Under the reign of the Chinese Communist Party, a culture of debauchery thrives, with even educational institutions being plagued by incidents of sexual assault, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Recently, a prominent professor at the China Academy of Art was exposed for allegedly raping a female graduate student and subsequently arrested, sparking public outcry. Prior to this incident, the school had sparked controversy with a new student safety manual that suggested factors contributing to sexual violence include a woman’s focus on appearance and beauty.
According to reports from Benliu News and Xin Huanghe, several screenshots of WeChat group chats surfaced recently, revealing that on August 24th, a calligraphy professor at the China Academy of Art, Zhao, was taken into custody by the police for allegedly raping his doctoral student, Ma.
Sources disclosed that on August 21st around noon, Ma was invited to Zhao’s studio in the Shangcheng District of Hangzhou for lunch. During their time together, they consumed alcohol, after which Zhao and Ma engaged in a sexual relationship. On August 24th, Ma reported to the police that she had been raped by Zhao, leading to his arrest. Zhao is currently detained by the authorities on suspicion of rape.
Following the incident, the China Academy of Art and the police promptly responded to the public outcry. According to reports from The Paper, on August 29th, the China Academy of Art released a statement saying, “Recently, our teacher Zhao is suspected of committing a crime and is under investigation by the local public security authorities.”
Subsequently, the official Weibo account of the Shangcheng District Branch of the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau issued a statement saying that on August 22nd around 11:30 a.m., a woman reported being raped by a teacher from a certain university. The suspect, Zhao, was captured and detained on August 23rd.
In response to the news, a Weibo user named “Yelei Xinlei” expressed, “Only by ceasing to let mentors and schools evaluate students and having them graduate based on national standardized exam scores can such incidents be truly prevented.”
Many other netizens commented, saying, “Those who are teachers are not teachers; it’s a tragic society!” “Maybe we can learn from Singapore’s Penal Code.” “The problem of unethical and immoral teachers and professors with low character exists not just in isolated cases in universities; there are issues with their moral conduct.” “Media that constantly report on rape cases in India, it’s time for you to speak out now.”
According to Baidu Baike, the aforementioned Zhao is actually Zhao Aimin, a professor at the Calligraphy School of the China Academy of Art, aged 59. He is a second-level professor in the Calligraphy Department, a doctoral supervisor, a member of the Xiling Seal Art Society, a member of the Professional Committee of Kaishu of the Chinese Calligrapher’s Association, a national exhibition reviewer, a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese Calligrapher’s Association, a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Political Consultative Conference, and the Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Calligrapher’s Association.
Prior to the recent rape incident at the China Academy of Art, the school’s controversial new student safety manual came under scrutiny. The manual pointed out internal factors contributing to sexual violence, including a woman’s emphasis on appearance, beauty, timid nature, and inability to defend oneself. The general consensus is that the manual’s failure to address the factors of male individuals or perpetrators is insulting to women.
As reported by Ban Yue Tan, the controversial content of this “manual” was quoted from the “College Student Safety Knowledge Reader” compiled by the Higher Education Society of Zhejiang Province in August 2007.
In recent years, various incidents of sexual assault, rape, and other forms of harm in Chinese universities have been repeatedly exposed, tarnishing the image of educational institutions meant for teaching and nurturing students with the emergence of “beastly teachers,” drawing widespread criticism.
On October 22, 2021, a scandal broke out at the Central Academy of Fine Arts under the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Education, with multiple chat screenshots from a group named “Central Academy Seminar High-Level Officials Group” circulating online. Not only did group members openly insult women, but the discussions also involved comments about raping minors and other forms of misconduct. It was also reported that aside from students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, there were teachers in the group as well.
According to Jupai News, an informant who infiltrated the group expressed on social media that the contents of the group heavily involved prostitution, insulting women, and how to target women around them, including secretly filming female students at the school and making derogatory comments.
In recent years, scandals at the Central Academy of Fine Arts have been frequently exposed by the media. In June 2021, a current teacher at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Xu Tianhua, was exposed for allegedly cheating within marriage, engaging in multiple relationships, deceiving a 16-year-old girl, and subsequently abandoning her, leading to the girl developing depression. In June 2019, nine students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts jointly submitted a whistleblower letter to multiple official departments, accusing a professor and graduate supervisor in the Chinese painting department, Yao Shunxi, of sexually harassing students, extorting students, and maliciously suppressing them.
Additionally, scandals have also plagued the Chinese Communist Party’s Marxist Institutes. Last year, Jia Gangtao, the dean of the Marxist Institute at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, was reported for requesting a female teacher to accompany him to dinner on the weekends and persistently harassing her, causing the victim to suffer from severe depression.
In the field of arts schools, in August 2020, Chinese national first-class actor Tian Rui was exposed for sexually assaulting a female graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. In November of the same year, Tian Rui was prosecuted. He had taught at multiple universities and won several awards, making him a leading figure in the theatrical circle.
During the 2014 National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, 102 female university students from Henan, Yunnan, Hubei, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Chongqing jointly sent an email to 105 national representatives, urging them to pressure the Ministry of Education to establish a mechanism for preventing and combating sexual violence on campuses. However, the issue did not see meaningful resolution.