Summary of the whole process of Jingyao v. Liu Qiangdong case, professional reports and commentary articles
On October 1, local time, news came from Minneapolis, the capital of Minnesota, that Liu Qiangdong and Liu Jingyao, the two parties involved in Liu Qiangdong’s alleged sexual assault case, had reached a pre-trial agreement, marking the Mitu that attracted the attention of the whole people. The case is legally closed. However, the discussions on patriarchal society, rape culture, media environment, Mitu movement and other issues surrounding this case are far from over.
This article sorts out the whole process of the Jingyao v. Liu Qiangdong case, hoping to present the important details of the case through the perspective of professional media and front-line feminist activists, and also extract the public value it left us.
Liu Qiangdong reached a pre-trial agreement with Jingyao
Liu Qiangdong, the founder and chairman of the board of directors of JD.com, was involved in the sexual assault case for more than four years. After Jingyao filed a civil lawsuit and after more than three years of preparation, the case was originally scheduled to be officially tried on October 3, 2022. However, on the evening of October 1 local time, the lawyers of the two parties issued a joint statement, stating that the two parties agreed to put aside their differences and reach a pre-trial agreement to close the case.
After the statement was issued, the Chinese media, mainly Jiemian News, immediately reported the Chinese translation. The translation stated that the two parties "due to a misunderstanding caused by an accidental incident, which took up a lot of social resources and caused harm to each other's families. The two parties decided to "eliminate the misunderstanding, reach a reconciliation, and put an end to this incident."
But the statement quickly sparked controversy, with some netizens saying it was disappointing to end a case that had received much public attention with a "misunderstanding". The Chinese translation of the statement has been questioned by many people, including some professionals who have lived in the United States for a long time. Stanford University Ph.D. Cao Qitong believes that it is wrong for the media to translate the original "misunderstanding" into "misunderstanding". , and it should be more reasonable to "disagree".
· Beidafei: "Is the Jingyao Case a "Misunderstanding"?" "
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4t7Y7Df1EJfwkko86LD6HA
The public account "A Biological Dog's Science Popularization Garden" dedicated to medical science popularization also published an article, arguing that there are obvious biases in many words used in the translation, which are far from the original English text, and even made out of nothing. He also pointed out that since the emergence of this case, it is not uncommon for the domestic media to favor Liu Qiangdong or public relations for him. This has incited stigma and cyber violence against the victim and should be condemned.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Y7Uq5psFdUtTqHrZoEw65A
The North American feminist community "Support Jingyao Group", which has supported and supported Jingyao for a long time, also issued a statement on the pre-trial agreement in a timely manner, and made a positive interpretation of the pre-trial agreement, saying that this is Jingyao The result of years of joint efforts with the volunteers who helped her, and thanked Jingyao for her contribution to Mitu and the feminist movement in China.
"As far as this case is concerned, reaching a pre-trial agreement may be Jingyao's best choice, and it is also her right. By advancing the judicial process in the United States, Jingyao has achieved an open result. She can completely accept the private decision when the case happened in 2018. "Reconciliation", but she chose to make it public and contributed her own efforts to the Mitu movement. In the past four years, we have witnessed Jingyao's suffering in the judicial process and in the field of public opinion. We are very happy that she does not need to fight for the unknown As a result, he was tortured at a higher intensity during the court trial, and endured endless attacks and condemnations outside the courtroom.
"During the course of the case, she confessed herself and told her experiences. This opened up a public space for other women, allowing us to explore important issues such as the system that hates women, the culture of drinking tables, rape culture, and the hunting of women by transnational capital. , spreading the feminist discourse on a wide scale.
"In 2018, feminism popularized the idea of "refuse to demand victims." Today, feminists interpret it again with actions-not demanding perfection from victims, not examining victims, and not expecting She is a "feminist hero", and she is not required to make sacrificial efforts for the obsession of others. Feminists cannot treat victims as tools. We believe that she will continue to make the best choice for herself, This is also our expectation.
"Thank you again Jingyao, thank you for walking this journey with us."
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ft5U8SolKPCFy0YnEL0sNA
The case of Jingyao v. Liu Qiangdong has now come to an end legally, but this does not mean that she has received justice. Public opinion has not stopped humiliating and criticizing her, and the social problems exposed by the case have not been resolved or given sufficient reflection. There are more unknown women who are suffering from similar abuses from powerful people, and the Mitu movement is still going on.
