China Probes Teacher Over Student’s Death, Abuse Allegations

The death by suicide of a young woman in the southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has rocked China, as her family fights for justice and local authorities investigate whether her former high school teacher had sexually assaulted her.

The woman, surnamed Fu, was 23 years old when she died by suicide on Jan. 17. But the case gained national attention only on Monday, when her cousin, surnamed Nong, accused Fu’s high school physics teacher, Tang Yuwen, of manipulating Fu into a relationship when she was just 15.

In a press release late Tuesday night, authorities in Baise, Guangxi, announced the preliminary findings of their investigation, saying that Tang had “violated the morals of the teaching profession.” Tang has been fired from his position and placed under criminal detention pending the results of a full investigation.

In a minute-long video posted to microblogging site Weibo, Nong accused Tang of sexually harassing and assaulting her cousin from 2017 to 2020.

“The three years of high school were the darkest years for my cousin. They severely impacted her life, and she could not escape the shadow of sexual assault,” Nong says in the video. “Tang’s actions were simply inhuman and worse than that of a beast.”

Along with the video, Nong provided multiple screenshots of chats between Fu and Tang, excerpts from Fu’s diary, and medical assessments showing that Fu had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and severe depression.

According to excerpts from Fu’s diary shared by Nong, Tang repeatedly forced her to attend “extra lessons” and began sexually assaulting her during her freshman year, when she was just 15. Chat logs between the two also show Tang, who was married at the time, telling Fu he was in love with her and threatening her if she did not comply.

The legal age of consent in China is 14, though a 2021 law raised it to 16 in cases involving a female minor and a guardian, educator, caregiver, or other authority figure.

Other members of Fu’s family have also accused Tang of misconduct. Her mother, identified only by her surname, Liang, told domestic media Tuesday that Fu had mentioned Tang’s behavior as early as her second year of high school, but asked her mother not to call the police.

Liang said she had confronted Tang at the time, but the teacher denied the accusations.

Fu was diagnosed with severe depression in 2019 and did not take part in the college entrance exam in 2020. Despite her struggles, she returned to her hometown to prepare for the exam the following year, scoring high enough to enroll in the physics program at East China Normal University in Shanghai.

Fu continued to struggle with depression, however, and suspended her undergraduate studies in late 2021.

Hashtags related to Fu’s case had been viewed over 140 million times on Weibo as of publication, with many users taking the opportunity to discuss the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault on campus.

According to Weng Tongyan, a senior judge with China’s Supreme People’s Court, sexual crimes against underage individuals have been on the rise. Over 90% of such crimes are committed by people known to the victim.

Lawmakers have attempted to toughen laws against sexual crimes involving minors in recent years. A 2021 revision to China’s Criminal Law states that anyone responsible for the guardianship, adoption, education, or medical care of a female minor between the ages of 14 and 16 who engages in sexual relations with her can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. (The revision did not extend protections to male minors.)

Those who use their position to rape or molest a minor are also subject to a professional ban.

While legal experts cautioned that the criminal investigation is still underway, Tang’s position as Fu’s teacher means he could face criminal charges if he had a sexual relationship with her before she turned 16.

“As long as the person with caregiving responsibilities has sexual relations with a female minor, it constitutes a crime regardless of whether she consents,” Gao Yifei, a law professor at Guangxi University, told domestic media Wednesday.

In her diary, Fu occasionally compared herself to Fang Si-chi, the protagonist in the famous 2017 biographical novel “Fang Si-chi’s First Love Paradise,” by Taiwanese novelist Lin Yi-han. In the book, Fang is also sexually assaulted by a teacher.

Two months after publishing the novel, Lin died by suicide.

In China, Shanghai’s 24-hour mental health hotline can be reached at 962525. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached for free at 1-800-273-8255. A full list of prevention services by country can be found here.

(Header image: Xijian/Getty Creative/VCG)