Woman seeking to film adult video falls victim to fraud and sexual assault
【提示】A woman, while working at a leisure club, overheard a man talking on the phone about making a film and sought to make quick money through film production, only to end up losing both her money and dignity. Recently, the Longgang District People's Court approved the arrest of suspect Chen Qingqing on charges of fraud.
【案例】According to the Longgang Court, on September 3, 2014, the victim Xiao Tang (pseudonym) met a man named Chen Qingqing, who used the alias "Chen Jiajun," while working at the Bantian Fuji Mountain Leisure Club. Chen Qingqing pretended to discuss making a film on the phone with a friend, telling Xiao Tang he was looking for people to shoot an adult film and that the payment would be 260,000 yuan. Xiao Tang immediately expressed interest in participating. Chen Qingqing said he needed to find a few more people, and Xiao Tang then informed Xiao Yan (pseudonym), who also agreed. On September 4, Chen Qingqing contacted Xiao Tang, saying he needed to take nude photos of them to show his friend to see if they were suitable. Xiao Tang and Xiao Yan went to the Huacheng Hotel on Bantian Street, where Chen Qingqing took their nude photos. Afterward, Chen Qingqing said the photos were acceptable but required a deposit of 10,000 yuan. Xiao Tang and Xiao Yan refused, so Chen Qingqing asked each to pay 5,000 yuan. Xiao Tang then informed the other victims, Xiao Chen and Xiao Wang, who also agreed to shoot a softcore porn film.
On September 14, Xiao Chen and Xiao Wang also went to the Huacheng Hotel on Bantian Street, had their nude photos taken by Chen Qingqing, and each paid a deposit of 6,000 yuan. Later, while chatting, Xiao Tang and the others found too many suspicious points about Chen Qingqing and felt something was wrong, so they reported it to the police. After receiving the report, police arrested Chen Qingqing on September 18 at the Huacheng Hotel on Bantian Street in Longgang District.
[1] 【Legal Perspective】Legal Reflections on Pornography
[2] Since April 17, 1985, when the State Council issued the "Regulations of the State Council on Prohibiting Obscene Materials," which for the first time uniformly defined the scope and standards for banning obscene materials and established the management system and division of responsibilities for prohibiting such materials, China has been combating obscenity and pornography for over 20 years. The latest revised Criminal Law also provides explanations, extending the application of obscene materials to cyberspace, prohibiting "establishing obscene websites or web pages on the internet, providing links to obscene sites, or disseminating obscene books, films, audio-visual materials, or images." If forwarded a certain number of times, it may also constitute the crime of disseminating obscene materials. Additionally, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have expanded the interpretation of "other obscene materials" as stipulated in the Criminal Law. Meanwhile, Article 69 of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law stipulates: "Anyone who commits any of the following acts shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days and fined not less than 500 yuan but not more than 1,000 yuan: (1) organizing the broadcast of obscene audio-visual materials; (2) organizing or performing obscene shows; (3) participating in group promiscuous activities."
[3] However, the above laws only regulate the prohibition of obscene materials in terms of "dissemination and analysis," with no strict provisions on private filming or possession of pornography. In China, according to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, "browsing" or "viewing" obscene materials does not constitute an offense. Whether "downloading" pornographic works is illegal is ambiguous, but aside from some local police imposing controversial fines, it is generally unregulated. Coupled with the fact that management of "piracy" is also a dead letter, it is quite common for Chinese people to possess pornographic works on their computers and hard drives.
[4] However, filming pornographic videos or photos in public places violates the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, which stipulates detention for 5 to 10 days. Article 44 of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law states: "Anyone who molests others or intentionally exposes their body in a public place, under aggravated circumstances, shall be detained for not less than 5 days but not more than 10 days; if the victim is a mentally disabled person, a mental patient, a person under the age of 14, or if there are other serious circumstances, the detention shall be for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days." If a pornographic film is privately made but uploaded to the internet without the knowledge of the person involved (such as in the case of the "nude photo scandal"), the disseminator may also be suspected of infringing on the woman's right to privacy.
[5] Therefore, in China, merely privately possessing pornographic films, as long as no form of dissemination or analysis is carried out, will not constitute a crime or offense. However, in Western countries, possessing extreme pornographic materials is considered a criminal act. Although the definition of extreme pornographic materials varies by country, one common red line across nations is the possession of child pornography. For example, in the United States, even collecting just a few child pornographic images can result in a prison sentence of 3 to 7 years upon discovery.
