When sexual assault victims speak out about their trauma, the first question posed is almost always, “Why did you not speak up earlier?” Most are forced to remain silent due to societal backlash, but for professional tennis player Peng Shuai, it was her fear of the Chinese government that caused her to take back her initial sexual assault allegations.
Though she is currently retired, Peng was, at the height of her career in 2011, ranked #14 in singles worldwide. In 2014, she was also a part of the first ranked doubles team after winning Wimbledon with Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan. Peng’s tennis success has partly contributed to the Chinese population’s liking for tennis.
On Nov. 2, 2021, Peng posted a long note on Weibo, a Chinese social platform. In the emotional post, she shared sexual allegations against Zhang Gaoli, the former Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China.
Gaoli is a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee and is one of the most powerful government officials in China. Peng wrote that, in 2018, Gaoli invited her to his house and pressured her into sex. “That afternoon, I didn’t consent at first,” she wrote. “I was crying the entire time.”
Within minutes, Peng’s post was eradicated off the face of the Chinese internet – along with all mention of her. The Chinese government has a history of censoring people who come forward with sexual assault allegations. However, Peng’s case is the first one to have accused such a high-level communist party member. This caused Peng to vanish from the Chinese internet and the public view. The Chinese government, however, did not expect the outcry they would receive from Peng’s supporters.
Her disappearance prompted the international #whereispengshaui movement. Internationally renowned tennis players including Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic showed their support across social media. In response to the overwhelming support, the Chinese government realized they needed to prove she was still alive, so they released a screenshot of an email that Peng supposedly wrote and multiple videos of Peng. Though these were meant to calm the outside public, they only raised more suspicion.
English teacher Lynne Lundberg expressed her view of China’s attempt to reassure the outside public. “We know she is being censored because that is the way they operate in China,” she said. “The appearance to the outside world is much more important [to them] than the experience of an individual person, and rights don’t really exist.” By prioritizing foreign impressions, China has failed to acknowledge the wellbeing of its citizens.
On Feb. 7, Peng’s situation became even more confusing to the public eye. She gave her first interview to L’equipe, a French sports newspaper. She delivered her answers with a Chinese Olympic translator and many questions about what happened were left unanswered. This interview was controlled which means that L’equipe was required to submit questions ahead of time and very few follow up questions were asked.
When she went onto L’equipe, Peng denied any allegations that she had previously put out. “Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” she said. Peng also dismissed the confusion around her post that spoke out about her sexual assault, “I erased it,” she said. “Why? Because I wanted to.”
After that response, the public anxiously anticipated an answer as to why she shared her story in the first place only to remove it. Lundberg believes that Peng was most likely silenced to remove any negative views upon the Chinese government. “The MO (Modus Operandi) of the Chinese Government is [designed] to censor people who make the Chinese government look bad in any way,” she said.
Censorship in general is detrimental to society. It is important to hear about these traumatic events because society as a whole can learn from them,preventing the same mistakes occurring again.
Lundberg believes that censorship can be incredibly dangerous. “The move to censor is always about – first of all – distrusting the audience. The audience won’t get what we want them to get from this, but we ought to educate audiences instead of distrusting them,” she explained.
The controlled interview with Peng continues to raise suspicion of the censorship placed on her and other Chinese citizens. CNN’s international correspondent, Selina Wang, spoke to the French journalist who interviewed Peng. “When they were talking about sports, she seemed relaxed, but then when he asked about the sexual assault allegations, she clearly became more cautious,” she said. It is painfully obvious that Peng is being forced to remain quiet in fear of what may happen to her.
It is already difficult for sexual assault victims to speak out against their abusers. From fear of retaliation to downplayed sexual abuse, there is a multitude of reasons for survivors to remain silent. Junior Arissa Khan emphasizes the importance of listening to victims. “The people silencing her automatically took the abusers side, and have refused to justify her claims with an investigation,” she said. “Letting anyone get away with sexual assault invalidates the victims, and reinforces the patriarchal roots of our society.”
It is no secret that China’s government frequently censors anything they believe goes against the country’s morals. However, covering the mistakes of power-hungry leaders is calamitous to the entire population. Specifically when it comes to sexual assault, society must listen to survivors in order to fight the stigma surrounding speaking up against sexual assault.
