Edited Truth, Maltranslated Consent and Usurped Discursive Space: A Transnational #MeToo Case from China

Abstract 

This talk unpacks a high-profile #MeToo case in which a Chinese female student filed an alleged rape claim against a prominent Chinese business elite in the United States. The case later sparked heated debate on Chinese social media and passionate mobilization among Chinese feminists, thereby linking U.S. legal proceedings with gender politics in China. Of particular interest is the regime of truth production surrounding the case: edited visual evidence, strategic maltranslation, and platformed misogyny shaped public understandings of consent, credibility, and justice, while further shaming the alleged victim. Feminist actors, in turn, contested these dynamics through counter-discourse and what I call “critical feminist solidarity.” Aspects of censorship will also reveal themselves during the course of analysis.  

Bio  

Qi Chen is a Sinologist whose research focuses on social organizing and “civil society” in contemporary China, with particular expertise in women’s issues and feminism supported by her long-term and immersive fieldwork. Her broader research interests include feminist philosophy, theory, and praxis, as well as the relationship between theory and practice within social movements and the interactions between academia and activism.  

In cooperation with the Institute of Sinology and the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) at Heidelberg University.

p style=”text-align: justify;”>For its two events in Heidelberg, the PKU Kunqu Center ensemble is delighted to present a celebrated selection of classic Kunqu excerpts. Organized in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University, CATS, and Heidelberg University’s Collaborative Research Centre project series Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations, the performances will be accompanied by a discussion exploring the concept of “home” in its many dimensions – from family and belonging to nation and cultural identity.

The workshop on 23 May, held from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Auditorium of the Centre for Asian and Transultural Studies, will offer the audience a closer encounter with the art of Kunqu through additional performance excerpts and practical demonstrations. Focusing on acting techniques, musical accompaniment, and movement, the workshop will provide insight into the performative traditions of Kunqu opera.

1. 清曲（Singing with Dizi）

《牧羊记 望乡》The Shepherd’s Tale – Gazing Toward Home

This soul-stirring dialogue is set in the desolate North. Li Ling 李陵, a Han general who defected to the Xiongnu, encounters his old friend Su Wu苏武, a loyal Han envoy held captive as a shepherd. Together they stand on a ridge, gazing toward their distant homeland in grief.

《浣纱记 寄子》The Hall of Washing Silks-Entrusting the Son

The story is set during the Spring and Autumn era. Foreseeing the imminent downfall of the Kingdom of Wu, the senior minister Wu Zixu伍子胥flees his homeland with his son. In a heartbreaking act of sacrifice to preserve his lineage, he entrusts his child to a dear friend in the Kingdom of Qi.

《浣纱记 打围 【醉太平】》The Hall of Washing Silks- The Royal Hunt [Zui Tai Ping]

This is a song for Kunqu beginners. We encourage all participants to join into the singing.

2. 身段（body movement）

A showcase of different role-types’ body movement led by actors of old-male role, young male-scholar role, refined maiden role, and young maiden role. We encourage participants to follow and learn.

Ensemble introduction:

Founded in 2013, the Peking University Kunqu Heritage and Communication Center is  dedicated to preserving, studying, and promoting the art of Kunqu opera. Led by Professor Chen Jun from Peking University’s School of Arts, the Center brings together research, education, and performance to introduce Kunqu to new audiences in China and around the world.

Over the years, the Center has organized courses such as The Art of Kunqu, produced performances like The Peony Pavilion, and organized workshops and cultural events in Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Vietnam, and beyond.

Both events take place in cooperation with the Peking University Kunqu Heritage and Communication Center, the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) at Heidelberg University, and Heidelberg University’s Collaborative Research Centre project series Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations.

Screening and discussion of “飲食男女 (Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, 1994)”​. Eat, Drink, Man, Woman is a comedy-drama directed by Ang Lee 李安. The film uses food as a metaphor for family, tradition, and change, capturing unspoken tensions between generations.

Lifeworlds on two sides of the Taiwan Straits—Cinematic narratives 

In a cooperation between the Taiwan Studies Program, the Worldmaking Project and the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS), we are offering a series of films this semester from Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China, depicting complex and conflicted sinophone realities and illustrating different ways of worldmaking, as

—prescribed in the form of “main melodies” by the powers that be, on one side of the Taiwan Straits: we unravel grandiose political narratives of revolution and revival, between dystopia and utopia.  

—described as reflections of the everyday, on the other side of the Taiwan Straits: we are given glimpses of “cotidian lives” among the petty, the poor, the marginalized, uncovering their function as heterotopia.  

As these films depict multiple “worlds within worlds”, from the point of view of those above, those below and those in between—from gangster boss, to ardent believer, from the young boy playing truant, to an old housewife, dressed to kill, they draw our attention to different types of subjectivities, vulnerabilities, desires and aspirations as effects of  everchanging biopolitics in the sinophone world. 

Film Schedule