GONE GIRL

Tennis player Peng Shuai is the latest high-profile case embroiled in China’s ongoing campaign of censorship. But what does the saga tell us about Beijng’s grip on power?

- Luke Mintz and Sophia Yan

As a child in the enormous, crowded Chinese city of Tianjin, doctors told Peng Shuai she would never play tennis profes-sionally because of a heart defect. Unperturbed, she underwent heart surgery aged 12, and by 15 had broken into China’s national tennis scene. She became known for her ferocious style of play, and her rare tendency to return a serve with a two-handed forehand. In her late teens, she bristled at attempts by Communist Party apparatchiks to collect two-thirds of her earnings. Eventually, she was allowed to keep her money, as long as she “brought glory” upon China. By 27, she had won doubles at both Wimbledon and the French Open.

But on November 2 last year in Tianjin, her good fortune came to an end. In a lengthy blog posted to Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter), the 35-year-old described an incident from some years ago, claiming she had been forced into sex by retired Communist Party official Zhang Gaoli, while a guard stood watch outside the door. The abuse of power left her feeling “like a walking corpse”, she wrote. “I was so scared that afternoon. I never gave consent – crying the entire time.”

In her post, Peng said she could not produce any evidence to back her accusations but was determined to voice them. “Like an egg hitting a rock, or a moth to the flame, courting self-destruction, I’ll tell the truth about you,” she wrote.

Unfortunately for Peng, the man she accused – a married 75-year-old – is a former vice-premier of the Communist Party’s Politburo and an ally of President Xi Jinping. Her post was wiped from the internet within minutes, although screenshots continue to circulate. Peng then seemed to vanish into thin air.