This is a legitimate concern, given the widespread and often vicious attention given to Liu on social media. On Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, her case has become one of the most popular topics over the past two years.
One commenter said: “This woman is a slut.” Another woman commented: “That woman looks disgusting.” She added a third: “It was clear they disagreed about the price.” “It seems like the woman set everything up.” Another suggested that Liu was the actual victim, saying, “Looking at the woman's physique, I'm absolutely convinced that Liu Qiangdong was raped.” I believe that,” he wrote.
These are just a few of the 8,500 comments on one Weibo post, which was retweeted 14,000 times and liked by 95,000 users. Imagine a large-scale situation where this goes on for months, even worse.
Many of the most active hashtags related to the incident have been disabled on Weibo, including #RichardLiulawsuit and #RichardLiusexalassault. But even less popular hashtags about the case have garnered a surprising amount of attention. One of the videos, about Liu's denial of divorce, has been viewed 170 million times. Another article, about a defamation lawsuit filed by Liu against a Chinese blogger, has been viewed 130 million times. A hashtag related to pretrial hearings in September had 110 million views.
Those following the case quickly translate legal documents into Chinese and add subtitles to police audio and video. In some ways, Liu has become as polarizing a figure as President Trump. In July, the morning after the Minneapolis Police Department released its report on the incident, a friend and I got into an argument and suggested that we read the document first before jumping to conclusions. My friend, a successful career woman and busy mother, replied that out of sheer curiosity, she had actually spent one night reading all 149 pages written in English.
