Never before have women’s rights in China been discussed as openly as they are now. TV shows and pop songs deal with gender equality and domestic violence. Emotions regularly run high on social networks when women in this still predominantly patriarchal country are urged to have children – and should keep quiet otherwise. The government is still unsure how it should deal with the discontent of predominantly young women. Concessions and repression still hold the balance. Today, on the occasion of stories like Peng Shuai and a woman who was chained up, we take a closer look at the issue.
We are currently seeing a rapprochement between Russia and China – and not just on earth, for example in the Olympic handshake between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. The partnership even stretches all the way into space. Before the end of this decade, both nations want to begin the construction of a joint space station on the moon. For Moscow and Beijing, this is primarily a prestige project. They want to outpace the Americans as quickly as possible, who are also planning new lunar missions. A new space race has begun. And earth’s satellite is merely the first stop on the way.
In January 2021, Chinese stand-up comedian Yang Li suddenly became famous for her statement that men are “普確信” Pǔ quèxìn: “mediocre, but self-confident.” On China’s social media, the phrase became a feminist slogan within hours. At the same time, a shitstorm broke out over Li, which also cost her some advertising contracts. The tenor: Li’s comedy was inciting “hatred against men”. Gender equality is generally a topic that quickly raises tempers in China. Most recently, the case of a mentally ill woman who was chained up by her husband in the city of Xuzhou caused nationwide outrage. Women were often not even treated as human beings, according to comments on Chinese social media channels such as Weibo.
Never before have gender debates and equality questions been so publicly debated in China as in the past three years. Just like in Western countries, certainties are being thrown into doubt. Feminist-inspired TV shows such as “Hear Her” 听见她说” criticize unhealthy beauty standards and distorted self-image among young women. Pop singer Tan Weiwei addressed real-life cases of domestic violence in her song “Xiǎo juān 小娟,” while rapper Yamy openly ranted about sexual harassment in Chinese show business on her Weibo channel.
Feminism is to a certain extent part of today’s Chinese pop culture. However, artists are walking a fine line. The Chinese government considers a feminist mass movement a danger to social stability. In particular, the wave of solidarity with victims of abuse and assault that has gone around the world under the hashtag “MeToo” is labeled by Beijing as a “tool of foreign forces” to undermine the Chinese system.
When the movement gained traction in China in early 2018 after a former Shanghai University of Finance and Economics student accused a professor of sexual harassment, censors deleted dozens of social media accounts of well-known feminists and feminist discussion groups in a matter of weeks. The best-known “MeToo” case, involving tennis player Peng Shuai, once again showed China’s leaders how quickly accusations of sexual harassment can turn into a state affair.
In an effort to cool things down and not leave the gender equality narrative to the people, China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress submitted a revision of China’s Women’s Rights Law in late December. The draft, based on the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (LPWRI), which was passed in 1992 and last revised in 2005, stipulates, among other things, that employers may no longer ask female applicants about their marital status or plans to have children during job interviews – a practice that remains common in China.
It is also the first time that a Chinese law has attempted to provide a clear definition of sexual harassment in the workplace. This includes not only physical assault but also verbal and nonverbal remarks, as well as the spreading of private pictures and files. Companies and educational institutions will be required to train officers to implement the regulations and offer workshops on the issue. Hotlines and mailboxes are to be set up to report instances of sexual harassment.
In total, the draft contains revisions to 48 paragraphs and 24 new additions. It will have to pass two more reviews before it can finally be adopted next year. A report by state broadcaster CCTV already praises the overhaul as a major achievement for China’s women. In Chinese online forums, however, the announcement triggered a veritable gender war. Numerous users argued that the planned law discriminated against men. Others wrote that the law did not address the heart of the issue: China’s deeply rooted patriarchal structures.
One of the law’s critics is Eloise Fan. The 29-year-old feminist has worked in the Shanghai advertising industry for eight years and runs the music label Scandal as a side project, which aims to provide a platform for feminist artists. “It takes many more steps to fundamentally change the toxic environment China’s women are in,” she tells China.Table. Despite her position as a Creative Director, she repeatedly experiences sexism in the workplace, especially from direct supervisors who make lewd or misogynistic comments or exclude female employees from important decisions. Her ideas are often rejected as “too feminist,” Fan says. “My years of experience in the industry have shown me that even changing jobs won’t change that.”
China is basically in a strong position to achieve gender equality in its economy: According to World Bank data, the proportion of women in the workforce in China was 43.7 percent in 2019 – higher than in any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. But a closer look at the numbers reveals significant gender differences. While there are nowhere as many female billionaires in the world as in China, women still earn an average of 36 percent less than their male colleagues for the same work with similar qualifications and experience.
