 | | Tan Weiwei performed in Xiamen, Fujian Province of China, in 2019.VCG, via Getty Images |
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"Know my name, and remember it. When can we put the tragedy to an end?" |
— From the song "Xiao Juan" about female victims of domestic violence |
Tan Weiwei is a Chinese pop star, but her latest song isn't about relationships or finding love. It's focused on female victims of domestic violence. |
"Know my name, and remember it. When can we put the tragedy to an end?" Ms. Tan sings in "Xiao Juan." The name is the Chinese equivalent of Jane Doe in the United States, given to unknown or unidentified female crime victims. |
Since it was released in December, the song has resonated with millions of women in China. On a video website popular with young Chinese internet users, Bilibili, the video of the song has been viewed more than 1.1 million times. |
The lyrics — which were written by Yin Yue, Ms. Tan's collaborative partner — unleash a litany of references to horrific domestic violence cases that have captured China's attention in recent years. |
A line about using fists, gasoline and sulfuric acid nods to the September murder of Lhamo, a Tibetan farmer whose ex-husband is accused of dousing her in gasoline and setting her on fire. A line about being flushed down the drain, "from wedding bed to riverbed" refers to the July discovery of a woman's dismembered remains in a communal septic tank. Another line — "Stuff my body into a suitcase and put it in a fridge on the balcony" — references a shocking murder case from 2016, when a man in Shanghai killed his wife and hid her remains in a fridge for over 100 days. |
Although China passed an anti-domestic violence law in 2015, it's not well enforced, especially in smaller cities and rural areas, and the cases keep coming. According to Beijing Equality, a women's rights group, Chinese media has reported on the deaths of more than 900 women killed by their partners since the law was enacted in 2016, but it says the actual number is likely much higher. |
Tan Weiwei, also known as Sitar Tan, is one of just a few musicians to address the taboo topic in China — and certainly no other Chinese musician has done so as directly or to such widespread interest. The authorities in China have actively cracked down on feminism and the Me Too movement; and culturally, it's not considered proper to speak openly about these issues: Many Chinese consider it a family matter, observing the phrase that "the disgrace of a family should never be shared outside." In Chinese pop culture, musicians do not usually voice criticism on social issues. |
But the song — one of 11 tracks on Ms. Tan's album dedicated to the lives of ordinary Chinese women — set off an outpouring of discussion of domestic violence on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, and posts with the hashtag "Tan Weiwei's lyric is so bold" have now been viewed over 360 million times. |
Feng Yuan, a professor and the coordinator of the Center for Women's Studies at Shantou University said this song has revealed the inequality and sexism that is entrenched in China's highly patriarchal society. |
"It resonates with many people and also causes discomfort among many people," Ms. Feng said in a phone interview. "She put these extreme stories in front of you. You cannot avoid them; you have to look directly at them." |
 | | A still image from a livestreamed performance of the song "Xiao Juan." |
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After the release of the song, women started to share their own stories of gender violence on social media platforms. Next came stories of grandmothers, mothers and sisters who had been abused by their partners. |
"Her song has become a symbol and platform for people to release their emotions and thoughts on gender violence," said Chen Junmi, 24, who works at a LGBTQ+ rights group in Beijing. "I feel it is very powerful. It is the first time a mainstream pop song singer is willing to talk about gender violence. It is very brave of her to do this." |
But the singer herself didn't call it courage: "It's not bravery but just a sense of responsibility," she wrote on Weibo. |
In an interview with New Weekly, a Chinese lifestyle magazine, Ms. Tan said: "For many Xiao Juan [Jane Does] what was hidden was not only their names, not just their sufferings, but also their dignity as human beings, the joys and sorrows in their lives, their longing and yearning for love." |
Ms. Yin, the lyricist, said in the same interview that she was inspired by the book "Know My Name," by Chanel Miller, a memoir about surviving sexual assault. Ms. Yin said it took her only three hours to finish writing the lyrics because these thoughts and feelings have been with her for years. |
Ms. Yin and Ms. Tan first collaborated in 2016 on a song for the movie "X-Men: Apocalypse" in China — Ms. Yin writing the lyrics and Ms. Tan setting the music. They decided to make an album exploring women's identity after their first collaboration, according to People, a Chinese magazine. |
But the song seems to have landed at the right time, as Chinese women have become more vocal about their rights. As a part of the Me Too movement in China, Chinese women, many of them students, have stepped forward to accuse prominent men of sexual harassment in the media industry, at universities and at religious institutions. A female stand-up comedian mocked men's egos and set off a heated debate on social media last month. And in 2018, a music video adaptation from the American musical "Chicago" highlighting six Chinese women's revenge tales of gender violence went viral on the internet. |
"Only when this kind of pain is truly and widely seen, heard, recognized and accepted, and only when these issues are openly addressed and discussed, will there be the possibility of ending the tragedy in the future," Ms. Yin said in the interview with New Weekly. |
Here are three articles from The Times you may have missed. |
 | | Cori Bush of Missouri.Whitney Curtis for The New York Times |
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- "By the time you see a broken bone, the person has experienced a lot of other damaging behaviors." What defines domestic abuse? Survivors say it's more than assault. Lawmakers are starting to listen. [Read the story]
- "Why did she have Covid worse than me?" Twins with Covid help scientists untangle the disease's genetic roots. [Read the story]
- "There will be times when we see things differently in this room. That's OK. That's part of our democracy." After the Trump White House's undisguised hostility toward reporters, Jen Psaki, President Biden's press secretary, promised to "share the truth, even when it's hard to hear." [Read the story]
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In Her Words is edited by Francesca Donner. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson. |
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