– I could feel the pain only from the sound in the video when the young woman’s head hit the steps. This is what a woman news talks to in Beijing says. Splinters from the skull must be scattered in several places in the young woman’s head. The surveillance video that shocks people across China shows an attack on Friday last week. It takes place at a restaurant in the city of Tangshan, a two-hour drive southeast of Beijing. Two of the women in the video are still in the hospital. Nine people have been remanded in custody for the assault, several Chinese and international media houses write. Extreme and gender-based violence The video shows three women eating a meal at a restaurant as a man approaches their table. The man puts his hand on the back of one of the women. She pushes him away, but the man refuses to give up. He reaches for her face. As she pushes his hand away, he strikes and pushes her to the ground as she fights back. Her friends try to help her, but they too are attacked by the same man. Several men who came with the attacker rush into the restaurant. They pull the first woman by the hair through the door and out of the restaurant. On the street, they hit her with bottles and chairs, and repeatedly trampled on her head while she lay on the sidewalk. The clothes are full of blood stains. In the aftermath of the video being shared on social media in China, the debate about gender-based violence in the country has subsided. – This makes me furious. The fact that girls are brutally beaten in full public shows that they have no basic respect for women. It is generally a problem that the education about women is very deficient, says Zhou Ye to news. She is in her forties and lives in Beijing. “Netizens” investigate corrupt connections The question that “netizens” across China are now investigating is why exactly these men feel safe in committing this violence. In China, there is a widespread perception among people that government officials have alliances with gangs that do “dirty” work for them. Many now accuse the head of the local security apparatus in Tangshan of having financial connections to these men. Many of the posts are removed by the state censorship apparatus. The city authorities in Tangshan have now been called in by police from another region to investigate the case. They have also set up a helpline where they ask for tips on possible connections between gang criminals and the authorities. At first the number did not work, but now it is operational. Various people who have been friends with the abusers on social platforms and chat services now share material that can be incriminating to individuals in the power apparatus. Race between censorship and utterances The authorities in Tangshan emphasize that the problem is gang violence. Therefore, a two-week campaign has been launched to hit organized crime in the city with “the power of lightning” to “weed them (the criminals, ed.) Out with full force”, including with stricter penalties, writes the Danish public broadcaster . The opinions that there should be gender-based violence have not received much attention from the authorities, according to Danish DR, which reports from Shanghai. Various posts on the social media WeChat with titles such as “The episode in the barbecue restaurant Tangshan is about gender” and “How important is the issue of gender in the Tangshan abuse” have been censored. Words like “victimblaming” and “toxic masculinity” are written in English to avoid censorship, writes DR. Never seen anything so brutal – I have worked as a criminal lawyer for many years, dealt with many cases. I have never seen anything as brutal as this case in Tangshan, says lawyer Wu Youshui to news. Wu Youshui belongs to the law firm Bijian in the Chinese city of Hangzhou and has long worked with and represented weak groups. – In my opinion, it has nothing to do with culture, respecting women or the law. The law of China is solid. They are about the social environment. The fact that gangs can be so brutal does not just happen overnight. That they think they can do this with impunity is only possible if there has been a bond with those who enforce public order for a long time, the lawyer says. Adovkat Wu Youshui is among those shaken by the video from Tangshan Photo: Wu Youshui / Private The second “earthquake” in Tangshan In 1976, Tangshan was hit by one of the most powerful and devastating earthquakes in China in modern times. This has led many to call the violence against women “the second earthquake” in Tangshan. This is about people’s trust in the police and security apparatus. – How to use violence without fear of the law. This is definitely a “wake up call”, says Zhou Ye and uses an English term for the need to monitor ties between power and gangsters. – But on the other hand. I’m not surprised. This is not the first time and it will happen again, says Zhou Ye to news. Across China, people are now emerging with full identities and telling about attacks that are gender-based, have other motives or that seem unmotivated. Violence perpetrated by thugs and gang criminals. In 2018, President Xi launched a campaign to crack down on “dark forces and organized crime.” The campaign has the same status as the work to eradicate poverty in China. The violence in Tangshan and the debate on Chinese social media can be disruptive in an important political year for the president. In the autumn, the ruling Communist Party will change its own regulations that will allow Xi to govern both the party and China indefinitely. The current rules are that the party leader sits for twice five years.
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