In China, victims of sexual violence are not able to speak out as they wish due to pressure from the authorities. 

On March 8, designated as International Women's Day, many women gathered in the streets of Tokyo’s Shibuya area.
"My body is mine!" - a sign said. They held up placards with messages about women's rights and concerns. Some of them had messages written in Chinese.
Kurage (pseudonym) is from China’s Fujian Province and came to Japan four years ago. 

Kurage: "We can’t protest in China."


Kurage used to volunteer as a sex educator at an elementary school in a rural China. There, she saw that sexual abuse of children was rampant.

Kurage: "One girl said that her grandfather did something nasty to her. In rural areas, sexual violence is something that should be hidden. Because it will be hidden, some people think it's okay to do it." 

Disappointed that victims cannot even speak out about sexual assault in her hometown, Ms. Kurage left her country. 

Kurage: "In China, I can no longer do what I want to do. I don’t have a country that I can go back to. There is.. no China that I can go back to."

In China, where it is difficult for sexual abuse victims to raise their voice, a woman filed a lawsuit two years ago. Zhou Xiaoxuan says that she was sexually abused by a male host at a TV station where she interned in 2014 when she was a university student.However, the court rejected her claim in two levels of the trial for lack of physical evidence to prove that there was sexual violence.Two years after the verdict, we visited Zhou. Compared to the time of the court decision two years ago, she appeared gaunt. She said she lost weight and has been in poor health. She keeps the court documents in the a corner of her room.

Zhou: "This is a drawing of the clothes I wore that day."

The day after she was sexually assaulted 10 years ago, Zhou boldly reported the incident to the police.
Instead of investigating, the police pressured her withdraw her complaint.

Zhou: "The police said, 'Don't tell anyone about this. Many fans like him (the accused), and he is China's justice. Don't talk about this anymore."
 
When her supporters gathered in front of the courthouse, they were dispersed. Social media posts in support of Zhou were removed one after another. 

Zhou:"The Chinese media were unable to report any news about this case. But the most frightening thing is that the public is criticizing me for complaining about sexual assault, and I can't even talk about my sorrows."

She said the judge who handed down the decision concluded with the words, "Take this opportunity to find a new life for yourself."

Zhou said she filed the lawsuit because she wanted her abuser to know that he had hurt her. But her message has not yet reached him.

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