On Christmas Eve, 1946, US Marine corporal William Gaither Pierson and private Warren T. Pritchard stopped Shen Chong, a Peking University student, on her way home and forced her into the Peiping Polo Field.
[1] Later Pierson was convicted by US Marine Court led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzgerald for raping her, but the verdict was overturned by the US Department of Navy for insufficient evidence.
Selective reporting in US media and later acquittal of the soldiers added more fuel to then Chinese public rage against American military presence in China.
The government of the Republic of China's action alienated students and intellectuals and pushed them closer to the communists, who played a leading role in the protests.
She changed her name to Shen Jun (Chinese: 沈峻; pinyin: Shěn Jùn; Wade–Giles: Shen3 Chün4) and later was admitted to Fudan University in Shanghai.