Shen Chong Incident--Fa Xiao revealed to me what my father knew about Shen Chong

Original link http://mjlsh.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/Book.aspx?cid=4&tid=2980

Xiaojia said: "I asked your father that. I asked him, Uncle Liu, you are so familiar with Shen Chong, why didn't you ask her about the four or six years? Your father said, yes, Shen Chong also I told him. Your dad also said that they really knew each other very well. During the Cultural Revolution, they fought together, worked together, and were locked in a bullpen. They were trusted friends. So, one of the background circumstances of the experience that Shen Chong told your dad was What the outside world does not know: On December 24, 1946, the day before Christmas, her boyfriend broke up with her, which was a huge blow to Shen Chong, who was just nineteen years old . She and her boyfriend All of her friends live near Bamiancao, she lives in a relative's house in Ganyu Hutong, and her boyfriend lives in Xila Hutong, which is diagonally opposite. That afternoon, she went to her boyfriend's house to negotiate and walked out of Xila Hutong in despair. , but did not go home, and kept walking towards the south entrance of Wangfujing in a chaotic manner. A little to the east of the south entrance of Wangfujing was the 'Tingtai Cinema'. She went into the cinema and watched a movie. She didn't go home, and walked east along Chang'an Avenue in a chaotic manner. When she was about to reach Dongdan Park, she encountered two American soldiers and hugged her at once. She screamed, and someone nearby ran to the police when they heard it . Two U.S. soldiers walked her to the shelter and walked to a place called "The Hippodrome", which was 8:00 pm on Tuesday, December 24. The two American soldiers brought Shen Chong down. On the ground, another American soldier left, and only the American soldier named Pearson was with Shen Chong, and they were together for three hours, during which they had sex three times in total . The trial of this case began in early January, and after several trials, the charges against Pearson's rape case were finally withdrawn, because there was no trace of violence on Shen Chong's body." Xiaojia sipped his wine and continued: "In other words, Shen Chong just started I don't want to, but then I want to." I thought about it and asked, "Is the conclusion that you said that Shen Chong was unwilling at first, and then he was willing to be my father's original words?" He said, "Your father told me about this. It's been almost forty years, I dare not say it is 100% of his original words, but that's what your dad meant. At that time, I was a hairy guy, I didn't even have a girlfriend, and I didn't understand the woman your dad was talking about. This kind of emotional change. Later, when I got older, I understood. At that time, Shen Chonggang was dumped by her boyfriend. She felt so sad and needed comfort. Suddenly there was an American man who was kind to her and stayed with her for three hours. She will fall into his arms. In the past three hours, Shen Chong's psychology has undergone complex changes. In addition, Shen Chong is a lady and can speak English." I said: " Yes, she needed someone to listen to her the most at that time. , the two have been together for three hours, which rapist will wait for someone to arrest him for three hours at the scene ?"

After Xiaojia left, I went to the Internet and read a speech by Xie Yong carefully, titled "How Personal Experiences Become a Public Incident—Taking the Shen Chong Incident in 1946 as an Example", the fifth part of this speech. Part of it tells in great detail the recently declassified U.S. investigation report on the Shen Chong case. One of the passages very strongly confirmed my father's analysis and judgment that "Shen Chong was reluctant at first, but later he was willing" . I've excerpted this excerpt as follows:

“According to court records, several military police arrived at the scene where the Chinese police arrested the defendant. They testified that the defendant put his arm around the plaintiff at the scene, and the plaintiff apparently agreed. One witness testified that the defendant and the plaintiff tried to leave the racetrack together, while the other One witness testified that he thought the Chinese girl appeared 'completely relaxed', not 'irritated or crying', but ' calm about the whole thing '."

The final conclusion of the speech is: "There was a strong domestic reaction to the reversal of the Pearson rape case. However, many scholars who study international law believe that although it is morally unfair, it cannot be said that the case is illegal because American law It's very strict and independent."

Next, I want to talk about Shen Chong that I know. I saw articles on the Internet that confirmed that Shen Jun was Shen Chong, and it seemed like a great event. In my eyes, Shen Chong is just an aunt next door, and our sisters call her Aunt Shen Jun.

Shen Chong later changed his name to Shen Jun and married the painter Ding Cong. Shen Chong works in the Beijing Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Bureau (abbreviated as the Foreign Languages Bureau), in the same workplace as my father. In the 1970s, they both lived in the Foreign Languages Bureau's dormitory and were close neighbors. During the Cultural Revolution, she and my father worked together in the cowshed and became friends through adversity.