Between 2008 and 2021, the People’s Republic dropped from rank 57 to 107 in the WTO Global Gender Gap Report. In other words, men were the main beneficiaries of the Chinese economic boom of recent years. In China’s patriarchal society, they are still considered more assertive and more suitable for leadership positions. This is also reflected in politics: In the second most powerful body, the 25-member Politburo, there have been just six women in the past 50 years.
Since Chinese society is aging rapidly, women in today’s China are also increasingly being pushed back into motherhood. Beijing already abolished the one-child policy in 2016. Since May 2021, China’s women have even been allowed to have three children. However, only very few dare to do so, given the high financial and social pressure to offer their children the best and often most expensive education.
At the same time, the divorce rate in the People’s Republic has risen steadily over the past 20 years. While around 1.3 million couples divorced in 2003, the year when China made the divorce process easier by law, this number had risen to 4.5 million by 2018. Here, too, the government is trying to propagate classic family structures to counteract the divorce trend. Since the beginning of 2021, couples who want to file for divorce must first go through a “cooling-off” period: If they fail to both appear for two official appointments in a period of 30 and 60 days, the divorce filing will be denied. “More and more women don’t want to get married in the first place,” Fan explains. “Many have realized that marriage will only rob them of energy and property for the rest of their lives.”
Chinese women born after 1990, like Fan, are more confident, independent, and better educated than the previous generations. They do not want to be regarded as second-class citizens or even mere childbearing machines. And especially not by men, who don’t consider them to be their intellectual equals. “More and more women are realizing that patriarchy really exists and puts them at a disadvantage,” she says.
Young feminists do not set high expectations in China’s legal system. According to an analysis by the Beijing Yuanzhong Gender Development Centre, a majority of plaintiffs who file sexual harassment lawsuits end up being prosecuted for slander in return. “Few women consider the legal route because they are afraid they will lose their jobs or their careers will be over,” Fan says. “If you really want to win a lawsuit like this, you have to be tough and present a lot of solid evidence.” Making sexual harassment public on social media promises greater chances of being heard. Even if the process can be “difficult and painful,” Fan adds.
The state alternates between concession and repression to deal with the discontent of young women’s rights activists like Fan. However, China will not allow “unscrupulous people to have the opportunity to make trouble,” writes the state-run Global Times in an article on the new draft law. Despite such political hurdles, Fan believes the “MeToo” movement in China is just getting started. “It is a trial-and-error process: What we have achieved so far can be taken away at any time.”
China again won two medals in freestyle on Tuesday. However, a young snowboarder stole the show from ski freestyle superstar Eileen Gu. Because he took gold, and not her. Meanwhile, a defeat sealed the end for the hosts’ men’s ice hockey team. At the end of the day, China ranked sixth in the medal table.
Hydrogen could play a greater role in China’s future power supply than previously assumed. This is the result of a recent report by the oil company Shell. China’s media picked up the study on the occasion of hydrogen utilization at the Olympics. According to the experts, hydrogen plays a major role in areas where electricity cannot be used directly. These include transport with heavy trucks, shipping and aviation, or steel production. According to the study, the energy-rich gas could account for 16 percent of energy revenues by 2060. This would result in huge market growth for the production, handling, and use of hydrogen. Its current share is negligible.
To ensure that hydrogen has a meaningful effect on climate protection, only so-called green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. This share should account for 85 percent of consumption, according to Shell experts. China also considers nuclear power to be a low-carbon source of energy. Shell further assumes that power generation will have to triple in total to provide enough power for direct application and the electrolysis of hydrogen. Accordingly, the share of wind and solar will rise to 80 percent. Although the conversion will require a considerable initial investment, costs will then drop significantly.
Meanwhile, much attention is focused on the hydrogen vehicles already in actual use at the Olympics. Bloomberg draws a comparison to 2008. Back then, Beijing had presented the electric car as a technology of the future; today it is an everyday item. The same could happen now with fuel cell drives. According to the reports, the approximately 1,000 hydrogen buses and cars in the area surrounding the Olympics prove the technology’s practicality at low sub-zero temperatures. Where batteries falter, hydrogen drives continue to run smoothly. Refueling also takes only a few minutes, just like with gasoline-powered vehicles – an advantage when the heating is on for a long time and energy reserves are drained more quickly as a result.
These vehicles are manufactured by Beiqi Foton, Geely, Yutong, and Toyota. The hydrogen used in the Zhangjiakou Olympic area is produced at a powerful 20-megawatt Shell plant. The power for its production is generated at surrounding conventional power plants. This means that it is not yet green hydrogen, but merely black hydrogen from coal burning. fin
Sinolytics is a European research-based consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and concrete business activities in China.