In 2018, Liu Qiangdong was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault
On August 31, 2018, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, Liu Qiangdong, the founder and then CEO of JD.com, was taken away by the local police on suspicion of a "first-degree sex crime". Raped Liu Jingyao, a 21-year-old Chinese student at the University of Minnesota at the time. He was released the next afternoon (September 1) after being detained briefly.
Relevant news was quickly reported by American media such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and was fermented on the Chinese Internet. Liu Qiangdong's name was once a hot search on Weibo. JD.com issued a statement on Weibo on September 2, calling the news "false rumors" and saying that Liu Qiangdong "encountered false accusations during his business activities in the United States."
https://m.thepaper.cn/yidian_promDetail.jsp?contid=2404278&from=yidian
However, on September 4, the Minneapolis Police Department in Minnesota further disclosed the details of Liu Qiangdong's suspected sexual assault case. According to the police report, Liu Qiangdong was charged with a first-degree felony sex crime (there are five levels in total), that is, "rape completed", and the case is still under investigation. After Liu Qiangdong was released, his personal freedom was not restricted, and he returned to China immediately. During the police investigation, the details of the case were gradually disclosed by some foreign media.
"According to a statement provided by the local police in the United States, Liu Qiangdong raped the woman involved. Alice Zhang, a personal assistant of Liu Qiangdong, told the police that she and the two parties returned to the vicinity of the girl's residence in the same car on the night of the incident. And tried to sit between the two, but was stopped by Liu Qiangdong, so he sat in the front row of the car instead. Liu Qiangdong stayed in the woman's residence for four hours and took a bath in the residence. The woman refused Liu's approach many times and tried She made her leave, but was finally pushed down and raped by him. On the second day of the incident, another assistant of Liu, Vivian Yang, contacted the woman and proposed that Li Hua, Liu's classmate at Carlson College and the chairman of the board of directors of Shenzhen Excellence Group, would do it. The mediator, but was rejected by the woman. The woman kept the bodily fluids on the bed sheet as evidence, and also kept the recording of the call with the assistant."
· Caixin: "Liu Qiangdong's "Sexual Assault" Case Reveals Details, His Lawyer Accuses "Media Trial""
District Attorney Decides Not to Prosecute, Jingyao Files Civil Suit
On December 21 of the same year, Hennepin County Prosecutor Freeman announced that due to insufficient evidence in the investigation, he decided not to criminally prosecute Liu Qiangdong for sexual assault. This decision not to prosecute was interpreted by many domestic media as "not guilty". ". Liu Qiangdong's lawyer, Jill Brisbois, issued a statement in Chinese, denying Liu Qiangdong's sexual assault in its entirety, saying that the woman was voluntary, but after the incident "repeatedly asked for money and threatened that if her demands were not met, the matter would be deported." Liu Qiangdong "resolutely refused to negotiate with him".
She finally said: "Mr. Liu Qiangdong has not in the past, and will not agree to the woman's request for money and reconciliation in the future. All the rumors on the Internet about giving money privately before this are rumors."
In response to the prosecutor's office's decision not to prosecute, Jingyao's lawyers said in a statement to Reuters: "These investigators never met the victim, never spoke to the victim, and never sought to meet with her lawyers. .Her story will be spoken out, and as her attorneys, we will not allow her to lose her dignity."
https://www.yicai.com/news/100020412.html
On April 16, 2019, Liu Jingyao filed a civil lawsuit with the District Court of Minnesota. The 28-page civil complaint was also published on the same day. According to her narrative: In August 2018, she participated in the activities of the University of Minnesota Doctor of Business Administration (China) project as a volunteer, and was invited to participate in a dinner with at least 15 middle-aged male executives after the project ended. She was arranged next to Liu Qiangdong and got drunk at the dinner. After the banquet, she was taken into the luxury car Liu Qiangdong was riding in, and was molested by Liu Qiangdong in the car. After that, Liu Qiangdong accompanied Jingyao back to the apartment and raped him despite his refusal.
