A Chinese university has sparked outrage after expelling a female student over “improper interactions” with a foreign man – a move critics are branding “Taliban-style” control of women’s bodies.
Dalian Polytechnic University, located in northeast China, announced last week that the student will be expelled within 60 days for “damaging national dignity.”
The university claims the woman’s conduct with a foreign man breached its code of conduct but offered no specifics. Her name was made public by the university, prompting fierce backlash.
Social media platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) have exploded with debate.
Thousands are questioning the university’s right to police a student’s private life and turn a personal encounter into a matter of patriotism.
The scandal has reportedly been linked to videos posted by Ukrainian gamer Danylo Teslenko — better known as “Zeus” — showing him being intimate with a young Asian woman in a Shanghai hotel. Though the woman’s identity hasn’t been verified, speculation online is rife that she’s the expelled student.
Teslenko confirmed he met a girl during a gaming tournament in Shanghai and posted clips of their time together, which he later deleted. “There was no explicit content, just two people meeting. I never said Chinese girls are easy,” he said in a statement on X.
State-run outlet The Paper slammed the university for naming the student, calling it potentially illegal and “improper to graft private affairs onto the public domain.”
The case has ignited wider conversations on misogyny, nationalism, and the policing of women in China, with many asking: Would a male student be expelled — or celebrated — for the same behavior?
The university has yet to respond to media requests for comment.
