In it and a more detailed sequel, Zhou alleged that as an intern in 2014, she met with Zhu Jun, a Chinese television host, in the hope of getting an interview, but he forcibly kissed and groped her for about 50 minutes in his dressing room.

She told the BBC that although they were interrupted several times by workers going in and out of the room, she was frozen with fear and shame and could not alert them.

"[5][6] Meanwhile, she has faced criticism from nationalist bloggers, and a commentary in the Global Times claimed that the MeToo movement was being used by "Western forces to tear Chinese society apart".

[7][8] On 10 August 2022, a court in Beijing rejected an appeal by Zhou after a closed-door hearing, citing as reason that the evidence submitted had been "insufficient".

She told The Guardian that she was "very disappointed" but hoped that her loss "could provoke more reflection on the real difficulty of being a woman in today’s China.