China Local News
Shocking Video Shows Women Beating Up Alleged Mistress in Anhui
A shocking video showing multiple women hitting and kicking an alleged ‘mistress’ in broad daylight has become a topic of much discussion on Sina Weibo, where the many different reactions show ambivalent attitudes on China’s mistress culture.
Another video showing a violent public scene is making its rounds on Sina Weibo. According to various Weibo netizens, the scene was filmed by eyewitnesses in Bozhou, Anhui province – it allegedly involves a married woman beating up her husband’s mistress (xiaosan 小三).
The explicit video shows one woman hitting and kicking a half-naked woman who is laying on the street with torn clothes. Three other women also participate in beating up and humiliating the woman, while about twenty bystanders stand around in a circle watching the scene unfold, including some children.[June 30: the video has been removed by YouTube for containing graphic violence, even though published in a news context. Please watch video through this link.]
As confirmed by What’s on Weibo, the scene indeed took place in the city of Bozhou, at the intersection of Guangming West Street (光明西路) and Tang Wang Main Street (汤王大道), near the entrance of a big apartment compound (帝景花园) as pictured in the Baidu maps image below.
Online reactions to the video are manifold. There are many netizens speaking out against the violent woman: “Being a mistress is a moral problem, but hitting somebody and tearing off their clothes is breaking the law,” one netizen says. Another person comments: “What a bitch! No wonder her husband has another woman!”
“Mind your own husband and don’t go hitting other people,” one commenter says: “This is an infringement of human rights. If you no longer sleep with your husband he will find a mistress. You should take better care of your husband’s private parts. Your charm is gone.”
“Beating your husband’s mistress like this is just too much,” one person writes: “This isn’t all her fault. In the end, this involves three people.”
But there are also those who think the beaten woman on the street got what she deserved: “This serves her right! Regardless of the law, this woman deserves to lose face.”
The practice of having a mistress or a ‘second wife’ has become ubiquitous in China since the market-reform era. For some, becoming a mistress has even become a career choice.
According to Jemimah Steinfeld, author of Little Emperors and Material Girls: Youth and Sex in Modern China, there is a subtle difference between being a so-called ‘second wife’ (ernai 二奶) or being a ‘mistress'(xiaosan 小三): “In certain instances ernai graduate into xiaosan – a third party – those who have fallen in love with the man and wish for him to leave his wife” (2015, 91). Different from the ‘second wife’ who merely is an extra woman the man entertains himself with, the xiaosan is a bigger danger to his marriage, because they expect to marry the man they are seeing, Steinfeld writes.
The ‘xiaosan‘ phenomenon is commonplace, and can evoke strong reactions. As one female Weibo user says: “Those who sympathize with this xiaosan obviously never had a husband who had one before, otherwise you would not be so calm about it and you wouldn’t say that beating her is wrong.”
The overall anger against ‘xiaosan’ is also visible in the video, where many women stand by the woman who initally beats the woman, as they join in and vent their anger on her.
Last year, these types of videos showing furious women beating up their husband’s alleged mistress even became some sort of trend, with a chain of videos popping up on the internet showing comparable scenes. The trend seems to continue. Just a few days ago, the Shanghaiist reported how another suspected mistress was also beaten in broad daylight by the husband’s wife and her mother.
The many discussions on Weibo show that the topic of China’s mistress culture is very much alive.
There are also commenters that do not say anything about the mistress-issue, but are angered that so many people stand by without doing anything. “The bystanders are just enjoying the scene!” one netizen says, posting an angry emoticon. “Where is the police in this matter?” another person wonders.
Although this topic became trending on Weibo on June 26, it is yet unknown who the women in the video are. This story will be updated if any more information about the incident is released.
– By Manya Koetse
References
Steinfeld, Jemimah. 2015. Little Emperors and Material Girls: Sex and Youth in Modern China. London: IB Tauris.
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China Local News
Six Chinese Students Dead After Falling Into Flotation Tank During Mine Visit
After six students drowned in a mine tank, social media users question safety precautions and media framing.
