Lurid tale of China’s cross-dressing ‘red uncle’ goes viral online

BEIJING – The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle”, who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hook-ups with more than 1,000 men, shook China’s social media platforms, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity.

The hashtag “red uncle” was the top-trending item on China’s popular microblog Weibo on July 8, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock.

The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home, which he then recorded and distributed online.

The video-sharing was confirmed by the district police in Nanjing in a statement on July 8. They said the cross-dressing man, surnamed Jiao, had been detained on July 6 on suspicion of spreading obscene material.

But the police said Jiao was aged 38, not 60, as social media posts had stated. They also denied that he had intimate meetings with more than 1,000 men, but did not give a figure.

Jiao could not be immediately reached for comment.

Same-sex relations are not illegal in China, but the dissemination of images of sexual acts is punishable by law.

Taking pictures of sexual activities in a private setting and sharing them also violates privacy rights and could be deemed a criminal offence.

Many social media users expressed public health concerns, with one Weibo user warning the incident could be “a big headache” for epidemic prevention authorities.

Social media users also circulated a montage of headshots of nearly 100 men who were supposed to have met the “red uncle”, prompting mock advice from some, urging women to check if their fiances or husbands were featured.

“The invasion of personal privacy is a no-no,” said one user, warning that it was irresponsible to publish such a compilation. REUTERS