In “Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai?”, a New York Times article, Raymond Zhong informs readers about the disappearance of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, after she accused a Chinese “top leader” of sexual assault. Peng Shuai began her tennis career two decades ago, during which she gained titles as a three-time Olympian, a world No.1 in doubles, and the 2014 French Open double, but she disappeared from public view for several weeks in November. It is speculated that her disappearance was because she had posted an accusation of sexual assault by Zhang Gaoli, an influential politician, and a former vice premier serving from 2012 to 2017, on Weibo on November, 2nd. The post stated that three years ago Zhang Gaoli had invited her to his home and tried to pressure her into sex. She did not consent at the time, but ultimately, they started a “consensual, if conflicted, relationship”. The post became viral across China; however, within minutes, Ms. Peng’s account vanished from the internet, including her posts and almost all other posts of the related topic. Nevertheless, these measures did not succeed in covering up the story because Steven Simon, the head of the Women’s Tennis Association called on Beijing to investigate the situation on November 14th. On December 1st, the association announced that it was ending all tournaments in China, losing an extreme amount of money. According to Steven Simon, if China does not comply with their requests, they are not going to play in China due to the safety of the players and staff. The International Olympic Committee is also in the process of trying to sort the situation. Many have called out the Chinese government, including The Wall Street Journal, publishing an essay advocating for the removal of the Winter Games from China, the Biden administration and the United Nations human rights office, and fellow tennis luminaries speaking out on social media. The Chinese government has not responded in an official way, but news outlets have been posting on social media trying to persuade others that Ms. Peng is safe. Ms. Peng has only appeared in a video in a Communist Party-controlled newspaper showing her eating in a restaurant and attending a tennis event in Beijing, and some time after that in a video call with the president of the International Olympic Committee.
Reference
Zhong, R. (2021, December 3). Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/peng-shuai.html
For the past several weeks, I have seen this topic about Peng Shuai everywhere, but I didn’t have the interest in it. Last week when I scrolled through New York Times again I saw this article and decided to give it a chance, since after all the exposure to the topic I became some-what curious. After reading it, I decided to change from the initial articles that I have chosen to summarize to this article instead because I thought it was a win-win situation, where I could keep up with a news, and summarize an article that I was genuinely curious about.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading it I found many points that were interesting. Reading it I found out that the Chinese government erased her account, erased any trace of her from the internet, and erased her existence after she had exposed a top leader of sexual harassment. Then her reappearing in a video call saying that she was fine.
This reminded me of a video I had seen a YouTube video of this topic about why China’s influential people, like Jack Ma, disappear. It was about several billionaires who in most cases disappeared after they had spoken against or in worst cases plainly insulted the Chinese government. Little came back to society, finding excuses of why they had disappeared, others don’t reappear at all or receive jail time for fraud or corruption. Writing this reminded me of a citizen journalist who disappeared because he reported the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, and the Hong Kong protests in 2019, which I think also included some criticism against the Chinese government. In my opinion, I think there is a clear pattern here, and all of these disappearances connect to one thing, offending the Chinese government, and painting them in bad light. I think its quite depressing that these countries do not have freedom of speech, and all of people have to suffer just because of their opinions.