🔥 Quick Take: Trending in China
This is a brief update from our curated roundup of what’s trending in China this week. A version of this story also appears in the Weibo Watch newsletter. Subscribe to stay in the loop.
The tragic death of six Chinese students during a visit to the Wunugetushan Copper-Molybdenum Mine (乌努格吐山铜钼矿) in Inner Mongolia has been trending on Chinese social media this week.
The students, who study mineral processing engineering at the School of Resources & Civil Engineering Northeastern University (东北大学), visited the site as part of their studies on Wednesday, July 23.
The facility, which operates under the state-owned China National Gold Group Corporation (中国黄金集团), includes a mineral processing plant where ore is crushed and processed using flotation cells to separate copper and molybdenum concentrate from waste rock.
The students were standing on a metal grate above a deep industrial tank used for mineral processing. The grate then suddenly collapsed, and they fell into the flotation tank, which was filled with mineral slurry (see this video to better understand the situation).
The tank was deep, and once inside, the slurry made it impossible to swim.
By the time the students were taken out of the tank, they had already drowned. They were all aged between 20 and 22. One of their teachers was injured in the incident.
According to Sohu News, citing a preliminary accident investigation report, the direct cause of the incident was a pre-existing crack in the grate above the tank, which caused the entire panel to flip and fall off. The grates had been replaced in February but were not properly tested. The site also lacked warning signs about load capacity and reportedly did not restrict the number of people allowed to stand on it.
Three people responsible for safety measures at the site, including the deputy general manager, have now been placed under criminal detention.
Besides the many questions surfacing online about how such a gruesome accident could have occurred, there is also criticism of how the media has reported on the incident. Some outlets mentioned that the 45 other intern students—presumably also present during the visit—were “emotionally stable,” and that the teacher who was injured was in a “good mental state.”
One blogger criticized these phrases, which are often used in media reports following similar incidents. While they appear to describe the psychological condition of survivors or bystanders, the author argued that they are more political than psychological: their real function is to signal to readers that—despite the loss of life—the situation remains under control.
After the online criticism, the Weibo hashtag “45 Intern Students from Northeastern University Are Emotionally Stable” (#东北大学45名实习学生情绪平稳#) has since been taken offline.
At the time of writing, the official website of Northeastern University has been changed to black and white.
By Manya Koetse
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🔥 Quick Take: Trending in China – Week 18
This is a brief update from our curated roundup of what’s trending in China this week. A version of this story also appears in the Weibo Watch newsletter. Subscribe to stay in the loop.
An enormous fire that happened at a restaurant in Liaoning’s Liaoyang on the afternoon of April 29 (see video) has gone top trending on Chinese social media, mainly due to the fact that it caused so many fatalities.
By 7pm, Chinese official media reported that the fire, which happened at 12:25 in the city’s Baita district, had killed 22 people. Three people were injured.
The fire started on the second floor of the restaurant Sanli Chuniang (三里厨娘/Sanli Chef’s Daughter) on Minzhu Road (民主路) and quickly spread throughout the entire two-story brick-concrete structure, which covers an area of about 260 square meters. The windy weather also played a part in how quickly the fire spread. The fire broke out around lunchtime, when there were many customers.
The restaurant before and after the fire.
Some sources on Xiaohongshu report that, according to witnesses, toxic smoke filled the entire building in less than five minutes. The thick smoke, small spaces inside the two-story building, and limited escape routes — some of which were allegedly blocked — all contributed to the high number of fatalities. Some victims were reportedly just ten meters away from the exit, yet still failed to escape.
According to Caixin, the restaurant’s second floor had several private rooms without windows.
To make matters worse, some nearby vehicles were not moved in time, hindering the rescue operations.
Sanli Chuniang was a locally popular restaurant serving various Chinese dishes, snacks, and dumplings. It was in business since 2016.
On social media, many commenters are expressing shock and sadness over the deadly fire. They also want answers into why there seemed to have been little to no fire safety precautions at the establishment.
