Beijing —
What began as a business dinner for local officials and executives to celebrate a lucrative real estate deal sparked a public backlash in China after two men were accused of sexually assaulting a female party member.
Authorities in the wealthy tech hub of Hangzhou have criminally detained an executive and a civil servant on suspicion of “forcibly molesting” a woman at a karaoke bar after dinner, according to an official report of an ongoing investigation.
The woman was injured and had to be hospitalized, the report said. Both men were dismissed from their positions.
News of the incident quickly spread across Chinese social media after it was made public in recent days, racking up more than 500 million views on the X-like platform Weibo alone.
What is attracting attention is China’s deep-rooted culture of work-related drinking. In a country where men dominate positions of power in business and government, boozy business dinners are notorious for putting female employees in dangerous positions.
Chinese authorities have repeatedly silenced the #MeToo moment in the country and cracked down on efforts against sexual harassment. Workplace sexual assault cases rarely go to court, and women with high-profile incidents face backlash and censorship.
But the case clashes with Beijing’s long-standing efforts to crack down on a key issue of government policy: civil servant graft, nepotism and overreach. This includes lavish dinners with unlimited booze, part of a decadent culture that Chinese leader Xi Jinping sees as a threat to the ruling Communist Party’s power and the country’s economic growth.
Numerous editorials and articles in state media have denounced a “twisted culture of excessive drinking at business dinners,” and such excesses, rather than the sexual assault allegations themselves, have been the focus of much of the official backlash.
An editorial in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said: “The fact that the drunken party incident has sparked such intense national debate stems from people’s high sensitivity to the actions of public officials, their keen interest in the boundaries of government-business relations, and their deep empathy for the victims.”
Local media reports have identified the accused as having ties to government agencies, one a local official and the other a prominent executive at a branch of a state-backed real estate development company, exactly the kind of officials the Chinese government is urging to curtail excesses.
Some online commentators made this connection, with one saying: “In this day and age, where anti-corruption efforts are so heavy-handed and drinking parties so tightly controlled, it’s truly incredible that these people would dare to act so brazenly.”
But beyond official reporting, the incident has sparked heated public debate on social media about the gender dynamics underlying the alleged assault, with users exchanging their own experiences with corporate drinking culture.
Many people pointed to details of the incident reported in local media, including state-run newspapers, which said the woman, an employee of a real estate company, was summoned by her boss to attend a rally where she was forced to drink alcohol.
While male bosses settle matters, women are often treated as “sacrifices” or “bargaining chips” at these drinking parties, one commentator said in a social media post on Weibo that garnered more than 25,000 likes.
Other social media users said women felt they had little choice but to attend rather than refuse drinks, as those who declined invitations to these dinners could be seen as uncooperative, which could harm their career prospects in China’s competitive job market.
Some commentators criticized how alcohol is being used to “shift the blame” for sexual misconduct from men.
This is not the first time a high-profile sexual assault case has been linked to such a work-related incident. In a highly publicized incident in 2021, a young female employee at tech giant Alibaba accused her boss and a customer of sexual assault after a business dinner.
In a rare judicial victory in such cases, my client was sentenced to 18 months in prison. But the woman who made the accusation, who shared her story in an essay on the company’s intranet, was ultimately fired. The court dismissed the case against her manager, who also lost his job.
In recent years, China has tightened laws and regulations regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. In 2023, it implemented new rules requiring employers to take certain measures to prevent sexual harassment of women. Reforms to the country’s civil law in 2021 have allowed sexual harassment charges to be brought against suspects, but critics say the law as a whole remains underdeveloped and underutilized.
Several companies in Hangzhou have initiated internal liability measures following recent allegations of assault, but official investigations are ongoing, according to political news outlet Guancha.
In a statement, Hangzhou authorities promised to “seriously address this issue without any leniency.”
