#MeToo in China: married academic fired from Shanghai university after affair with student who fell pregnant and had an abortion
- Academic was a professor at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a leading doctor at the affiliated Shuguang Hospital
- An investigation by university found he had ‘seriously violated professional ethics’
A renowned professor and doctor in Shanghai has been fired after one of his female students revealed that the married man had an affair with her and that she had an abortion after falling pregnant with his child.
An investigation by the university into the student’s claim revealed Li Qi, a professor from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a leading doctor at the affiliated Shuguang Hospital, “seriously violated professional ethics as a tutor and caused bad social influence”, the university said in a statement on Friday.
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The man also risks losing his tutoring qualification as a disqualification request from the university is pending approval from the education authority, according to the statement.
The student, who is in the second year of her master’s course, issued a long post in anonymity on Weibo on Wednesday accusing Li of gradually coercing her into a romantic relationship while telling others she was mentally unstable after she had an abortion and suffered sleeping problems.
She also alleged that Li had affairs with other female students by promising to help them publish papers and offering opportunities for jobs or overseas study.
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Li denied all the accusations on Thursday in a statement to digital news app Feidian Video, calling them “groundless”.
But the denial was soon rejected by the university, which vowed to maintain its “zero tolerance” attitude towards violations of teacher’s ethics.
The academic sphere has remained a major battlefront in China’s #Me Too movement against sexual abuse and harassment since it burst into view in the country four years ago.
Li is just one of the many academics who lost their jobs for taking sexual advantage of female students by using their social status and power since then.
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In June last year, a professor from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a university in central China’s Wuhan city, had his teaching qualification revoked after a student of his complained online that she had endured 20 months of sexual harassment from him despite her repeated refusal of his advances.
She only made the case public after completing her master’s study because he threatened to obstruct her graduation, she said.
