Chinese-language platform forced to close over links to teacher accused of rape in Lin Yi-han case
- Authorities in Fuzhou step in after social media users see name of tutor investigated after writer’s suicide in 2017 being used by education company
- Lin took her life soon after the publication of her novel about a young girl being seduced and raped by her teacher
Education authorities in southeast China have ordered the closure of an online Chinese-language learning platform over its links to a Taiwanese schoolteacher once accused of raping novelist Lin Yi-han, who took her own life at the age of 26 in 2017.
Soon after her death, Lin’s parents accused Chen Kuo-hsing, a Chinese-language teacher at a cram school in Taiwan of sexually abusing their daughter when she was at high school.
The allegations were driven by the content of Lin’s novel, Fang Siqi’s First Love Paradise, which tells the story of a teenage girl who is seduced and raped by a middle-aged teacher at a cram school, and which Lin’s parents said was autobiographical.
Although Chen admitted to having had an affair with Lin after she had left school, he denied ever raping her. An investigation was launched, but prosecutors concluded they did not have enough evidence to proceed with a case against Chen.
The latest controversy emerged over the weekend when a social media user posted a message saying Chen, using an alter ego, was the man behind “Chen Yi’s Chinese Language Class”, an online programme presented by E-Fly Foreign Language Training School in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province.
The post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging service, sparked widespread condemnation, with more than 100,000 people forwarding, liking or commenting on it.
“I can’t forget Lin Yi-han’s book, which reads more like a suicide note written in blood,” one person wrote. “How can the school be fit for education with such oversight?”
The school responded with two statements over the weekend in which it denied having any financial dealings with Chen or that he was on its payroll.
It said that although the teacher had visited the school as part of an exchange programme in March last year and later given four online lectures, it was unaware of the allegations against him.
The school said it named the training platform after Chen as it understood he was a famous teacher in Taiwan and thought that doing so would be good for business.
“What the teacher had done before in Taiwan was unknown to us until the [online] expression of public sentiment,” it said.
In a statement issued on Monday morning, Fuzhou’s Education Bureau backed the school’s claim that it had not had any financial dealings with Chen and said it might have exaggerated its relationship with the teacher in its publicity material.
The four lectures presented by Chen on the platform were intended as training aids for teachers, but had also been viewed by some parents, the bureau said, adding that he had not had any contact with students.
Despite its findings, the bureau said it had ordered the training school to close the platform and take remedial action regarding its links to Chen.
If you or someone you know are having suicidal thoughts, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 800 273 8255. For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.
