21 replies to this topic

[Algernon]

China: Outrage as 'Underage Prostitution' Law Protects Child Rapists

Four government and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who gang-raped a 12 year old school girl in a small town in Shaanxi province in October 2011, have been charged with ‘prostituting an underage girl'. The local police have claimed that as the defendants had sexual intercourse with the girl in both September and early October respectively, the act does not fall under the definition of ‘gang-rape' (even though the girl had been forced into sex).

In China, the penalty for child rape ranges between ten years imprisonment to the death sentence, while underage prostitution is punished by just three to ten years imprisonment and in some cases having sex with underage girls is not considered a crime.

Public outcry

The Shaanxi case is not the first time that Chinese government officials have saved themselves from harsh legal punishments by ‘reclassifying' their crime. In 2009 alone, a large number government officials from Guizhou, Fujiang, Zhejiang and Sichuan all applied the same legal tactics to defend their own child rape cases.

Since 2008, People's Representatives have been calling for the replacement of the criminal law on underage prostitution with child rape. Earlier this year, representatives from the All China Women Federation put forward a joint-signature campaign during the People's Congress. However, their appeal has not been taken seriously. Those who are against the law amendment have not even responded publicly to the issue.

University Professor Xiao Xuehui has continued to push for the abolition of the underage prostitution law in a public forum organized by Netease after the Shaanxi case. This excerpt is from a transcript of her talk via China Elections :

‘Underage prostitution' is another invention of this imperial dynasty. The ridicule premise of this crime is that the underage girl is a mature individual capable of making her own choice free from manipulation. The conclusion is to put a ‘prostitution label' onto the victim of sexual crime. This is a double victimization of child victim under the name of Chinese law.

We should pay attention to the fact that all the people who have been charged under this criminal law have been government officials: a judge, the head of a Tax Bureau, a school principal, a town mayor, etc. The latest case in Shaanxi and the previous cases in Guizhou, Sichuan and Fujian are all similar. The purpose of the law seems to serve the purpose of the protection of government officials' interests by reducing their responsibility in a crime. And it is quite a logical conclusion amongst common people.

History of the law

Some pro-government online commentators have tried to defend the Shaanxi police by quoting previous court cases. Critical netizens then started researching who was responsible for the legislation and interpretation of the law. Online magazine ACFun has a special issue on ‘Abolition of Underage Prostitution Law' and traced the law back to the 1997 reform of the criminal law system . After the reform ‘underage prostitution' was differentiated from child rape.

Weibo user Pu Can digs into the judicial record and finds out that:

Since 1997 a large number of cases have been tried under the charge of ‘underage prostitution'. Within three years, similar cases have increased 20 times. The former Deputy Judge of the PRC Supreme Court, Huang Xiongyao, further interpreted the law in 2003: “If the defendant does not know the girl is under 14 years old and sexual relations are mutually agreed without serious consequences, it should not be regarded a crime.” — The imperial dynasty is determined to help their officials to nourish their health. [Ancient lore believes that having sex with virgins will lengthen the life of a man]

Tianya forum user Girssonlin looks into Huang's legal point in detail:

Let's take a look at the most evil part of the interpretation: “The subject of this crime is very special. Not only that they are under 14, but also that they are underage prostitutes. If the defendant has sexual intercourse with an underage girl who is not a prostitute, it is rape. What needs to be stressed is that if the underage girls are doing this voluntarily, it is self-explantory that she is aware of the nature of her prostituting act. If the underage girls are under the control of or forced into prostitution by a third party, even if she is not aware of the nature of her act, the contextual evidence can still prove that it is prostitution.”

In simple terms, no matter if an underage girl is forced to have sexual relations or not, if there is a pimp, it is regarded as prostitution. It is obvious that the legal interpretation is designed to protect the criminal rather than the underage girls.

How can such a ridiculous interpretation exist in China? The answer may lie with Huang Xiongyao, deputy judge of the China Supreme Court between 2002-08, who was found guilty of corruption in January 2010 and sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2010. The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece in Hong Kong, Tai Kung Daily, has exposed that Huang has a 'special interest' in underage girls (via Xinhuanet).