Her accusations against Liu Qiangdong include civil coercion and physical assault, illegal detention, sexual assault and sexual assault, and she claims that Jingdong Group shall bear joint and several liability for the above-mentioned illegal acts. She asked the jury to award defendants more than $50,000 in damages and litigation costs.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SLryANqVuk2z4j2WLE719g
Edited video and audio leaked out, Jingyao was subjected to massive cyberbullying
Jingyao's name came to light by filing a civil lawsuit. A few days later, on April 22, a newly registered Weibo account "Mingzhou Chronicle" released two clips that were edited, labeled and provided with subtitles, showing Liu Qiangdong and Jingyao in restaurants and apartments before the rape. The interaction inside and outside the elevator room on the first floor: "The video of Liu Qiangdong's Mingzhou dinner banquet was exposed, and the woman actively followed her while she was not drunk"; "The fairy danced for real? The Mingzhou case's apartment video revealed that the woman behaved intimately and invited Liu Qiangdong to enter." The video is intended to give the impression that Liu Jingyao invited Liu Qiangdong to her apartment to have sex. Later, a Chinese lawyer of Liu Qiangdong stated on the Internet that the content of the video "has been confirmed by the parties, and the content of the video is true." It has more than 54 million views and has been cited in numerous articles.
Separately, Southern Metropolis Daily published an edited audio clip in which Liu Jingyao can be heard demanding an apology and money from Liu Qiangdong's lawyer. Reports about the recordings were widely retweeted. These videos and audios incited a lot of humiliation of Jingyao on Weibo, calling her a "fishing girl" and "immortal dance". It seems that the entire Chinese Internet is on the opposite side of Jingyao, and these attacks have caused her great stress and trauma.
"'This woman is a bitch,' said one commenter. 'The woman looks disgusting,' commented another. 'The price wasn't negotiated,' added a third. 'Everything was designed by the woman .’ Another suggested that Liu Qiangdong was the real victim, writing, ‘Looking at the size of that woman, I absolutely believe Liu Qiangdong was raped.’
"This is just a small part of the 8,500 comments on a Weibo that has been retweeted 14,000 times and liked by 95,000 users. Then imagine that there are even worse words flooding the mountains and seas, month after month January."
A reporter from The New York Times asked Jingyao in an interview how many news users she felt believed in her. Jingyao said that there might only be three types of people who would be on her side: “Women who have been sexually assaulted, feminists and people who know her.” Definitely not 30 percent,” she said a little dejectedly, “Maximum 10 percent. "
https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20191213/liu-jingyao-interview-richard-liu/
These edited videos and audios were reported by a large number of media, which aroused the anger of media experts. On his official account "News Lab", Fang Kecheng bluntly called this "the degeneration and corruption of institutional media."
"If it is said that it is the corruption of institutional media to repost videos released by unknown trumpets without verification, then as one of the best newspapers in China, it is really low to directly release unverified recordings. The bottom line is completely gone.
"I don't know whether it is true or not, whether it is complete or not, and there is no response from the person concerned, so an important media completely regards itself as the mouthpiece of a certain party.
"After the audio leaked out, Sina Technology quickly followed up. However, this follow-up is also disappointing-the only information increment is this sentence:'Sina Technology has verified people close to Liu Qiangdong, saying that the audio The content is true.'”
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/609512.html
Soon, Jingyao's supporters "Support Jingyao Group" and some media restored a relatively complete video, and the "Presentation Group" restored the complete audio, and pointed out which parts of the video and audio were edited to mislead the public and slander Jingyao. Effect.
"The full version of the audio shows that Liu Qiangdong's attorney, Jill Brisbois, took the initiative to call after obtaining the girl's mobile phone number from the police; in both calls, Liu Qiangdong's attorney actively asked the girl about the compensation plan she wanted; The anonymous audio released by Nandu has completely edited out the second call. When Liu Qiangdong’s attorney, Jill Brisbois, asked the girl about the compensation plan she wanted, the girl was on the verge of collapse, sobbing, silent and other reactions. She repeatedly emphasized that she didn’t know, The 52.2-second answer that she couldn't give a plan was also cut off."
New Media Women: "Liu Qiangdong's Case: This is how "Fairy Dance" was edited"
https://jiliuwang.net/archives/81377?from=timeline
· Presentation group: "Complete recording of jingyao designed by lawyer Liu Qiangdong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhzxJVeRkuY
https://gongyi.ifeng.com/c/7m7JvuWlNiX
On April 26, Caixin published an exclusive interview with the client Jingyao, "Liu Qiangdong's case female victim responds: "I have been refusing"", Jingyao said that she never agreed to have sex with Liu Qiangdong, and repeatedly resisted during the whole process , and explained his fear, hesitation and ambivalence in the process of calling the police twice. However, after this article was reproduced without authorization by Fenghuang.com and Sina Weibo, the title was changed to "Girl in the Liu Qiangdong Case Admits Consensual Sexual Relationship", and partially quoted the content of the police inquiry to strengthen the title "Admits voluntary sexual intercourse" The conclusion of "relationship" was widely commented and reposted.
