How sorry for the dictators. It is increasingly difficult for them to rule through terror, force people to believe in their legitimacy and impose their unique ideology. Despite all the technology they have at their disposal—virtual espionage, social media censorship, facial recognition programs—people no longer believe in them.
In places where protesting is too dangerous, people resort to irony. Even in the Soviet Union, popular humor has always been the people’s way of laughing at their despots and their tyrannical pretensions. Whatever the obstacles, the truth comes out – whether in yesterday’s Iron Curtain or today’s Great Firewall. As proof, I present the fact that the #MeToo movement came to China from Xi Jinping, a country that should have been hermetically sealed to Western influences.
The big issue mobilizing Chinese public opinion these days, through parallel networks and the word-of-mouth that bypass the official press, is not Xi declaring himself his own successor, but Peng Shuai’s denunciation that Zhang Gaoli raped her. Who are Peng Shuai and Zhang Gaoli? Peng is a world famous tennis player – the best and most popular Chinese tennis player. Zhang is a former high-ranking member of the Communist Party and former deputy prime minister.
Peng accused Zhang of having raped her several times, with the complicity of his own wife, who locked the door for him. Such crimes were common in old China and also among the Communist Party elite: Xi himself expelled several Communist personalities for “corruption and debauchery”. And no one was more “debauched” than Mao Zedong: he deflowered young virgins and spent his days in bed.
What’s new in the Peng Shuai case is that, for the first time, the victim speaks out openly and accuses one of the most powerful men in China. More than that, she asked all victims to expose the rapists and stalkers. The #MeToo movement has indeed reached China, despite the Communist Party’s efforts to prevent the country from being contaminated by Western ideas.
Remember, when the #MeToo movement emerged in the United States, after the escapades of Harvey Weinstein and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the official Chinese press said that this kind of debauchery could only happen in capitalist countries, as China remained pure, with women being equal to men. But that claim was never credible in China; the sexual habits of Mao and his successors were known to the Chinese. It is also clear that there are no women in important political positions in China. But no one expected Peng to do what she dared to do. She was undoubtedly influenced by the #MeToo movement (like all of patriarchal Asia, from South Korea to Japan) and considered herself relatively protected as a national icon.
Seriously, a dictator doesn’t really have rest. Peng will likely be spared (although she hasn’t been seen in public for some time) and Zhang will end his days in prison or in a forced labor camp. Xi has no choice. But this case, which has undoubtedly set a precedent, will not help China in its effort to pass itself off as an exemplary society.
The Communist Party’s image is already eroded: in just two years, we witnessed the worldwide Covid-19 disaster that began in Wuhan; the conquest of Hong Kong; the threats to Taiwan; war games in the Pacific; the arrest and extermination of Uighurs; the increase in censorship; a president declaring himself dictator for life; aggressions against India; resolute support for North Korean totalitarianism—and so on.
After nine years of absolute power, Xi destroyed the “Chinese model”. Maoism was an export ideology (regardless as it was), whereas today’s China has nothing to export other than material goods.
The 21st century will not be Chinese. What a pity for China and its people – since this was once a great civilization whose destruction began with Mao’s military conquest of the state. What was left of her is being destroyed by power-hungry men. Curious that the revolution started with a woman.
Guy Sorman is a French intellectual, City Journal editor and author of several books.
©2021 City Journal. Published with permission. Original in english
#Beijings #efforts #MeToo #arrives #China