Two men have been arrested after a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted following a business dinner in the eastern city of Hangzhou, sparking anger over abuse of power and China’s workplace drinking culture.
Chinese authorities have arrested a local government official and a businessman after they were accused of sexually assaulting a woman following a business gathering in Hangzhou.
A woman went to an official company dinner. Sitting across from her were heavyweights: a local government official and an executive from a state-owned business.
According to local authorities, the woman was pressured to drink heavily. Later, the group moved to a karaoke bar. That is where things turned dark.
Police say the two men sexually assaulted her. One of them pushed her to the ground, leaving her with lower back injuries.
Usually, when powerful men are involved, these stories get quietly buried. Not this time. Both men were arrested and fired from their jobs.
The internet exploded. On Weibo, the story dominated the trending charts. One topic alone pulled in over 68 million views. People were furious, not just about the assault, but about the system that put her in that room.
“Going to a drinks gathering does not mean consenting to be harmed, and drinking alcohol does not mean voluntarily consenting to abuse,” one user wrote.
Another person asked a question a lot of women have been thinking: “What is the rationale behind having women accompany men in drinking? Hopefully this practice can be eliminated.”
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This is the dark side of China’s “drinking table culture.” It is a system where deals are made over heavy alcohol, and women are often expected to pour the drinks and take the shots to keep the men happy.
An editorial in China Women’s News pointed out that firing two guys does not fix the root problem. The paper argued for strict rules to define the “boundaries of business interactions,” hoping to cut off the “grey areas where power becomes entangled with social obligations.”
The two men are sitting in a cell instead of a corner office. But the real test is what happens at the next company dinner, when the boss reaches for the bottle, and the junior staff are expected to smile and raise their glasses.