Mirjam Meissner had prepared herself for the usual stay abroad that many sinologists take towards the end of their studies. She wanted to go to Wuhan to properly learn Mandarin and immerse herself in Chinese culture. But she also wanted to practice the oboe. And that makes noise. So she decided to move from the dormitory to the Wuhan Music Institute to practice.
However, the musician did not remain alone there for long: The first oboist of the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra noticed her, and shortly afterward, she was sitting next to him in concerts. Despite all the obstacles that such a double life in the orchestra and the university entails, she looks back on her time there with great satisfaction: “At that time, I was able to become deeply involved, not just in the sciences, but also in city life.” It is worth mentioning that playing the oboe requires precise breathing techniques and is considered one of the most difficult musical instruments.
Meissner still dabbles in precision, except that she now devotes her time to policy analysis and strategy consulting. She is a founding member and Managing Partner at Sinolytics, a consulting firm that also produces the Sinolytics.Radar for China.Table. In her years of independent policy research at the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the Global Public Policy Institute, she noticed that customized analyses of economic and technological events in China are particularly useful for companies.
Among other things, Meissner attributes the success of Sinolytics to the rapid development of Chinese market regulation, which changes on a daily basis: “It has become impossible to transfer the usual compliance management from other countries to China.” However, changes are not only necessary due to the Corporate Social Credit System, which receives international attention. Other regulatory instruments also harbor opportunities and risks for international corporations. Particular attention should also be paid to blacklisting, which is imposed in the event of particularly serious offenses, and to the newly introduced risk score.
She would love to accompany these processes in China as well, which was made impossible by the strict entry requirements of the past two years. What she misses most is being able to follow the flow of normal life and daily routine. Instead, Sinolytics found the opportunity to further expand its China presence to meet informational demand. So she never loses sight of the bigger picture, despite the flood of reforms – she is far too interested in current developments. Julius Schwarzwaelder
Normal spectators are not allowed at the Olympic Games in China due to the Covid pandemic. Selected, fully tested groups, as well as athletes who have traveled to the event, are supposed to spread the atmosphere, which has worked more or less well in previous events. These fans set a good example when they cheered the German figure skating team with an inflatable pretzel in Beijing’s indoor capital stadium.
Never before have women’s rights in China been discussed as openly as they are now. TV shows and pop songs deal with gender equality and domestic violence. Emotions regularly run high on social networks when women in this still predominantly patriarchal country are urged to have children – and should keep quiet otherwise. The government is still unsure how it should deal with the discontent of predominantly young women. Concessions and repression still hold the balance. Today, on the occasion of stories like Peng Shuai and a woman who was chained up, we take a closer look at the issue.
We are currently seeing a rapprochement between Russia and China – and not just on earth, for example in the Olympic handshake between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. The partnership even stretches all the way into space. Before the end of this decade, both nations want to begin the construction of a joint space station on the moon. For Moscow and Beijing, this is primarily a prestige project. They want to outpace the Americans as quickly as possible, who are also planning new lunar missions. A new space race has begun. And earth’s satellite is merely the first stop on the way.
In January 2021, Chinese stand-up comedian Yang Li suddenly became famous for her statement that men are “普確信” Pǔ quèxìn: “mediocre, but self-confident.” On China’s social media, the phrase became a feminist slogan within hours. At the same time, a shitstorm broke out over Li, which also cost her some advertising contracts. The tenor: Li’s comedy was inciting “hatred against men”. Gender equality is generally a topic that quickly raises tempers in China. Most recently, the case of a mentally ill woman who was chained up by her husband in the city of Xuzhou caused nationwide outrage. Women were often not even treated as human beings, according to comments on Chinese social media channels such as Weibo.
Never before have gender debates and equality questions been so publicly debated in China as in the past three years. Just like in Western countries, certainties are being thrown into doubt. Feminist-inspired TV shows such as “Hear Her” 听见她说” criticize unhealthy beauty standards and distorted self-image among young women. Pop singer Tan Weiwei addressed real-life cases of domestic violence in her song “Xiǎo juān 小娟,” while rapper Yamy openly ranted about sexual harassment in Chinese show business on her Weibo channel.
Feminism is to a certain extent part of today’s Chinese pop culture. However, artists are walking a fine line. The Chinese government considers a feminist mass movement a danger to social stability. In particular, the wave of solidarity with victims of abuse and assault that has gone around the world under the hashtag “MeToo” is labeled by Beijing as a “tool of foreign forces” to undermine the Chinese system.
