Court hears China's #MeToo case after 2 years

Zhou Xiaoxuan stands amongst her supporters as she arrives at the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing on Wednesday. Pic/AFP

A Chinese woman who filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against a TV host told cheering supporters at a courthouse on Wednesday that she hopes her case will encourage victims of gender violence in a system that gives them few options to pursue complaints.

Zhou Xiaoxuan spoke ahead of a trial in her lawsuit, which was delayed for two years and reflects the challenges Chinese women face in pursuing sexual misconduct complaints despite the spread of the global #MeToo movement. Zhou, 27, has accused Zhu Jun, a popular state TV host, of forcibly kissing her in 2014. She is asking for a public apology as well as 50,000 yuan ($7,600) in damages. Zhu has denied the accusation and filed a defamation case against Zhou.

"Even if ultimately in this case we don't get a legal win, as long as we can show to a lot of people (that) there are people like me, those of us who are victims of gender violence, that's already a type of win," Zhou said.

The movement took off in 2018 in China when a college student publicly accused her professor of sexual misconduct. But, women who complain face censorship and official resistance. The movement has seen few victories, and it was only in 2019 that sexual misconduct was added to court regulations as grounds for a suit.

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