The #MeToo movement has hit China too. And Abbot Xuecheng, the head of the Buddhist Association of China, has now been accused of sexually harassing nuns.
The accusations against him emerged in a report that was originally sent by two monks to government officials, but is now being shared on the huge social network, Weibo.
Xuecheng, who has over a million followers on the site, posted a statement denying the allegations.
The 95-page report, by Shi Xianjia and Shi Xianqi, two monks from the Longquan Temple, alleges that the 51-year-old sexually harassed the nuns and sent them illicit messages.
The report says the investigation began when a nun who was staying in Beijing asked the pair for help after receiving messages of a sexual nature from Xuecheng in December 2017. Further investigations, it alleges, showed that at least six nuns were being pressured to have sex with him. The reports says that he told the nuns that by having sex with him, they were fulfilling a part of their study of Buddhist doctrines, the Global Times said.
Xuecheng, the youngest person to have been in charge of the Buddhist Association of China, is based at the Longquan temple in Beijing and is also a government advisor.
In a statement on Wednesday night the temple said that it wants the government to set up an official investigation into the case. It went on to say that in an effort to mislead the public, the two monks who wrote the report "forged materials, distorted facts and spread false accusations," and that the official investigation by the government will "put the record straight," CNN said.
The #MeToo movement in the United States has uncovered dozens of claims against well-known politicians and members of the media industry, rocking both. The first signs that it had hit China came in July, when a spreadsheet filled with accusations was shared by women online, echoing a similar spreadsheet that focused on men in the American media.
Though the movement has sparked a fresh wave of outrage in China, it is not the first time that a monk has been accused of sexual misconduct. In 2015 it was alleged that Shi Yongxin, the head of the Shaolin Temple in Northern China had, as well as stealing, fathered illegitimate children by a mistress.
"I haven't done anything guilty, so I'm not afraid of devils knocking on the door," he said in response to the allegations.
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