After brutal attack, Chinese women are turning to self-defence classes

Demand has grown since a group of men assaulted four female diners at a restaurant in Tangshan last month

Videos have also surfaced online that teach women moves such as putting an attacker in a headlock

Reading Time:3 minutes

Women take a self-defence class at Jiufu Boxing in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Tom Wang

Published: 6:00pm, 3 Jul 2022

“The most vulnerable part of a man’s body is his crotch,” trainer Liu Hongdou tells an all-women class at Jiufu Boxing in Beijing.

Liu explains precisely where they should strike, then they take turns kicking sandbags. She tells the women that hitting the man is not the ultimate goal – the goal is to inflict extreme pain to create a brief window to escape.

Liu has been offering the free self-defence class to women in Beijing for more than two weeks, and they are not alone.

Demand has grown in China for classes like these since four women were brutally attacked by a group of men at a restaurant in the northern city of Tangshan in Hebei last month – an incident captured on surveillance footage that has caused widespread outrage.

A day after the video was posted online, searches for “women’s self-defence” went up seven times, according to the Baidu Index. There were more than 815,000 searches on Weibo that day.

Footage of the June 10 attack went viral and shows the women being dragged by their hair, slapped to the ground and kicked. Two of them ended up in hospital. Nine suspects, including two women, were later arrested, a deputy police chief was sacked and five officers are being investigated but it has done little to ease public anger.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x