Disappearance of Peng Shuai

On 2 November 2021, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai posted on Weibo that she had been involved in an extramarital affair with retired Chinese Vice PremierZhang Gaoli. She wrote that Zhang had pressed her to have sex with him three years earlier, and that their relationship had recently come to an end, but in the end agreed to have sex and renewed their relationship. Information about her story was censored by the Chinese government. Peng then disappeared until November 21, when she appeared at a tennis tournament in China on state media. She also wrote e-mails, and did interviews, in which she denied making accusations of sexual assault. The incident elicited international concern over her safety, whereabouts, and ability to communicate freely, and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) suspended all its events in China. Peng was reportedly seen in public on a few occasions since the incident. Despite dissatisfaction with the status of the case, the WTA announced its return to the country in 2023 after it emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns.