Tag: assault

A Twisted Mid-Autumn Festival: Celebrating the “Heroics” of Liu Liangzong

September 10th, Mid-Autumn Festival! A time when families gather to admire the moon, share mooncakes, and bask in the warmth of togetherness. However, for a 12-year-old girl in Liuqiao Village of Tianlu Town, Jiangxi Province, it turned into a nightmare orchestrated by none other than the Village Party Secretary, Liu Liangzong. Yes, you read that right – the very same Liu Liangzong who has been lauded as an anti-pandemic hero. How fitting that he chose this sacred holiday to reveal his true colors.

At that time Liu Liangzong raping the young girl, her parents, ever so dutiful citizens, were diligently following pandemic protocols and were quarantined far from home. Meanwhile, the neighbors were under strict “silent management,”

The best part? The initial whistleblower tried to report this ghastly event to the proper authorities, only to be met with the bureaucratic equivalent of a shrug. No story here, folks! Move along! It took the persistent efforts of self-media to bring this atrocity to light, ensuring that Liu Liangzong’s “contributions” to the village would not go unnoticed.

Liu Liangzong was eventually arrested. Yet, one can’t help but wonder how many more “heroes” like him are lurking in the shadows, protected by the very systems designed to uphold justice and order.

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai accused ex-Chinese official of sexual assault

Get out of here

Peng Shuai, a 35-year-old Chinese tennis player and former world doubles No.1, published a long post on Weibo on Nov 2, 2021, accused Zhang Gaoli, now 75, a former high-ranking Chinese government official, of sexual assault. Zhang Gaoli is a former vice premier who served on China’s Politburo Standing Committee and was one of the country’s most powerful officials behind President Xi Jinping.

In the post, Peng Shuai wrote that Zhang had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals, giving the timeline of her on-and-off affairs with Zhang during the past 10 years. The post was removed within 20 minutes from her verified account on Weibo, and even her name became a censored word. Since then, Peng hasn’t posted again on the site or been seen in public for 3 weeks.

Now, her safety and whereabouts have become a growing concern among her peers, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the White House. And a campaign #whereispengshuai intitiated by Chinese feminists to located the disappeared tennis star has gone global. Many of the world’s biggest tennis stars, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and Andy Murray, have posted messages on Twitter with the hashtag.

The outcry prompted Chinese state media to release a series of photographs and videos that appeared to show all was well.

Over the weekend, Peng had a video call with the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after which a statement from the group said she had appeared safe and well. 

But concerns over her safety and well-being remain.

Human Rights Watch criticized the IOC over the video call, saying its “collaboration” with Chinese authorities on Ms. Peng’s reappearance “undermines its expressed commitment to human rights, including the rights and safety of athletes”.