Chinese esports team’s victory triggers rape threats and sexual harassment from male fans
It started well: In the early morning of November 7, news of China’s Edward Gaming (EDG) team winning its first League of Legends world championship title flew in from Reykjavik, Iceland. Previously considered an underdog against Team DK from Korea, defending champions of the competition, EDG launched Chinese gaming enthusiasts into a frenzy with its surprise victory.
The Weibo hashtag “EDG wins championship (#EDG夺冠#)” has received over 3 billion reads and 4 million discussion entries at the time of writing, while offline, all around the country, fans shook university dorm buildings with uncontained hollers, or took their excitement to the street by galloping around wearing EDG’s signature black flag—or nothing at all. Others made good on “challenges” they promised to take on in the event of an EDG victory, with videos showing youngsters washing their hair in a handstand, shaving their heads, or even drinking from the toilet.
The fanfare took a disturbing turn, however, when a viral video on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) showed dozens of male students in a university in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, flocking to the room of their dorm caretaker in the middle of the night so that one of their classmates could fulfill his promise of “proposing to the dorm auntie” if EDG won. The video showed the middle-aged woman keeping her door closed and holding her curtains shut, while the boys cheered and jeered outside.
Siyi is the former Culture Editor at The World of Chinese. She writes about arts, culture, and society, and is ever-curious about the minds, hearts, and souls inside all of these spheres. She is now a freelance writer with additional work experience in independent filmmaking and the field of education.
