China courts rule against dead woman’s friend and blogging site

In other China news, a woman who killed herself and the web service that hosted her blog were ordered to pay Wang Fei $1,200 in damages. The long and sordid tale reads out like a soap opera, complete with adultery, emotional turmoil and suicide.

It started with Wang Fei going to bed with another woman. His wife, Jian Yan, like any wife was pretty distressed. But unlike other wives, she decided that the best way to soothe her distress was to blog about her husband’s ongoing affair on daqi.com. Helping Jian Yan at this activity was a certain unnamed female friend. The Chinese blogging community was stirred up against the cruel indulgences of Wang Fei, and even the mainstream media caught on. The blog went out of proportion because of all the support, and daqi.com went right ahead and posted photos of Wang Fei with his mistress. What followed was a small scale riot. Wang Fei was fired, his parent’s apartment was defaced with lewd language, and Jian Yan decided that enough was enough and committed suicide.

Wang Fei understandably sought justice for the goings-on, and after much deliberation, the Beijing court decided that he was after all, the wronged party. Daqi.com and the late Jian Yan’s unnamed female friend were criticized for invading Wang Fei’s privacy, and asked to pay $1,200 as damages.