"JY said that after the incident, her mentality at the beginning was to admit that she was unlucky and let things go. So after her friend called the police for the first time, she first told the police that she had been raped, but because she was afraid of causing trouble to herself, she changed her words. Said that she was voluntary. The police finally sent Liu Qiangdong back to his hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was worried that Liu Qiangdong would be a burden, and even took the initiative to explain to him when the police took him away. It wasn't her who called the police."
"She had only met Liu Qiangdong before, and she had no direct contact until the dinner on August 30. At the dinner that night, Liu Qiangdong said to her, 'I like me so much, let me talk to him the next day. Go to New York, stay with him for a few days, and then he flies back to China. He said, after you graduate, you will come directly to Jingdong to be a Guan Peisheng. The next day after the incident, Liu Qiangdong’s assistant contacted her to ask for her passport number and arrange When going to New York for matters, JY was irritated and felt that her previous refusal was in vain. With the encouragement of the school teacher, she made up her mind to call the police for the second time. This eventually led to Liu Qiangdong’s arrest from August 31st to September 1st. He was briefly detained for 16 hours on the 1st.”
· Caixin: "Liu Qiangdong Case Female Victim Responds: "I Have Been Rejecting""
https://companies.caixin.com/2019-04-26/101408728.html?orderSn=CP2022100200312191103
On the same day, Caijing magazine also published an exclusive interview with Jingyao, in which Jingyao responded to the edited video and audio, explaining some controversial details. He also mentioned that Liu Qiangdong's lawyer repeatedly called her to discuss the details of the settlement: "My parents and relatives received calls from intermediaries many times and were invited to interview. Refused. The family asked for a face-to-face apology, which was rejected by the other party."
https://finance.sina.com.cn/meeting/2019-04-26/doc-ihvhiqax5185770.shtml
Feminists back Jingyao, fight rape culture
Due to the online violence against Jingyao and its supporters caused by the edited video, feminist activist Lu Pin immediately published an article questioning the legality of the video and the publisher’s malicious mobilization of the public, and helping Jingyao’s supporters Analyzing and consolidating the foothold of "We Believe in Jingyao" is not a guarantee of all "facts", but a resistance to the invisible colonization of rape culture in a patriarchal society.
"To reiterate, trusting Jingyao is not because she has vetted or can vouch for all the "facts". It is because we understand the limitations and poisons imposed by this patriarchal society. It is not because she does everything well, no Because she has confessed everything to me. Not because she did not evade, conceal, downplay, all kinds of plots that she may not want to face, not because I believe that the laws of the world will give her a fair judgment, and not because I Praise God's vicarious judge to judge her purity.
"However, when I saw her self-report, there is still a real power, because it is what every girl in this society may encounter. So it arouses a lot of sympathy, and many girls have talked about their own similar situations, escaped or failed to escape. Each of their experiences is very similar. Can this be ignored? Gender oppression treats different women equally, thus shaping the homogeneity of their encounters, and thus laying the groundwork for women to recognize and support each other. "
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sgT6DSoEg7Co57mvpuRjag
"Xiao Meili: Support Jingyao or Liu Qiangdong? Can it be neutral? "
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/609686.html
https://theinitium.com/article/20190507-opinion-hereforjingyao/
On April 30th, feminist activists supporting Jingyao launched the social media campaign #我也不是维权者#, which expanded the public agenda from individual cases to more women’s stories of victimization, as well as reflections on rape culture and Revolt on. Activists collected women's self-reports on various social media platforms and published them publicly, sparking public discussion. Just two weeks later, the topic #我不是维权者者# had more than 16 million views on Weibo, more than 20,000 discussions, and was reported by the British "Guardian" and "New York Times".
"Even if a victim is not a perfect victim, he is still a victim, but through the narrative of 'Fairy Dance', he can be turned into an assailant. Even if there is a real power gap between the two parties, the objective of the success or failure of a sexual assault case The data, the stories of women who have experienced similar experiences, the culture in the real society, the law, and the prejudice of public opinion against rape victims are all telling people what a 'business' this is. They still firmly believe that women will take the risk, and then The foundation of this unreasonable story is that she is a "bitch". Because only a "bitch" can be stupid enough to gamble everything for money.
