Peng Shuai, 35, a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion, on Tuesday accused retired Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of pressuring her into having intercourse, based on screenshots of a since-deleted publish from Peng’s verified account on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform.
CNN couldn’t independently confirm the authenticity of the greater than 1,600-word publish, and has reached out to Peng for remark, in addition to China’s State Council Info Workplace, which handles press inquires for the central authorities.
Within the publish, which reads as an open letter to Zhang, she alleges an relationship over an intermittent interval that spanned a minimum of 10 years. Peng says she opened her coronary heart to him.
“Why did you must come again to me, took me to your property to drive me to have intercourse with you? Sure, I didn’t have any proof, and it was merely not possible to have proof,” she wrote.
“I could not describe how disgusted I used to be, and what number of instances I requested myself am I nonetheless a human? I really feel like a strolling corpse. On daily basis I used to be appearing, which particular person is the actual me?”
CNN couldn’t attain Zhang, 75, who served on the ruling Communist Occasion’s seven particular person Politburo Standing Committee, the nation’s supreme management physique, from 2012 to 2017 throughout Chinese language chief Xi Jinping’s first time period in energy. He retired as vice premier in 2018.
In China, high leaders of Zhang’s standing stay unapproachable and personal even after retirement, which makes reaching him to remark for this story nearly not possible.
“We should understand how outstanding it’s for Peng Shuai to decide on to talk out. Few folks would have the braveness to do this, as a result of it might come on the expense of the security of your self and your loved ones,” mentioned Lv Pin, a outstanding Chinese language feminist now based mostly in New York.
Blanket censorship
As Peng’s allegations made waves on-line, censorship kicked in with a velocity and ferocity unseen in any of the nation’s earlier #MeToo circumstances.
Her prolonged publish, revealed shortly after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, was deleted in beneath half-hour. Screenshots of it had initially circulated broadly throughout social media and in personal discussion groups, however quickly they had been censored too, together with different posts discussing the case.
Peng’s verified account, which has greater than half 1,000,000 followers, stays on Weibo as of Wednesday night. However it has been blocked from searches. All remark sections beneath her earlier posts have been shut down too.
In an indication of the unprecedented degree of censorship, even a Weibo dialogue web page about tennis was closed for feedback. And obscure references to the scandal had been eliminated, too.
On Douban, China’s IMDB-like film evaluate web site, the web page of Korean romance TV present “Prime Minister and I” was censored, after customers mentioned Peng’s case in its evaluate part.
That scandal was allowed to achieve large traction on social media, dominating high trending subjects on Weibo for days, whereas state media amplified the accusation, censuring Wu for his ethical decadence.
The allegations
Peng claimed in her publish that she first had intercourse with Zhang greater than 10 years in the past, when Zhang served because the Communist Occasion boss of Tianjin, a coastal metropolis to the southeast of Beijing. However Zhang broke off contact after he was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing, based on the publish.
It didn’t clarify the circumstances of their first sexual engagement.
Then, one morning about three years in the past after Zhang had retired, the publish alleges Peng was immediately invited by him to play tennis in Beijing. Afterward, she writes, Zhang and his spouse introduced Peng again to their residence, the place Peng claimed she was pressured into having intercourse with Zhang.
“That afternoon I didn’t agree at first and was crying on a regular basis,” Peng wrote. After dinner with Zhang and his spouse, and following a lot persuading from Zhang, she relented, based on the publish.
Like Zhang, his spouse Kang Jie stays carefully shielded by the federal government and couldn’t be reached for remark.
“I used to be panicking and I used to be scared, and I agreed to it with my emotions for you from seven years in the past,” the publish mentioned.
Peng mentioned she then entered an extramarital relationship with Zhang, however she suffered “an excessive amount of injustice and insults.” She claimed they received right into a quarrel final week, and Zhang refused to satisfy her and disappeared.
Peng mentioned she didn’t have proof to show her allegations, and claimed Zhang was all the time anxious that she would report issues.
“I do know that for somebody of your eminence, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, you mentioned you weren’t afraid. However even when it is simply me, like an egg hitting the stone, a moth flying into flames, courting self-destruction, I might inform the reality about us,” she wrote. CNN can’t independently confirm Peng’s claims.
Info surrounding the private lives of senior Chinese language officers is usually shrouded in secrecy, with even a number of the most elementary biographical info thought-about taboo. Below Xi, nonetheless, the supposed extravagances and misdeeds of some disgraced officers caught up in his anti-corruption marketing campaign have been made broadly public, offering a uncommon window into their personal lives.
‘She’s a very excellent girl’
Regardless of the censorship, many social media customers have voiced help for Peng, typically in imprecise phrases.
“How determined and helpless she should have been,” posted a well-liked tennis blogger with greater than 200,000 followers. “Hope you keep protected.”
“I do not know what else can I say other than praying she’ll be protected. We have accepted by default that this incident will disappear type the web — the publish will disappear, the account will disappear, justice will disappear; solely the ache that torments the sufferer is not going to disappear, solely the concern of the subsequent sufferer is not going to disappear,” mentioned one other remark.
Each posts had been later deleted.
Sexual assault survivors have lengthy confronted sturdy stigma and resistance in China, on the official degree in addition to among the many public. However in recent times, a rising variety of ladies have rallied round victims who spoke out, because the #MeToo motion gathered steam.
Lv, the feminist activist in New York, mentioned Peng sparked extensive public sympathy partially as a result of how profitable she has been in her skilled profession.
In 2013, Peng gained the doubles championship at Wimbledon together with her companion from Taiwan. In 2014, the duo gained the French Open double titles. Peng was additionally a former US Open semi-finalist.
“She is a very excellent girl, the glory of China, a world well-known particular person. Even ladies like her can be trapped in a predicament like this,” Lv mentioned. “This reveals simply what number of hurdles Chinese language ladies must leap over on their pursuit for equality and independence.”
“Everyone is anxious about her. No one is aware of what would occur to her. I believe public consideration to the case is her largest safety,” she added.
