‘Feminine Virtues’ Camp Submits to Closure Order

A summer camp in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province was ordered to shut down for teaching young women to be submissive and obedient as part of a course in “feminine conduct.” The camp claimed it was “spreading traditional culture.” Videos taken by investigative reporters revealed the camp taught young women and girls to “remain at the bottom of society” and submit to their husbands, even those who beat them, among other extreme patriarchal values. The camp reinforced the lessons by making girls perform humiliating tasks such as cleaning toilets with their bare hands and repeated kowtowing. Netizens expressed shock that such courses existed in modern China, while some blamed watchdogs for neglecting to review the course’s content.