When the movement gained traction in China in early 2018 after a former Shanghai University of Finance and Economics student accused a professor of sexual harassment, censors deleted dozens of social media accounts of well-known feminists and feminist discussion groups in a matter of weeks. The best-known “MeToo” case, involving tennis player Peng Shuai, once again showed China’s leaders how quickly accusations of sexual harassment can turn into a state affair.
In an effort to cool things down and not leave the gender equality narrative to the people, China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress submitted a revision of China’s Women’s Rights Law in late December. The draft, based on the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests (LPWRI), which was passed in 1992 and last revised in 2005, stipulates, among other things, that employers may no longer ask female applicants about their marital status or plans to have children during job interviews – a practice that remains common in China.
It is also the first time that a Chinese law has attempted to provide a clear definition of sexual harassment in the workplace. This includes not only physical assault but also verbal and nonverbal remarks, as well as the spreading of private pictures and files. Companies and educational institutions will be required to train officers to implement the regulations and offer workshops on the issue. Hotlines and mailboxes are to be set up to report instances of sexual harassment.
In total, the draft contains revisions to 48 paragraphs and 24 new additions. It will have to pass two more reviews before it can finally be adopted next year. A report by state broadcaster CCTV already praises the overhaul as a major achievement for China’s women. In Chinese online forums, however, the announcement triggered a veritable gender war. Numerous users argued that the planned law discriminated against men. Others wrote that the law did not address the heart of the issue: China’s deeply rooted patriarchal structures.
One of the law’s critics is Eloise Fan. The 29-year-old feminist has worked in the Shanghai advertising industry for eight years and runs the music label Scandal as a side project, which aims to provide a platform for feminist artists. “It takes many more steps to fundamentally change the toxic environment China’s women are in,” she tells China.Table. Despite her position as a Creative Director, she repeatedly experiences sexism in the workplace, especially from direct supervisors who make lewd or misogynistic comments or exclude female employees from important decisions. Her ideas are often rejected as “too feminist,” Fan says. “My years of experience in the industry have shown me that even changing jobs won’t change that.”
China is basically in a strong position to achieve gender equality in its economy: According to World Bank data, the proportion of women in the workforce in China was 43.7 percent in 2019 – higher than in any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. But a closer look at the numbers reveals significant gender differences. While there are nowhere as many female billionaires in the world as in China, women still earn an average of 36 percent less than their male colleagues for the same work with similar qualifications and experience.
Between 2008 and 2021, the People’s Republic dropped from rank 57 to 107 in the WTO Global Gender Gap Report. In other words, men were the main beneficiaries of the Chinese economic boom of recent years. In China’s patriarchal society, they are still considered more assertive and more suitable for leadership positions. This is also reflected in politics: In the second most powerful body, the 25-member Politburo, there have been just six women in the past 50 years.
Since Chinese society is aging rapidly, women in today’s China are also increasingly being pushed back into motherhood. Beijing already abolished the one-child policy in 2016. Since May 2021, China’s women have even been allowed to have three children. However, only very few dare to do so, given the high financial and social pressure to offer their children the best and often most expensive education.
At the same time, the divorce rate in the People’s Republic has risen steadily over the past 20 years. While around 1.3 million couples divorced in 2003, the year when China made the divorce process easier by law, this number had risen to 4.5 million by 2018. Here, too, the government is trying to propagate classic family structures to counteract the divorce trend. Since the beginning of 2021, couples who want to file for divorce must first go through a “cooling-off” period: If they fail to both appear for two official appointments in a period of 30 and 60 days, the divorce filing will be denied. “More and more women don’t want to get married in the first place,” Fan explains. “Many have realized that marriage will only rob them of energy and property for the rest of their lives.”
Chinese women born after 1990, like Fan, are more confident, independent, and better educated than the previous generations. They do not want to be regarded as second-class citizens or even mere childbearing machines. And especially not by men, who don’t consider them to be their intellectual equals. “More and more women are realizing that patriarchy really exists and puts them at a disadvantage,” she says.
Young feminists do not set high expectations in China’s legal system. According to an analysis by the Beijing Yuanzhong Gender Development Centre, a majority of plaintiffs who file sexual harassment lawsuits end up being prosecuted for slander in return. “Few women consider the legal route because they are afraid they will lose their jobs or their careers will be over,” Fan says. “If you really want to win a lawsuit like this, you have to be tough and present a lot of solid evidence.” Making sexual harassment public on social media promises greater chances of being heard. Even if the process can be “difficult and painful,” Fan adds.
