The woman and an accomplice allegedly used similar threats to bring seven other rural schoolgirls to a rented apartment. There, the girls were stripped, beaten, and kept in one locked room. Over 18 days in September , they were taken to hotels and raped repeatedly by at least four men, including a retired local government official and a village head.
The girls were beaten into submission and forced to watch and wait their turn, according to official media. It is unclear whether the perpetrators were ever punished. Following years of lobbying from activists, Chinese lawmakers have finally struck out the controversial crime and reclassified it as rape. And the ongoing crackdown on human rights lawyers and civil society β including the Feb. Child trafficking cases have been growing since There were cases of underage sex crimes between the years and with people sentenced, but in alone, authorities arrested people in relation to underage sex crimes.
No official breakdown of the cases is available. Legal scholar Duan Xiaosong described that crime in her study as one of the most controversial offenses in Chinese criminal law, since it suggests children could have the ability to freely choose sex work. The older girls in the Yingkou case received less compensation from their attackers, probably because some laws in China have two categories for minors: those under the age of 14, and those aged 14 to It is unclear from media reports whether prosecutors filed any charges in relation to the rapes of five Yingkou girls aged 14 or older.
The problem is long running. A case from had first raised wider public awareness and sparked a campaign to fix loopholes in sexual assault legislation.
Soon Chinese news websites were awash in information about the case. The case enraged the public. They delivered proposals to lawmakers in , , and , but these efforts failed to amend the law. The previous maximum penalty for the crime was 15 years behind bars. With the new classification, the crime could mean life in prison, or in some cases, death. Advocates celebrated the decision, telling FP that it is a rare example of how years of advocacy can lead to legal reform.
