The article, Hard Times For Feminists In China by Jiayun Feng, explains in detail how much feminists are under a microscope in China. Chinese government officials are increasingly suppressing feminist discussions on the internet and protests in China. Last January over 500 thousand people attended the Women's March in Washington DC. Although smaller protests like this happen worldwide, the Chinese government hardly ever permits any form of street protests or marches. However, Chinese feminist used WeChat to broadcast live footage of the event and share this historical moment with women all over the world. The WeChat group was called “walking with women from all over the world.”
One WeChat user said, “I wanted to share what I saw with Chinese feminists who couldn’t be there due to geographical limitation,” she said. “It is ironic that to skirt censorship, we couldn’t even include words like march (游行 yóuxíng) or protest (抗议 kàngyì) in our group’s name.”
One important issue that Chinese feminist focus on is domestic violence. Domestic violence in Chinese culture is looked at quite differently then in the west. In Chinese culture, people usually do not get involved or look the other way if they see a women getting abused by a man because they think they're a couple. In our culture, being a bystander makes you almost as guilty as the person committing the crime. In the west, it is completely illegal to be a bystander and children are taught in schools at a very young age that "if you see something, say something." In Chinese culture it is completely different.
Cecilia Xu on Weibo stated, “There is a Chinese saying that ‘the less trouble the better (多一事不如少一事),’ especially when it comes to other people’s family affairs,” explained Cecilia Xu. “When we see a man beating up a woman, we tend to think they are a couple.”
The media plays a crucial role for feminists in China. For example, about a year ago a women was attacked by a man in a hotel and one of the staff members recorded it. Instead of the staff member calling the cops or intervening, he posted the video on Weibo and it went viral. Although in Chinese culture police do not get involved with "personal matters," the video outraged thousands of people and police were forced to make an arrest. Violence against women and a bystanders responsibly are some serious issues in China. It was only in 2016 where the first domestic violence law was past.