On August 16, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official announced the handling results of the incident where a female driver in Guangxi forced another driver to yield the road. Apart from the woman driver known as the “proof flaunting woman” being administratively detained for five days, multiple public officials, including her husband, have been held accountable for their actions. However, netizens have questioned whether this is merely a superficial response to public pressure. Interestingly, the official report did not mention the controversial issue of the “proof flaunting woman” disclosing personal information of the other party on the spot.
According to the investigation team of the Guangxi Fangchenggang Municipal Committee, the female driver surnamed Hou is an employee of a car parts company in Qinzhou City. She was found to have misused her husband’s second-class firefighter administrative enforcement card and was penalized with a five-day administrative detention, which has already been served.
Her husband, surnamed Li, works at a fire and rescue station in a town in Shangsi County. Due to his failure to properly safeguard his administrative enforcement card, which was then misused by his spouse, Li was only subjected to internal disciplinary measures within the party, with his enforcement card being revoked and voided.
The report also identified six police officers held accountable for the incident, including officers Yang and Wang from the Jiangshan Border Police Station of the Fangchenggang Public Security Bureau, captain Huang from the Fangcheng Police Department’s Legal Team, deputy director Tang from the Fangcheng Police Department, captain Xiao from the Fangcheng Border Management Brigade, and deputy district chief Wei from Fangcheng District, who is also the director of the Fangcheng Branch of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
While some netizens have expressed approval of the outcomes, others believe that the disciplinary actions taken were too lenient.
In a post on Weibo, a prominent user named “Wanpi de Guo Beile” questioned the adequacy of the measures, suggesting that mere warnings and written inspections do little to deter similar future occurrences. They criticized the lack of substantial consequences for the individuals involved, highlighting the need for more meaningful repercussions to prevent such incidents from happening again.
There are also voices from netizens questioning whether such actions would have been taken without the incident gaining widespread attention in the media.
The incident involving the “proof flaunting woman” occurred on July 22 when a male driver encountered a Mercedes-Benz driver in Jiangshan Town, Fangchenggang City. The Mercedes-Benz driver demanded the male driver to reverse his vehicle. When he refused, the female driver of the Mercedes-Benz brandished a certificate as a form of intimidation, revealing personal details including the man’s home address and surname.
Despite the man’s multiple complaints going unheard, he decided to upload the recording from his dashcam online, sparking public outrage. On the evening of July 31, the Mercedes-Benz driver, accompanied by two police officers and an unidentified man in civilian clothes, visited the man’s home village, threatening his family to immediately delete the video from the internet or face detention.
Under mounting public pressure, the Fangchenggang Municipal Committee established an investigative team and released a report on August 3, revealing that the female driver named Hou was an employee of a private company and had misrepresented her husband’s firefighter enforcement card during the incident. Hou is currently under investigation, while her husband, Li, is subject to an inquiry by the local fire department.
On August 5, the Fangchenggang City Public Security Bureau announced that the female driver, Hou, had been administratively detained for five days. However, the report inadvertently leaked personal information, including the name and license plate of the complainant Mr. Li, causing further uproar. Subsequently, the authorities claimed to be conducting further investigations, leading to the release of an updated report on August 16.
Notably, the latest official report did not address how the “proof flaunting woman,” Hou, could readily access personal information regarding the other party on the spot.
A software engineer from mainland China, Mr. Wang, stated on August 2 to New Tang Dynasty Television that the CCP’s public security internal systems have the capability to access vehicle owner information based on license plate numbers.
Mr. Wang explained that the software company he previously worked for had developed an internal system for the local public security department, known as the “Anti-theft Car System.” This system aimed to quickly identify stolen vehicles but integrated various information from different governmental departments, including traffic information, household registration data, and criminal investigation details. Once a license plate number is entered into the system, all relevant information about the vehicle owner would be accessible, such as their name, home address, family members, marital status, and more.
According to the official report, Hou’s husband, Mr. Li, works at a fire and rescue station in a town in Shangsi County, with his superior being the Guangxi Fire and Rescue Corps.
Public records show that fire and rescue stations do not fall under the jurisdiction of public security agencies. In 2018, the fire brigade was separated from the People’s Armed Police forces and transferred to the Emergency Management Department.
On August 2, the Chinese media outlet “Langchao News” reported that in response to the questioning from numerous internet users, the person involved in the “proof flaunting” incident claimed that the Deputy Mayor and Director of the Public Security Bureau of Fangchenggang City contacted him. The Deputy Mayor allegedly informed him that the Mercedes-Benz female driver was a business owner, not a public official, and the identification she presented was forged and used to intimidate people.
The individual involved stated that he remained skeptical of the explanation provided by the Deputy Mayor regarding how the female driver accessed his personal information based on his license plate number.
The Deputy Mayor and Director of the Public Security Bureau were not listed in the official report regarding the handling of the incident.