Of course, the above facts still do not explain why the Chinese government still refuses to amend the law and protect the further victimization of children in China. According to data from the Letter Petition Office of the All China Women Federation , reports of children sexual abuse cases increased from 135 in the latter half of 1997 to 2,948 in 1998, 3,619 in 1999 and 3,081 in 2000. The number of cases has also increased rapidly in the past few years.

-Source

[Lavinia]

That is vile and disgusting.

It's worrying that people in such a position and power seem to get away with such foul deeds. It's sickening. I feel so horrible knowing that the poor girl had to go through that, and I'm sure many others do go through the same issue. Having said that, it's wrong of me to say, but it's unsurprising to hear such a story arising from China. It's shocking and disgusting, but I feel like China has more things hidden that we don't know about, and this is just a mere touch of the surface. In all honesty, a personal opinion of mine, China needs a lot of help and their laws governing officials reforming/being seen to. But that's the case with a lot of other countries.

[Algernon]

That is vile and disgusting.

It's worrying that people in such a position and power seem to get away with such foul deeds. It's sickening. I feel so horrible knowing that the poor girl had to go through that, and I'm sure many others do go through the same issue. Having said that, it's wrong of me to say, but it's unsurprising to hear such a story arising from China. It's shocking and disgusting, but I feel like China has more things hidden that we don't know about, and this is just a mere touch of the surface. In all honesty, a personal opinion of mine, China needs a lot of help and their laws governing officials reforming/being seen to. But that's the case with a lot of other countries.

Well, as the article says: Since 1997 a large number of cases have been tried under the charge of ‘underage prostitution'. Within three years, similar cases have increased 20 times.

Vile and disgusting, indeed.

[Reflection]

Vile and disgusting, indeed.

Indeed.

[elicitToxicity]

Yum. I rape little girls all the time.

[Gangsta Fag]

They are communist party members after all. It's only fair that everybody gets a piece.

[Its only Ross..]

What the hell D= . Some people in this world make me sick -.- doing something as wrong as that.. They should be shot.

[teensuicide]

What the hell D= . Some people in this world make me sick -.- doing something as wrong as that.. They should be shot.

Such a cliched reaction. Claiming they should be shot doesn't exactly put you on high moral ground either, buddy.

[Its only Ross..]

Such a cliched reaction. Claiming they should be shot doesn't exactly put you on high moral ground either, buddy.

true true -.- just gets me angry

[Gangsta Fag]

Welcome to China, kiddos.

[Lavinia]

Yum. I rape little girls all the time.

I don't mean to sound cruel or nasty, and I'm sorry if this offends (which it probably will, I stick my foot in my mouth often enough)
but.. Looking at your location, your statement is quite honestly believable.

[Its only Ross..]

Welcome to China, kiddos.

Waw wasnt expecting that ><' .. poor kid =/

[LionJess]

Although I believe that something like child rape should never be seen in terms of the punishment (simply because something like that tends to, and SHOULD, affect people so viscerally that the reaction shouldn't be 'so how were they punished', but more like 'how could someone do that'), how this crime is treated seems absolutely sick. Chinas judicial system in generally seems to be incredibly fucked up and doesn't protect its citizens from crimes at all - of course, I'm saying that based off media stories which could well be reported entirely differently to how things actually are.
In ANY country though, the law system is usually incredibly fucked especially with 'definitions' and if you can change from murder to manslaughter it can hugely affect your sentence. Quite hateful altogether.


I'd be interested to know Sarc's thoughts, I believe he lived there for quite some time.

[PageNotFound404]

They are communist party members after all. It's only fair that everybody gets a piece.

*Sigh* This is disgusting, indeed, but blaming it on different political spectrum is just plain retarded. The laziest way to make a bickering while making yourself look like a patriot/moral high ground. If you're going to apply McCarthyism in your argument then you might as well being irrational as a judge in Salem Witch Trials.