“…rape culture inhabits our language and uses it to isolate victims, deprive them of space in the public sphere, divide women’s shared experience, and prevent sexual violence from rising into public discourse. ‘Fairy Jump’ It is like a smoke bomb of conspiracy theory, which covers up unequal power relations, obscures common sense of the public, reverses the subject of responsibility, and thus hides the real perpetrator.”
· Mimiana: "Words can kill a person, but also can protect a person | I and #我也不是非常者者#"
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/65825364
· Support Jingyao group: "I'm not a perfect victim either"
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4s1CWZzejfgVwzITqMHIKw
· New York Times: "Liu Qiangdong's case triggers discussions on rape culture in China"
https://cn.nytimes.com/business/20190606/china-richard-liu-rape-video-metoo/
On July 24, 2019 local time in the United States, the Minnesota police released all 149 pages of Liu Qiangdong’s alleged sexual assault case, which contained multiple information including the testimony of Liu Qiangdong, the testimony of the plaintiff girl, and the testimony of witnesses. There are huge differences. However, a large number of self-media, led by the North American Overseas Students Daily, unilaterally intercepted Liu Qiangdong’s testimony and came to the conclusion that “the woman took the initiative” and “Liu Qiangdong is innocent”, and used topics such as “exciting kisses, sleeping naked, mandarin duck bath” to attract attention. In an exclusive interview with Caijing, Jingyao expressed anger at the behavior of these media.
Finance and Economics: "Details and Controversies of the "Mingzhou Case""
http://magazine.caijing.com.cn/20190808/4608061.shtml
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7umKxMOfeqKvZCWNmfyzmw
· Seven Little Monsters: "Sexual Violence is the Collusion of the Whole Society"
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/614483.html
Jingyao v. Liu Qiangdong three-year trial road
On September 11, 2019, the civil case of Jingyao v. Liu Qiangdong and JD.com held its first public hearing. In this motion, Liu Qiangdong and BOE wanted to prolong the lawsuit as much as possible and make the lawsuit more time-consuming and laborious by questioning the domestic procedure, delaying the time for hearing the facts of the case, while Jingyao hopes to try the facts of the case as soon as possible. Feminist activist and New York lawyer Liang Xiaomen went to the local court in Minneapolis to support Jingyao and reported the scene. After that, she continued to organize offline and online court hearings and support for Jingyao, and became the main source of first-hand information on the Jingyao case in the Chinese-speaking world. Volunteers also set up @我们support jingyao accounts on Weibo and other major social media platforms to follow and follow up the progress of the case for a long time.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/B6IV3dl4wb_jQ8qmY4G_Tw
On April 6, 2020, within a week of his resignation as CEO of JD.com, Liu Qiangdong formally acknowledged receipt of the indictment and entrusted a lawyer to submit a notice to the court to appear in court.
On April 27, 2020, the U.S. federal district judge in Hennepin County, Minnesota, USA, based on the hearing on January 28, rejected JD’s motion not to assume responsibility, holding that “it is up to the court to decide on the alleged infringement It is still too early to know whether it is at the time and place of defendant Liu's work." This means that if Jingyao's allegations are true, then Jingdong should be held responsible for Liu Qiangdong's infringement. Volunteers supporting Jingyao translated the full text of the court's judgment.
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/642832.html
After several online hearings during the epidemic, on June 24, 2022 local time, the Jingyao v. Liu Qiangdong sexual assault civil lawsuit held an offline public hearing in Minneapolis. Jingyao himself attended the entire trial. Many onlookers wore purple ribbons to show their support for Jingyao. Prior to this, the case had been held for more than a year in closed court trials related to evidence collection. In this trial, a large amount of video materials, videos and written testimony of multiple witnesses were released to the public. This trial once again aroused the attention of domestic public opinion. Liang Xiaomen and the observer volunteers sent back reports from the court hearing.
"The testimony of the American driver hired by JD.com (roughly speaking): In the car, the driver saw Jingyao hiding in the corner of the back seat through the rearview mirror. The driver said that during the few days he was a driver, he saw Liu Qiangdong as a Very powerful person, everyone bows to Liu Qiangdong (everyone bows him). When asked if he thought Jingyao was sexually assaulted in the car, the driver said: 'I didn't think about it at the time, I What comes to mind is that this powerful man is determined to get her (Jingyao).'
