“In the end, this is how you describe us: Banshee, shrew, whore, and hooker Fishwife, bitch, slutty man-eater. Look, this is how you belittle us”
These lyrics from Mandopop star Tan Weiwei (Sitar Tan) are powerful in their own right, but they take on a new urgency in a year when China saw several especially brutal cases of violence against women in the national spotlight. Soon before Tan’s song hit the internet, screenwriter and activist Xianzi appeared at a court in Beijing to hold a powerful CCTV host, Zhu Jun, accountable for sexual harassment. Hundreds of Xianzi’s fans gathered in the cold outside the courthouse in solidarity.
Drew Pavlou, holding the megaphone, is attacked by Chinese Communist Party supporters, July 24, 2019.
The next day, Chinese state media named Pavlou as a leader of the protest. Xu Jie, Beijing’s consul general in Brisbane, praised the “spontaneous patriotic behavior” of those who had attacked him.
It was an unusual statement for a diplomat, especially considering Xu’s other position: adjunct professor at the university’s School of Languages and Cultures. His dual roles were an example of the increasingly close ties between Australian universities and China, their biggest source of international students.
The university didn’t chastise Xu for promoting violence. Instead, it defended its relationship with Beijing and turned on one of its brightest students.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
An Australian student denounced his university’s ties to China. Then he became a target [Los Angeles Times]
Before the text messages threatening to kill his family, Drew Pavlou gathered a small group of students on a busy walkway at the University of Queensland to protest the Chinese government’s repression of Uighur Muslims and crackdown on Hong Kong.
“Hey-hey, ho-ho Xi Jinping has got to go!”
As he denounced the Communist leader, hundreds of counter-demonstrators massed around a colonnade at the campus in Brisbane, Australia. Some were students from China; others appeared older. They yelled pro-Beijing slogans and played the Chinese national anthem over loudspeakers.