Influential online education adviser Zhang Xuefeng once again courted controversy in December after equating liberal arts majors with the service sector, but more recently his comments could have landed him in legal trouble after a lawsuit was filed against him in court.
The lawsuit has been accepted by the people's court of Huqiu district in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and the online filing of the case has been approved, Haibao News, a news portal based in Shandong province, reported on Monday.
When Zhang made the remarks in December he claimed all liberal arts majors would end up in the "low-tier" service sector "groveling".
After the ensuing outrage in the comments section and elsewhere online, Zhang later apologized, explaining that he didn't mean the "groveling" comment in the way that it was taken.
As his comment went viral and garnered millions of views, a Sina Weibo blogger with more than 650,000 followers, named Guyanyou, said in a post that he would file a lawsuit against Zhang for his remarks because they were a blatant act of "personal derogation and provocation" targeting the community of liberal arts students.
Liberal arts majors refer to a wide range of disciplines, including journalism, literature and finance, which have made significant contributions to the prosperity and stability of society, the blogger stated in the lawsuit.
However, Zhang publicly denigrated "liberal arts students" as "groveling", with an indication of fawning and pleasing, deliberately belittling the community, he said.
"Even if such individuals really exist, they should not be attributed to the entire group," he added.
The blogger accused Zhang of the crime of insult and believed he should take responsibility for his words and bear legal consequences.
However, lawyers have said the chances of the blogger winning the lawsuit are very slim.
Xu Hao, a lawyer from Beijing Jingsh Law Firm, said defamation requires a clear individual as a victim, rather than a collective group.
"In this case, Zhang's statements target the group of liberal arts students instead of a specific individual. Therefore, it may be difficult to establish a claim of defamation in judicial practice," Xu said.
Moreover, the sense of reputation is not equivalent to the reputational right protected by the Civil Code. "Although individuals may feel that their reputation has been harmed by certain statements, it does not necessarily mean that their right to reputation has been infringed," he said.
Zhu Wei, an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law, echoed the opinion and said though Zhang's statement may not be correct, he believed that the blogger had little chance of winning the lawsuit because no individual can prove that Zhang's words target any specific person.
"It's common that the words of an internet influencer catch public attention. I think we need to be more tolerant to different voices. Meanwhile Zhang, as a public figure, is expected to be more cautious about his words and their impact," Zhu said.
Zhang released a Weibo post on Monday, which was regarded by the public as a response to the lawsuit.
"When I was walking earlier, a dog barked at me. It was quite unfortunate for the dog, as it had to bark loudly to get my attention," he said.
The blogger told China News Service on Tuesday that Zhang's words about liberal arts are highly inappropriate and that he felt he was subjected to verbal bullying.
"It may exacerbate social divisions and do more harm to our employment environment," he said.
