Campaign to deter sexual harassment at art schools

Three central government departments have launched a special regulatory campaign against art training institutions after recent allegations of sexual harassment committed by the founder of a well-known art institution caught attention online.

Jointly run by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Market Regulation, the campaign will strictly address any sexual assault and harassment against students by people working at the institutions, according to a release by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

It also targets institutions without licensing and tutors without qualifications, and aims to root out misconduct including false advertising, pricing fraud and helping students cheat in art exams.

Local governments should enhance cooperation among different agencies, the departments said, and a national and local reporting mechanism will be set up to receive tips from the public.

Chinese students can take additional art exams to get into art school majors in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao. Many students resort to art training institutions to improve their scores.

In September, netizens accused Zhao Weixian, a student at Beijing Film Academy's directing department, of sexually harassing more than 20 female students, and luring or forcing them into wearing swimsuits or short shorts under the guise of doing his directing homework.

They also alleged that Zhao made sexual innuendoes and borrowed online Baidu storage accounts from more than 200 students to download private pictures.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau said on Sept 21 that it had detained a student surnamed Zhao on suspicion of violating laws and committing crimes. Beijing Film Academy confirmed in a post on the same day that the student detained by the police was Zhao Weixian.

In September, Shi Ziyi, another student from the university and an influencer with more than 1.5 million followers on the microblogging site Weibo, claimed that she was also harassed by Zhao.

She also claimed that she had been sexually harassed by Du Yingzhe, founder of Yingluzhantai, an art training institution.

A day later, the bureau said it had detained a 40-year-old man surnamed Du, who works at an art training institution. Both cases are under investigation.

Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the regulation targeting art training institutions should be as strict as academic ones and people working at such institutions who have sexually harassed students need to be dealt with seriously.