The state alternates between concession and repression to deal with the discontent of young women’s rights activists like Fan. However, China will not allow “unscrupulous people to have the opportunity to make trouble,” writes the state-run Global Times in an article on the new draft law. Despite such political hurdles, Fan believes the “MeToo” movement in China is just getting started. “It is a trial-and-error process: What we have achieved so far can be taken away at any time.”
China again won two medals in freestyle on Tuesday. However, a young snowboarder stole the show from ski freestyle superstar Eileen Gu. Because he took gold, and not her. Meanwhile, a defeat sealed the end for the hosts’ men’s ice hockey team. At the end of the day, China ranked sixth in the medal table.
Hydrogen could play a greater role in China’s future power supply than previously assumed. This is the result of a recent report by the oil company Shell. China’s media picked up the study on the occasion of hydrogen utilization at the Olympics. According to the experts, hydrogen plays a major role in areas where electricity cannot be used directly. These include transport with heavy trucks, shipping and aviation, or steel production. According to the study, the energy-rich gas could account for 16 percent of energy revenues by 2060. This would result in huge market growth for the production, handling, and use of hydrogen. Its current share is negligible.
To ensure that hydrogen has a meaningful effect on climate protection, only so-called green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. This share should account for 85 percent of consumption, according to Shell experts. China also considers nuclear power to be a low-carbon source of energy. Shell further assumes that power generation will have to triple in total to provide enough power for direct application and the electrolysis of hydrogen. Accordingly, the share of wind and solar will rise to 80 percent. Although the conversion will require a considerable initial investment, costs will then drop significantly.
Meanwhile, much attention is focused on the hydrogen vehicles already in actual use at the Olympics. Bloomberg draws a comparison to 2008. Back then, Beijing had presented the electric car as a technology of the future; today it is an everyday item. The same could happen now with fuel cell drives. According to the reports, the approximately 1,000 hydrogen buses and cars in the area surrounding the Olympics prove the technology’s practicality at low sub-zero temperatures. Where batteries falter, hydrogen drives continue to run smoothly. Refueling also takes only a few minutes, just like with gasoline-powered vehicles – an advantage when the heating is on for a long time and energy reserves are drained more quickly as a result.
These vehicles are manufactured by Beiqi Foton, Geely, Yutong, and Toyota. The hydrogen used in the Zhangjiakou Olympic area is produced at a powerful 20-megawatt Shell plant. The power for its production is generated at surrounding conventional power plants. This means that it is not yet green hydrogen, but merely black hydrogen from coal burning. fin
Sinolytics is a European research-based consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and concrete business activities in China.
Mirjam Meissner had prepared herself for the usual stay abroad that many sinologists take towards the end of their studies. She wanted to go to Wuhan to properly learn Mandarin and immerse herself in Chinese culture. But she also wanted to practice the oboe. And that makes noise. So she decided to move from the dormitory to the Wuhan Music Institute to practice.
However, the musician did not remain alone there for long: The first oboist of the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra noticed her, and shortly afterward, she was sitting next to him in concerts. Despite all the obstacles that such a double life in the orchestra and the university entails, she looks back on her time there with great satisfaction: “At that time, I was able to become deeply involved, not just in the sciences, but also in city life.” It is worth mentioning that playing the oboe requires precise breathing techniques and is considered one of the most difficult musical instruments.
Meissner still dabbles in precision, except that she now devotes her time to policy analysis and strategy consulting. She is a founding member and Managing Partner at Sinolytics, a consulting firm that also produces the Sinolytics.Radar for China.Table. In her years of independent policy research at the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the Global Public Policy Institute, she noticed that customized analyses of economic and technological events in China are particularly useful for companies.
Among other things, Meissner attributes the success of Sinolytics to the rapid development of Chinese market regulation, which changes on a daily basis: “It has become impossible to transfer the usual compliance management from other countries to China.” However, changes are not only necessary due to the Corporate Social Credit System, which receives international attention. Other regulatory instruments also harbor opportunities and risks for international corporations. Particular attention should also be paid to blacklisting, which is imposed in the event of particularly serious offenses, and to the newly introduced risk score.
She would love to accompany these processes in China as well, which was made impossible by the strict entry requirements of the past two years. What she misses most is being able to follow the flow of normal life and daily routine. Instead, Sinolytics found the opportunity to further expand its China presence to meet informational demand. So she never loses sight of the bigger picture, despite the flood of reforms – she is far too interested in current developments. Julius Schwarzwaelder
Normal spectators are not allowed at the Olympic Games in China due to the Covid pandemic. Selected, fully tested groups, as well as athletes who have traveled to the event, are supposed to spread the atmosphere, which has worked more or less well in previous events. These fans set a good example when they cheered the German figure skating team with an inflatable pretzel in Beijing’s indoor capital stadium.