"Liu Qiangdong's written testimony: He admitted that at the dinner party and in the car, Jingyao never made any behavior that she wanted to have sex with him, he just felt that Jingyao was very friendly to him."
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/683584.html
On the evening of June 26, the Chinese media "Peninsula Metropolis Daily" released a video, which included video clips of Jingyao himself shot by Mingzhou police's law enforcement recorder, saying, "Multiple police videos show, 'the plaintiff told the police that she was not arrested. rape, is voluntary'", and cited lawyers commenting that Jingyao "submitted a lot of inconsistent evidence". Then the topic #刘强东事件女夫常见自败有关系# became a trending topic on Weibo, and many mainstream media reposted the video.
In response to the domestic media once again trying to guide public opinion, Liang Xiaomen released a response video, pointing out that the other party leaked the trial materials illegally, and criticized the media for repeatedly hyping up some outdated information, the privacy of the parties and fragmented videos. The slut humiliation of the parties involved in the sexual assault case on the Chinese Internet.
· Echo Sound: "Response to Liu Qiangdong Case's Illegal Leaked Video: The Party Was "Voluntary""
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/683614.html
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/683861.html
On September 24, 2022, a week before the official court session on October 3, photos of Liu Qiangdong and his wife Zhang Zetian walking together in Mingzhou shopping malls suddenly circulated on the Internet. In the picture, Zhang Zetian was suspected to be pregnant. The person who posted this information was an account on Twitter that had hardly posted text content before and had zero interaction. Feminists questioned that this was yet another public relations tactic by Liu Qiangdong to divert public attention. Compared with this kind of "gossip", some positive reports on the case were blocked. Support the Jingyao group to publish an article calling on the public to pay attention to the facts of the case and participate in the dissemination.
"This tweet, which only got a few followers, was widely quoted by different Chinese accounts, and was reported by media such as Fenghuang.com Technology and Netease Finance. #张泽天感二脸##张泽天几肥与刘强东明州旅营超级# immediately posted Popular searches on Weibo. Popular discussions began to focus on Zhang Zetian's choice of "tolerating her husband's derailment" and her judgment on her appearance and experience, as well as speculation that Liu Qiangdong was supported by his wife. "
"Through an ambiguous message and a few 'encounter' photos full of posed signs, a woman was pushed to the media as a wife and pregnant woman to 'block the gun'. This strategy succeeded in Liu Qiangdong's trial in Mingzhou in October. To build momentum, 'whitewashing' alleged sexual assault into marital infidelity, shifting the public's focus to celebrity couple gossip."
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/eIIE8QEID035I67UDwUIdA
A few days before the trial, feminist activists supporting Jingyaoa organized an online discussion about the case, and talked about the difficulties Jingyao faced in this case, including the patriarchal and extreme nationalist attacks that Jingyao has been facing, and Liu Qiang's relationship with Liu Qiang. The communication and public relations resources of the East and the West are far apart, and the mature anti-Metoo rhetoric of the opposing lawyer in the American court trial, etc., also discussed the strategies of feminist activists to confront Liu Qiangdong and JD.com’s “luxury public relations”. Feminist activists who support jingyao produced "Liu Qiangdong's Sexual Assault Case Revealed". ( https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/riloWQutSXx8hVER6vK4xA)
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Tuy9x8QPsSlf-uvF84CF5Q
After pretrial agreement, the #MeToo movement still has to move forward
On October 1, 2022, two days before the official trial, Jingyao and Liu Qiangdong reached a pre-trial agreement. This Chinese MeToo case that happened in the United States was exposed in 2018, when Jingyao initiated a civil lawsuit, and then entered a lengthy civil legal process in the following three years, which has been accompanied by a scuffle of public opinion on the Chinese Internet. During this period, young feminists, mainly overseas students in North America, formed a supportive community for Jingyao. In order to promote the effective discussion of the case, they launched several influential actions and made a lot of unknown efforts. .
"Behind all this is the labor of the volunteers day and night. Qiqi described it as 'it was crazy at that time'. She often worked almost all day without eating or drinking until four or five in the morning, waiting for her to fall asleep. Volunteers from another country immediately took over her job after she was released. This went on for a whole month. In Qiqi's eyes, they were forced to constantly deal with the chaos created by Liu Qiangdong and his interest groups, but it also made For the first time, she felt that the solidarity of the women's rights community 'knows no time zones or borders'."