It's like saying people who follow Democracy are obese, war-mongers or ignorant. Now I'm not going to assume things like that, I'm not a Klansman or a Nazi to make such racist slurs. I'm not die-hard communist either, just a regular Vietnamese teenager. Instead I'll take this argument from my observations plus my own knowledge to back up my words, might as well try to enlighten people a bit:

"The media is the most powerful entity in the world" quoted by MalcomX. "Official sources" from the governments or corporations are always shady, more or less, not just from totalitarian states but anywhere in the world. Propaganda spread by the wealthy and greedy, or by the ones with power in one's country, who could be the people against the government or by a filthy rich CEO pulling the string, who knows? A lack of diversity, a failure to include varied points of the story, this is usually caused by different communities, race, gender etc However, let's put it this way: In Communist states they have their censorship, while many Americans are only shown one side of the picture and the news in controlled by the big network that run down all other system and claiming the american free capitalist system is the best, same shit.

Although media biased is seen often, I understand it is tough to balance out the elements without having to worry about "offending" someone. No sir, each to their own. But by talking bombs and explicitly declaring "Communism is bad" is the plain definition of ignorance. Look, Communism is only good for developing countries. People don't realize how fast China has developed over the 50 years. Because Communism ban private enterprise and religions, America is full of Christians and down to earth capitalists. No wonder the two fight like milk mix with orange juice. There aren't even a true Communist state. There has always been socialist and socialist only, get your shit straight. Food for thought, despite us are often seen as being pro-China, we Vietnamese are pissed of what China has done to us. Hell, EVERYONE is pissed at what China has done to them, even the Chinese. They're consuming way too much fossil fuels for their own good; The huge debts that they own China; The products that they make usually come up intoxicate or just plain rip-off. Not anywhere far, in Vietnam, China was fighting with us between an island that is believed to have oil on it. They proceeded to violate Vietnam's sovereignty, cutting off the oil exploration cable of a ship. They keep threatening us and overall being a total douche and generally annoying.

The video you showed was all over the news in our country, people got so mad at the Chinese. OF COURSE WE ALL GOT MAD, that baby got ran over by cars! What kind of human would not shed tears in front of such horrific accident? Oh let me guess, the Communists? Apparently they aren't people now are they? We totally ignored the mother who cried for the child, and proceed to assume that all Chinese are cruel, heartless people? Fuck, I've heard about people in rich, well educated western countries stab their own baby to death for the sake of religion, or mother that locked her own kids in the closet to go out party, leaving two to die of starvation. I learned these scandals from a western news report. Is that supposed to be biased too? Or the media just fooled me again? And no, I wasn't watching FOX news, we all know they're full of shits. Remember, assholes come in every colors.


What pissed me off the most is that everyone in here seems to at least try and balance their interpretation on such a sensitive topic. Politics are always whacky, and people whack over each others like child's fight. But you, you just love to jump on bandwagons and play the role of a white supremacist and just accusing matters just like "Who stole the cookie in the cookie jar".


Anyway, there has been so much controversy between China and communism, scandals, whatever. People need to chill the fuck out and see the lies between the words. The cold war was based on mutual fear and this is how messy it can get.

All we Asians have to do is use an equation to solve a debate. English is variable based on who reads the paper. Also I normally don't trust American kids to read geography, they tend to confuse trivial things quite a bit.





Are you having recall? The cold war ended a decade ago, so stop being butthurt and get over it.

[Gangsta Fag]

Dem Slopes be mad.

[PageNotFound404]

lol Americans

[Dickmilk Explosions]

We all want to touch children sometimes, also:

[AllisonStarti]

UH. Darn it.

[AutumnaL EquinoX]

Child gets raped? Disturbing.
The government condoning it? Far worse.

Also.
"Typical reaction in which the poster states that the perpetrator of said heinous act should be the target of an act of violence"
"Typical reaction to the above post in which the poster says something along the lines of violence isn't the answer"

Congratulations, we now have the typical reactions out of the way. Let's not continue to do that.

[2daysnightmare]

Thats sick