Screen capture of the Wechat conversation between the offender and the victim, 4 August 2016. Credit: Bowenpress.com
In June 2016, a case of rape sparked rage and controversies on social media in China, though the discussion quickly dropped from the public eye. Two factors might have contributed to the uniqueness of this case and why it caught such attention: first of all, the offender is a senior journalist of Southern Daily, one of the most liberal newspapers among the very few in China; and two, the victim, an intern at the newspaper, stated that she “did not realise it was rape”.