"Since September, feminists from all over the world have formed groups to support Jingyao across time zones. Online supporters plan to contribute one month to relay the translation of court hearing information and make posters. Many people save air tickets in advance in order to attend the court hearing offline money, taking time off work. To ensure that someone enters the courthouse every day to show support, everyone plans to take turns relaying to the scene."
"On October 1st, some supporters arrived near the court to prepare for the opening of the court: they raised more than 20 volunteers and thousands of dollars to fight against Liu Qiangdong's 'luxury public relations team' and 'sky-high-priced lawyers' .Liang Xiaomen is constantly contacting the media—this case of sexual assault in China, which has been marginalized in the United States, is almost driven by the attention of volunteers behind the few English reports; student organizations wrote emails, asking them to pay attention to the trial and help spread the information of volunteer recruitment, and four or five student organizations and alumni associations gave them positive replies.”
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/tkPqgx5c3zX35p0W2wPTiQ
In order to express concern and support for Jingyao after the pre-court agreement, the support Jingyao group and volunteers immediately held a "Stand with Jingyao ", and changed the planned solidarity event before the trial on October 3 to a "Thanks Jingyao" rally. About 20 participants came to the scene, including University of Minnesota students, alumni, and volunteers from all over North America.
"At the event, the participants made slogans together, and shared their support for Jingyao and the reasons for coming to the scene. Many people shared their empathy for Jingyao, because this is not just her personal experience, but may happen in Everyone. A Ming Dynasty student said: There are many people around who don’t understand the case at all, and don’t bother to understand it, but comment on it. He participated in this rally in the hope of gaining a better understanding of the case and generating his own understanding .”
The support group for Jingyao also collected online comments on Jingyao from people who are concerned about the case and related issues.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/DpCSBYQ85BKYC6gyZlaWXg
Online, the women's rights activist community initiated discussions about this "pre-trial agreement," responding to some of the community's and public's questions and comments about the agreement. And recognized the efforts and achievements of the supporters, and looked forward to the future of the Mitu movement.
"Anyone who says 'what money can solve is not a problem' is an accomplice to the consolidation of rape culture. In their eyes, women's will, body and dignity are not important, and money and power are linked to doing whatever they want. These people are also the weak and the strong They may also suffer from it, but instead of sympathizing with the weak, they draw closer to the strong and become their accomplices. Sexual violence is the complicity of the whole society. Although this case has come to an end, it does not affect the power structure and the legal system. The reflection is not over, and everyone needs to think about how to break the chain of gender violence."
"In the process of advancing the Jingyao case, transnational feminist cooperation has been practiced and developed unprecedentedly. At present, the word 'transnational' is taboo by many. But the environment of duality and separation and opposition we are facing is not spontaneous. state of sexuality, but the result of ideological constraints. Feminists refuse to be enclosed in binary oppositional discourses, penetrate the barriers with common words and actions, and flexibly mobilize our tiny, precious resources. Despite censorship and obstacles, but such practices are still very important and should be maintained.
“People are seeing the collapse of public space in China. People are being punished for all the attempts to have a voice on the open internet. This case shows yet again how supporters take advantage of diversity, fragmentation, and constant fluidity. We use pictures, videos, long and short articles... to try to convey our voices. Our power is so meager, but we carry such great expectations. Darkness cannot always cover us, and people are always looking for opportunities.”
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/687867.html
On October 7th, feminist activists who supported Jingyao left a banner with the words "solidarity with jingyao, #Metoo movement moving forward forever" in front of the famous gopher statue on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Big power holders, teachers and students: Schools should support and protect victims/survivors, not perpetrators."
Attachment: Liu Qiangdong Case Video Resources
· Mingzhou Liu Qiangdong case 24G monitoring streamed out for 240 seconds to restore the whole process of the incident-The Beijing News·Our Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoBiFqQihCI
· 2022.6.25 The latest progress of Liu Qiangdong's sexual assault case: Jingyao supporters sort out the timeline and content of the trial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p4WTPaewOU
· 2022.6.25 The latest progress of Liu Qiangdong's sexual assault case: Lawyer Jingyao was interviewed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkFFloFQKQ
· Presentation group: "Complete recording of jingyao designed by lawyer Liu Qiangdong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhzxJVeRkuY
· Liu Qiangdong’s response to Liu Qiangdong’s illegally leaked video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPluS8qc08c
· 202210.2-3 Support Jingyao group Mingzhou offline assembly
Like my work? Don't forget to support and clap, let me know that you are with me on the road of creation. Keep this enthusiasm together!
