In the torrent of comments below the video of Tan Weiwei’s latest single, one summed up the burgeoning anger of Chinese women: “The roar of the times should not be buried. This is a war song.”

For the past six months Tan, one of China’s most popular singers, has been releasing singles from her album 3811. The songs tell the stories of women: a taxi driver, a charity worker, a single mother, a 60-year-old woman who cannot read. But it is her latest single that has made the biggest impact, arriving at a key moment in China’s reckoning with gender-based violence and harassment.

Xiao Juan (Pseudonym), is named after the generic name authorities sometimes give to victims of domestic violence, according to Sixth Tone.

“Erase our names, forget our beings, same tragedy continues and repeats,” Tan sings.

The song appears to reference some of the most high-profile instances of violence against women.

“You use your fists, gasoline, and sulphuric acid … Flush us down the drain, from wedding bed to riverbed, stuff my body into a suitcase, or put it in a freezer on your balcony.”

In October, video footage of a man beating his wife in Shanxi spread widely across social media. Earlier this year Lhamo, a 30-year-old Tibetan woman, died from horrific burns. Police were reportedly investigating whether her husband had doused her with gasoline and set her alight while she was live streaming on social media. In July police arrested a man suspected of killing and dismembering his wife, and trying to dispose of her body parts in the sewers.

The direct language in a pop song by one of the country’s most popular artists has thrust the taboo subject into the spotlight.

In response to the song’s release, media commenters listed more of the many acts of violence to make the news in China this year.

“There hasn’t been anything like this before,” said Chinese feminist activist, Xiong Jing. “We can’t expect a song to change too much, and maybe it won’t. But it’s interesting to see the song itself, I can’t imagine seeing something like it three or five years ago.”

Official national statistics are unavailable, but a 2010 survey by the state-run All-China Women’s Federation found 24.7% of married women aged 24-60 had experienced domestic violence. In 2015, the year before China first introduced specific laws, the Supreme People’s Court found 10% of intentional homicide cases involve domestic violence. Physical abuse of a family member carries penalties of up to two years in prison, rising to seven of the victim is seriously injured or killed.

Xiong said Xiao Juan (Pseudonym) showed how deeply ingrained perceptions of gender had been. Awareness of violence against women was often “erased”, she said, not just socially but systemically. There remained an inexcusable lack of assistance available to women, and failures in the police and court systems which have a legislated objective of keeping families together..

“Women really want to seek help but it’ really difficult for them. The police, the courts, all this kind of stuff makes people feel like they can’t do anything about it,” said Xiong.

“We haven’t set up the system to prevent and deal with gender based violence.” Tan’s song, she said, was a form of public education.

“After the Me Too movement in China, after January 2018, people were already starting to talk about this stuff. Gender based violence, sexual harassment - women were standing up and speaking about their stories. I think this is the foundation of Tan’s song.”

Speaking up in China is fraught with danger – journalists, artists and activists who criticise the state are routinely intimidated. In 2015 five feminist activists were jailed for planning to hand out stickers to the public. More recently, the current face of China’s Me Too movement, Zhou Xiaoxuan, was warned off pursuing a case against a famous TV host who allegedly sexually harassed her.

Fans of Tan feared her songs would be censored. Since the release the hashtag “Tan Weiwei is brave in lyrics” had been viewed more than 330 million times.

“What is it so brave about this?” said one commenter on Weibo. “Women even need to be brave to tell the truth? Don’t we need to reflect on that?”

In one of her few public statements on the song, Tan replied: “Not brave, but just a responsibility.”

Helen Davidson

Additional reporting by Pei Lin Wu.

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