Beijing Court Rejects High-Profile #MeToo Appeal Amid Heavy Police Presence
By Brian Spegele, Aug. 10, 2022, WSJ

BEIJING—A Chinese court rejected an appeal over sexual-harassment allegations by one of the leading figures of China’s embattled #MeToo movement, in a case that drew a heavy police presence outside the courthouse in Beijing.

Zhou Xiaoxuan shot to prominence in 2018 after she accused Zhu Jun, a well-known state TV presenter in China, of sexually harassing her when she was an intern. He sued her that year for defamation in response.

Ms. Zhou in turn took her sexual-harassment allegations against Mr. Zhu to court. Last year, a Chinese court dismissed the case, citing a lack of evidence. An appeals court in Beijing again rejected the case on Wednesday, in the latest setback in China
for women who have sought to push back against sexual misconduct in the workplace.

“The evidence submitted by Plaintiff Zhou was insufficient to prove that Defendant Zhu had committed sexual harassment against her, and the appeal request could not be established,” according to a statement released late Wednesday evening by the
Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court.

The case is unusual for the way that Ms. Zhou has challenged a Chinese household name, especially someone closely tied to the state through his work at state broadcaster China Central Television. According to Ms. Zhu, the TV presenter forcibly kissed and
groped her when she was interning at CCTV in 2014. Mr. Zhu sued her after her account, initially published in a private messaging group, became public.

Women in China who publicize allegations of sexual harassment frequently face defamation suits from those they have accused. Mr. Zhu has denied wrongdoing and said that he has never touched Ms. Zhou.

Dozens of uniformed and plain-clothed police patrolled in front of the Beijing courthouse ahead of the hearing on Wednesday afternoon, sealing off the sidewalk with police tape and tailing some of the journalists present, as Ms. Zhou gathered with
roughly a dozen supporters at a KFC restaurant inside a nearby shopping mall.

Before the hearing, Ms. Zhou said she intended to present new evidence in court that local police in her home city of Wuhan had pressured her parents in 2018 to tell her to drop her claims, which she said amounted to an acknowledgment that she had been a
victim.

Sexual-harassment cases in China face a high burden of proof and Ms. Zhou said she was prepared for the likelihood her appeal would fail. Win or lose, she said she hoped her case would encourage judges in China to better understand the difficulties
Chinese women face in pressing claims of sexual misconduct.

“When they hear your story, maybe the next victim who walks into this court will be believed,” she told reporters.

Before heading into court, Ms. Zhou stopped outside the mall to pose for pictures with supporters. One of them unfurled a cardboard sign with “WE THE PEOPLE” scrawled across the front.

“The most important thing about the past four years is that we have raised this question: When a woman experiences sexual harassment in a private space, is it worth taking her pain seriously?” Ms. Zhou said.

After the verdict was announced Ms. Zhou said she was contemplating whether to appeal again.

“I’m not sure what else I can do,” she said. “As long as there’s a path, I’ll definitely try my best.”

The gathering of supporters was a rare scene in today’s Beijing, where the government’s grip has grown far tighter during the past decade under President Xi Jinping. Much of the space for civil society has disappeared. Activists have been detained in
large numbers.

Sexual-assault allegations have taken on added sensitivity in China since late last year, when one of China’s biggest tennis stars, Peng Shuai, publicly detailed a relationship with former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli that she said was sometimes
consensual and sometimes involved coercion.

Ms. Peng, who largely disappeared from public view after the accusation, later said she had never accused anyone of sexual assault and that “there’s been a lot of misunderstanding.”

As court proceedings got under way in Beijing on Wednesday, some of Ms. Zhou’s supporters said they knew her case was sensitive. Given the police presence, they avoided congregating.

Instead, they strolled around the nearby neighborhood. Some revealed small, silent signs of protest, including a young woman who wore a “1984” pin fastened to her shirt.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/beijing-court-rejects-high-profile-metoo-appeal-amid-heavy-police-presence-11660142998

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