In the 1970s, she used to come to my house for a walk after dinner to sit and chat with my father. My impression is that she is tall, cheerful and unrestrained, more like a northerner, a cultural woman who is careless and scheming, and this can be seen from the following trifle.

One afternoon in the early 1970s, she came to my house with a four or five-year-old girl with big eyes. It happened that my parents were not at home, only my little sister and I were at home. My little sister didn’t know what she was doing in the kitchen. Aunt Shen Jun was talking in the living room. After chatting for a while, she stood up and said, "Your parents aren't here, I'm leaving, and I'll come back another day." My house is on the first floor, and the door of the living room faces the yard. During the chat, my little sister ran out with a small bowl and said, "Aunt Shen Jun, I just cooked the jujube, so I will give this child a few." Then she put a jujube into the little girl mouth. At that time, I was in my early twenties, and my little sister was three years younger than me. How could I know that it was dangerous to eat jujubes for such a young child. The child did not know how to spit jujube pits, and Aunt Shen Jun had absolutely no such life experience and concept of danger. I squatted down and said to the little girl, "Spit out the pits, spit out the pits." As a result, the little girl spit out the jujube flesh in my hand and swallowed the jujube pits. Aunt Shen Jun also smiled and said, "Ah, why did you swallow the jujube core?" My little sister picked up another jujube and put it in the little girl's mouth and said, "This time I'm going to vomit the core." The little girl I spit the jujube flesh in my hand again and swallowed the jujube core. I quickly said, "I can't give her any more, she doesn't know how to vomit." I thought the problem was a bit serious, but Aunt Shen Jun pulled the little girl away and said painlessly, "Today you ate it. Two jujube pits, you ate two jujube pits today."

During the Cultural Revolution, the foreign language bureau was in a very complicated situation, and it was very cruel to criticize intellectuals. There were four suicide incidents in a year, and some intellectuals bit others in order to protect themselves. Dad said that Shen Jun is a good person. In other words, she did not hurt anyone during the Cultural Revolution, and her father was also proud of his performance during the Cultural Revolution. People gathered together, so he and Shen Jun became close friends.

After listening to Xiao Jia's revelation, I was moved by Aunt Shen Jun's trust in my father. Both of them are dead today, and I don't think they would blame me for writing the unknown background of this historical event for the sake of its authenticity.

Three sisters at home in Chicago

March 12, 2015

appendix:

Original title: How personal encounters become public events

——Take the Shen Chong incident in 1946 as an example

Author: Xie Yong

5. The Shen Chong incident files were declassified in the United States

Over time, the court records of the Shen Chong case have been declassified. According to the introduction of Mr. Zhou Qibo, who is now in the United States, the Shen Chong case was tried by a military court at that time, and the case was kept in the military archives. The State Department, which is in charge of foreign affairs, also has the same set of case files for foreign citizens. He obtained a copy of the State Council's case files from the National Archives, all recorded in English, with a total of 150 copies. Due to age, some words and letters are not very clear, so they need to be guessed from the context.

According to Mr. Zhou, after the Shen Chong incident, on January 6, 1947, the commander of the First Marine Division (Enhanced Division) ordered a trial to be held at the Fifth Marine Corps Headquarters in Peiping, China.

The composition of the court was as follows:

1. The lawyer's opening remarks. 2. Relevant personnel, judges and journalists enter the court and take oath. 3. File a complaint. 4. Defence defense. 5. The prosecution's speech is over. 6. The defense's speech is over. 7 Court findings. 8. Judgment. The court also presented relevant evidence:

1. A photo of the map on the blackboard.

2. Description of the gloves.

3. Meteorological records of December 24 and 25, 1946.

4. Meteorological records of January 13, 14 and 15, 1947.

5. Description of the coat.

6, the description of the underwear.

7. Description of the top.

Pearson was initially charged with five counts. Charge 1: Rape. Charge 2: Assault with attempted rape. Charge 3: Consensual Sexual Behavior. Charge 4: Act against order and discipline. Charge 5: Unethical conduct likely to damage morale.

On January 7, 1947, charges 3 and 5 and descriptions in the case were dropped. The trial transcript of the June 11, 1947 military court trial in the Pearson case shows that charges 3 and 5 have been dropped; charges 2 and 4 have been acquitted. Charge 1, he was found guilty. He was sentenced to be reduced to the rank of private corps, fifteen years in prison, dishonorable discharge from the army and other related sanctions. The relevant authorities who ordered the trial have approved the trial process, findings and verdict.

