How a Chinese Twitter Fight Turned Physical, Starring Ai Weiwei

Social media is serious business in China. In a country where free speech doesn’t exist and public discourse is carefully curated by government officials, there are few outlets for political debate, so conversations on sites like Twitter equivalent Sina Weibo carry a certain weight. And with weighty discussions come a lot of passion, which is why a disagreement between a couple of opinionated microbloggers a couple of weeks ago escalated into a gang-flanked confrontation in a Beijing park, where a slap fight ensued.

It all started with posts from Wu Danhong, a professor at Beijing University of Political Science and Law, promoting the construction of a copper and molybdenum refining plant in Sichuan province. Wu is a well-known member of the 50-Cent Party, the group of people who are allegedly paid .5 yuan for every pro-government post they make on Sina and not very well liked by China’s burgeoning class of free speech advocates. One of these was Sichuan TV reporter Zhou Yan, who snapped back at Wu for his support of the mine, which many feared would worsen the area’s pollution problems. The two exchanged insults and eventually decided to settle the argument at Chaoyang Park.

Zhou showed up at the park with a gang of 20 people at her back. Wu had only two. The event immediately turned into a shouting match, and then Zhou charges at Wu wielding an umbrella, which she swung before slapping the professor across the face. Wu responded with his own swipe at Zhou’s body, and the two are pulled apart. Then a random man from the crowd charged in and hit Wu hard enough to knock him onto the ground. A bit more struggling back and forth goes on until someone lands a swift kick to Wu’s ass. But the yelling didn’t. The two continued to spew insults at each other until, out of nowhere, artist Ai Weiwei appears and goes after Wu’s ear. Not long thereafter, Wu fled the scene. Of course, it’s all on video.

After the fight, the local media had a field day with the story. In an editorial, the Global Times wrote, “Physical fighting over conflicting political thoughts is the most vulgar behaviour yet carried out by a few online intellectuals.” But it’s also a consequence of keeping a nation from being able to express itself freely.