Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #623

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Chinese University Expels Female Student After Relationship With A Foreigner
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hw7fGnNxvXg
By Fu Ting, AP
A Chinese university announced the expulsion of a female student for “damaging national dignity” after she was accused of “improper interactions” with a foreign man, generating heated discussions across Chinese social media about whether the universi- ty had gone too far.
Over the last several days, the expulsion has drawn thousands of comments on platforms such
as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, the Chinese ver- sion of TikTok, many of which question whether the school has the right to judge her personal life and elevate it to a matter of national import.
In an announcement post- ed last week, Dalian Polytechnic University in the country’s northeast declared that the student would be “expelled” in 60 days, saying she violated the university rule against “having improper interac- tions with foreigners that damage national dignity.”
“Your misbehaviors on December 16, 2024, caused a terrible negative impact,” the announcement said, without giving details on what constituted the “misbehaviors.” The univer- sity released her name, but AP is not publishing it out of privacy concern.
The university’s actions illustrate a number of issues percolating in mod- ern Chinese society, includ-
ing discussions around gender bias and a full-on push toward nationalism.
Chinese internet users have connected the accused university student to videos posted by Danylo Teslenko, also known as Zeus, a professional Ukrainian gamer showing him being intimate with an Asian-looking young woman in a hotel room. AP cannot independently verify if the woman in the video is the student.
Some on social media called the school’s decision to expel the student a sign of the “Taliban style,” by which a particular nation or group claims ownership over a woman’s body. Others call it misogyny, asking if a Chinese man
would be considered a “national pride” if he had sex with a foreign woman.
The Paper, a state-run newspaper in Shanghai, said it was not just “inap- propriate” to publish the student’s full name but also “may even violate the Personal Information Protection Law.”
“It is improper to graft pri- vate affairs onto the public domain for public disposal,” said The Paper.
Teslenko, the gamer, con- firmed on Sunday that he posted “a few videos on Telegram with a girl I met in Shanghai” but later deleted them “as soon as I understood the serious- ness of the situation,” according to his post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Our faces were visible, but there was no explicit con- tent or anything disrespect- ful in those videos,” the post said, “I have never said that Chinese girls are easy.”
Media reports said Teslenko and the student met at the final of the Perfect World Shanghai Major, a gaming competi- tion held in December 2024.
An email sent to Dalian Polytechnic University was not immediately answered.
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