's resident Chinese woman,
Shelley Zhang.
Shelley.
Thanks Chris.
So Shelley,
have you seen improvements
in how women are treated in China
on International Women's Day?
Oh definitely, Chris.
Just take a look at this page from Tmall,
China's biggest online shopping site.
In Chinese it says,
March 8, Queen's Day,
hashtag live your girl power.
Isn't that amazing?
That's your example of how things are getting better?
Hey, last year it said
hashtag live your beauty
and had a woman staring lovingly at a shoe.
So I'd say that girl power is better.
That's not what I had in mind.
What about the Me Too movement
to raise awareness about sexual harassment?
Is that having an impact at all?
Yes, sort of.
Me Too made a splash in China earlier this year,
when a Chinese woman named Luo Xixi
posted a story online of how she was
studying under a famous professor,
named Chen Xiaowu.
She says he tried to coerce her into having sex with him.
He only stopped when she told him she was a virgin.
More women also accused Chen,
and even state-run media
started reporting on the story.
Chen was eventually fired.
Wow.
I'm surprised it actually worked.
Does that mean Me Too movement is growing in China?
No.
It's complicated.
More women started sharing stories online
of being harassed by their college professors,
but soon the words Me Too
started getting censored online.
So now it's censored?
No.
It's complicated.
Chinese women started using
the hashtag rice bunny instead,
because those words sound like
Me Too in Chinese.
And you can still find articles on the Chinese internet
that discuss the Me Too movement.
Wait a minute.
Why would the Chinese Communist Party
allow reporting on this,
but then censor it,
and then not censor it?
Well, It's a way of staying in control.
They start off by letting people
talk about sexual harassment,
and they're even ok with action
being taken in isolated cases,
like Chen getting fired.
But then when it gets too popular,
they censor it.
It's a warning to people
that this topic is getting too sensitive.
But they don't want to completely cut off
all discussion of it because
then people would notice
that they can't talk about it.
That is so...complicated.
What is even the point of doing that?
Two things:
One, they want to make people
think that authorities are doing
something about the issue.
When state-run media talked about Chen being fired,
they emphasized that "the quick response
and strong stance of the Chinese authorities
won applause from the public."
But then they go and censor it.
So doesn't that make it look like
they're not really doing something about it?
Yes, but the censorship is important for point number two.
The Communist Party doesn't want
grassroots movements to get too popular.
They care way more about social control
than really exposing sexual harassment in China.
Especially when it involves exposing Chinese officials.
So when people start petitions about the issue,
well, those have to be censored.
And whatever discussion is happening
is also only happening online.
Like three years ago,
there were five women who were arrested for,
get this,
planning to pass out stickers
on International Women's Day
about sexual harassment on public transit.
Wait, they were arrested for planning to pass out stickers?
Yeah, they didn't even get to actually pass out the stickers.
They were arrested ahead of time.
And then accused of being foreign spies.
You know, the usual.
So what I'm getting from this is that
things are not getting better for women in China.
To be fair,
the fact that the conversation is happening at all
is better than it was.
But as to whether there will be any change
when it comes to sexual harassment in China,
that will take a lot longer.
Take the anti-sexual harassment law
that was passed in 2005.
It just says,
"Sexual harassment against women is banned.
The victims shall be entitled to complain
to the entity or the relevant organs."
So you can complain,
but the law doesn't say
what will be done after your complaint.
So the anti-sexual harassment law
is just a suggestion.
Practically speaking, yes.
And is sexual harassment against men banned?
Oh wow.
That's a good point.
Let's pick this up on International Men's Day.
Thanks, Shelley.
So what do you think about international women's day?
Leave your comments below.
Once again I'm Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
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