According to file records, the plaintiff was a 19-year-old student at Peking National University. Her testimony reads as follows:

On the night of the rape, around 8 o'clock, she walked down the public street to the Pavilion Cinema alone. On a well-lit, heavily pedestrianized street, the defendant and another U.S. Marine (Plicard) suddenly held her hostage from side to side, "escorted" her toward almost the opposite direction of her destination, through A narrow block (apparently there are trees there), to East (Chang'an) Street, and across East (Chang'an) Street, walk about 60 yards into a place called a "race track" or "parade ground", arrive at A site near the "South Wall" (former Austrian Legation Wall). According to the plaintiff (neither the defendant nor his companions said so), she shouted once, after which her mouth was covered. She resisted but couldn't break free. When she reached the wall, the accused and Pricard forced her to the ground. Because she resisted, two US Marines had to work together to hold her down and remove her panties. The accused then lay on top of her and despite her resistance and attempts to bring her legs together, the accused completed the act of sexual intercourse. The plaintiff shouted when she saw the flashlight beam, but her throat was immediately strangled. To get attention, she waved her white panties beside her. Apparently for fear of causing others to interfere, the defendant "dragged" her eastward along the wall, holding her tightly for fear of her escaping. The defendant tried to have sex again. She resisted fiercely and the defendant failed. She saw the flashlight again, but she did not dare to shout for fear that the defendant would kill her. The accused led her south around the corner to the reviewing stand, where she broke free from the accused and was caught again. Near the reviewing stand, about 80 to 90 paces away from the heavily trafficked Hardman Street, the defendant succeeded in having sex again into the plaintiff's body. The plaintiff was exhausted from struggling with the defendant for so long. She shouted again and waved her panties. At this time, 8 Chinese people, armed with flashlights and guns, came to the scene to check what happened and rescued the plaintiff. A military police patrol jeep took the defendant and the plaintiff away.

According to court records, a member of the Chinese military who was a witness for the plaintiff testified that at around 8 p.m. that night, he saw two marines "taking away" a girl near the Pavilion Cinema. She was crying, "not too loud and not too weak", but she didn't say anything. He went back to his headquarters without further investigation and told four Chinese soldiers about it.

The witness was accompanied by these Chinese military personnel, two of whom had flashlights, to a position about 20 feet from the south wall of the consulate where a marine and a girl were on the ground, one on top of the other. The second Marine stood about 2 feet above the two men on the ground. Not only this witness, but none of his group heard any shouting, nor did they see any struggle. One of the group heard the woman cry, the others heard nothing. The five were chased away by unarmed Marines standing nearby. After a while, two more Chinese people with guns joined the group. There are now seven people in the group. They went back again, only to the street, and were chased away by the marine. The defendant Marine and the girl were still at their original location under the south wall, about 60 yards away from the group. The group made a third operation to that location with the assistance of a nearby Chinese traffic police officer. (It had been two and a half hours since the first time the two Marines were seen "taking away" the girl.) This time the Marine and the girl were no longer there. At the spot where the Marine and the girl had been, the group found a scarf and a bloodied glove. The girl's cry and waving of her panties caught their attention, and they found the accused and the girl lying on the ground near the reviewing stand. They forced the accused to stand up. The group testified that the Marines and the girl were dusty and messy, their coats were all on, the girl had wet buttocks, the defendant was rude to the police, the defendant tried to hug the girl, and the girl kept crying . The traffic policeman mentioned just now testified that at about 10:30 p.m. he received a report on the matter, and he went to the racetrack and saw the defendant and the girl on the ground. Both stood up. Police say the girl told him the Marines raped her. But none of that group heard the girl's complaint. During cross-examination in court, the police were asked to whom the girl claimed the Marines had raped her, and the police responded "she told me because I asked her". Also, the first time the cop saw the Marine and the girl on the ground, the girl didn't say she was being raped.

The next day at about 2:30 in the morning, the girl was examined by a Chinese doctor. The doctor testified that he found a small fresh scar in the lower middle of the entrance to the vagina, a site that can only be reached when the genitals enter the vagina. "Normal sex" usually doesn't produce such scars, he said. Aside from this small scar, the doctor said the girl's "body" was normal, there were no visible scars on her external genitalia, no sperm cells were found, and it was "difficult to determine whether it was a real rape." Records show the event lasted about 3 hours, and that night was dark, windless, and 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Defence witnesses testified that they observed pedestrians and traffic at the site of the alleged rape on two occasions for about three weeks after the night of the incident. They studied pedestrians and traffic at the site under conditions of darkness, wind speed, time and temperature similar to the night of the alleged rape. In sum, they testified that hundreds of pedestrians and vehicles passed through East Chang'an Avenue every hour within 60 yards of where the defendants first attacked the plaintiffs. The number of pedestrians and vehicles was greater on Hudmen Street, which was less than 100 yards east of the site of the second attack and where the accused was arrested. The testimony further stated that if whoever was "speaking loudly, without shouting" at the site of the first attack, it was clearly heard by those on East Chang'an Avenue 60 yards away.

