- A Chinese university announced it had removed a prominent professor after hearing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
- The professor's firing has become a major win for China's #MeToo movement, which has struggled to gain traction in a traditional and largely conservative society.
- Sexual misconduct has long been taboo subject in China, but the movement is slowly bringing the topic to the national agenda.
The #MeToo movement spread like wildfire on social media across the globe last year, with several countries creating their own version of the saying on social media.
But China's version, #WoYeShi, has struggled to gain traction in a traditional and largely conservative society that still struggles to accept that sexual harassment is still an issue.
But last week, the movement had a major victory. Beihang University announced late Thursday that it had removed a prominent professor after hearing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against him, according to the Washington Post.
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In its investigation, the university found that Professor Chen Xiaowu "did sexually harass female students," the Post said. The university added that Chen would be fired from his post as vice president of the university and had his teaching license revoked.
Luo Xixi, a Chinese academic living in the US wrote on Chinese social media that as Chen's former student many years back, the professor lured her to his sister's house home and made unwanted sexual advances, according to reports. She managed to escape in tears, according to her post, and five other students came forward with allegations after Luo went public.
Luo called the news an "initial victory" in a statement.
The movement's initial victory came out of a grassroots push for survivors of sexual misconduct to find their voice, particularly on university campuses.
According to the South China Morning Post,
"This is such a serious problem, but why is it so quiet here? It's like the #MeToo movement never created ripples in China," she said.
Huang created a social media platform called Anti Sexual Harassment for victims to come forward in a safe space and gather the tools necessary to prosecute perpetrators.
Despite the challenges, Huang said she is determined to catapult the movement forward.
"If the government asks me to stop, I will negotiate with them. But I don't want to and I want to keep going, because I am doing the right thing."