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.
©2016 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
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.