Several military police arrived at the scene where Chinese police arrested the accused, according to court records. They testified that the defendant put his arm around the plaintiff at the scene, and the plaintiff apparently agreed. One witness testified that the defendant and the plaintiff tried to leave the racetrack together, and another testified that he thought the Chinese girl appeared "totally relaxed", not "stimulated or crying" but "at peace with the whole thing." ". A Marine who had been drinking with the defendant earlier said the defendant had cut his knuckles from the bottle, which could explain the blood on the gloves found at the scene.

The next afternoon in the alleged rape case, an American doctor examined the plaintiff. The doctor testified that no injuries were found on the plaintiff's buttocks, inner thighs, face and neck. Small cuts at the plaintiff's vaginal entrance may also occur during normal intercourse. The doctor also examined the defendant the morning after the alleged incident and found no scars on the defendant's genitals. When the gendarmerie officer on the night watch testified that the accused was brought from the parade grounds, there were no charges against the accused. If there is an allegation of rape, the accused will be locked up rather than released as a suspect pending arraignment. The clothes and panties the plaintiff wore on the night of the alleged attack are included in the evidence. The plaintiff stated that after she handed over the clothes, the clothes were cut with several small cuts, and apart from these small cuts, there was no other damage to the clothes. Like her clothes, her underpants showed no signs of violence.

Court records found that, upon careful examination of the evidence presented, the plaintiff did not resist sufficiently in the circumstances and conditions at the time to support her claim that the sexual intercourse was not consensual. Although evidence suggests that she did not voluntarily go with the two Marines when the events began on the evening of December 24, 1946, there is no evidence other than her own testimony that she cried or resisted. In contrast, other prosecution witnesses testified that during the time she was with the accused, the witnesses neither heard her cry nor saw her struggle. It is unbelievable that these witnesses who were going to interfere with the defendant and the girl believed that the girl was being raped and that they were powerless to rescue her. It is also unbelievable that the incident lasted for almost three hours, and that several of the said attacks took place near a busy street with many pedestrians, and no one heard the cry for help. She was not beaten unaided, and she never lost consciousness. Although she alleges that the accused strangled her by the throat and covered her mouth several times, doctors found no marks on her face and neck when examined the next day. She testified that her underpants had been taken off by force, but when the evidence was presented in court, there were no smudges or tears. Her clothes also showed no signs of violence. She didn't take off her gloves throughout the argument. Her vaginal opening had minor injuries consistent with consensual intercourse. She argues that she did as much resistance as she could under the circumstances, but aside from this minor injury, all other facts do not support her claim. There was also no evidence of hysteria and physical exhaustion when police detained the defendant and both of them. The evidence in this case does not dispel common-sense doubts about the defendant's assertion that the plaintiff had sexual intercourse against the plaintiff's will.

In the end, the military court concluded that, on the basis of the facts and the above-mentioned law, Charge 1 and its stated findings and the relevant decision of the organ that ordered the trial were dismissed. On the basis of the findings of charges 2 and 4, the court judgment and the relevant decision of the organ that ordered the trial are set aside. In the opinion of the Chief Military Judge, the judicial procedures and actions taken by the organ ordering the trial based on the above statements and recommendations were lawful.

This statement and recommendation was later approved by Secretary of the Navy Sullivan. Accordingly, the findings of Charge 1 and its description are dismissed. On the basis of the findings of charges 2 and 4, the judgment of the trial and the relevant decision of the organ that ordered the trial were also set aside.

There was a strong domestic response to the revocation of the Pearson rape case, but many scholars who study international law believe that although it is morally unfair, it cannot be said that the case is illegal, because American laws are very strict and independent. .

Some background materials about Shen Chong's case have been finished. Because it is a speech, the source of the materials has not been told in detail. If anyone is interested, you can contact me.

thank you all.

Excerpted from: "The Best Lectures in China in 2004" Li Gongming / Selected by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House

Original title: How personal encounters become public events