The last time a restaurant fire with many fatalities made major headlines in China was in 2023, when a gas explosion inside a BBQ restaurant in Yinchuan resulted in 31 deaths. Nine people, including the restaurant owner, were later arrested in connection with the fire and the lack of safety precautions.
Some reports on the Liaoyang restaurant fire have now been removed, but it appears that the restaurant had been operating illegally since 2023 and that its fire safety inspections were not up to date.
Guancha reported that while the cause of the fire is still under investigation, the restaurant owner has been taken into custody.
🔄 Update 1: Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued a statement regarding the devastating fire, calling on local authorities to hold those responsible accountable and to properly handle matters related to the victims and console their families.
Premier Li Qiang also emphasized that local authorities across China should screen for fire hazards and strengthen safety measures to prevent such major accidents from occurring.
🔄 Update 2: Preliminary investigations have ruled out arson or gas leakage as the cause of the fire. The specific cause of the incident is still under investigation, focusing on leftover cigarette butts that might have started the fire or possible electrical faults. The restaurant’s furniture and interior materials were highly flammable, and strong winds outside caused the fire to spread quickly and block the exits. This made it difficult for those trapped inside to escape. Most victims died from asphyxiation after inhaling large amounts of toxic smoke in a short time.
As definite results have not yet been issued at the time of writing (May 6), some netizens are wondering: “When can we expect to hear more?”
By Manya Koetse
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Ed Sander
June 26, 2016 at 8:27 pm
The whole xiao san/er nai/xiao jie culture in China is much, much more complex than the western ‘affair’. Recommended reading to try to understand it is Anxious Wealth by John Osberg. Red Lights by Tiantian Zheng and Behind the Red Door by Richard Burger also offer more insights into the sex life of some succesful Chinese man, which rarely involves their wifes.
At the end of the day the most immoral person is the husband, although there often are reasons beyond sex for his immoral behaviour. Still, it always amazes me that the wifes take it out on the xiao san instead of their husbands.
Rob
June 30, 2016 at 4:27 am
Yeah – when one considers that men often hide their relationship status from the xiao san, I find it hard to hold them entirely culpable (at least not as culpable as the husband); certainly not deserving of this kind of public shaming. It is the husband who should be dealt with, but odds are if the wife turned on him and tried beating him and publically shaming him, he’d divorce her and leave her with nothing.
Nicole
July 23, 2016 at 3:17 am
What about some girls knowingly trap and seduce married men? I knew my co-worker seduced an white married man who she works for. Although the man told her he could not leave his wife and kids she still showed up at his hotel lobby. He asked us to help him. He admitted that he slept with her a couple times after team building dinners, when she followed in to his hotel.
Rob
June 30, 2016 at 4:25 am
I’d like to see the wife try that on her husband.
Telva Singer
July 24, 2016 at 7:06 am
Who’s to say she hasn’t?
Jacob Khan
July 16, 2016 at 3:35 pm
Chinese women like to screw foreigners and be kept. Their men are insensitive money grubbing small dick girlish eunuchs. In China women who have not had it good for long will risk it against a wall next to their husbands (in another room) if i is available.
Telva Singer
July 24, 2016 at 7:10 am
If the mistress had no idea she was involved with a married man, then I feel bad for her. However, if she did know and continued to sleep with him anyway, then she took a very big risk. Wives are not kind to mistresses, as one can see in this video. When sleeping with a married man, one would do well to consider that the wife at home might be not only angry, but possibly psychotic. The wife above was likely in the angry category. A spurned psychotic woman could very well bring and untimely end to not only the affair, but someone’s life. So ladies, ask yourself if it’s worth the risk when getting ready to bed a married man.
Telva Singer
July 24, 2016 at 7:12 am
And just to be clear, no, I do not think it’s right or even necessary to beat the mistress in public, in private, or anywhere else. It might be what you want to do, but it surely will not improve the situation. Just divorce your spouse and let the mistress make her way to the pharmacy for Valtrex.