Some terrible stories came out of Gulou last weekend (Nov 28-29), that should be shared with the wider Beijing community in order to spread awareness and remind everyone to be safe. Perhaps as a result of being abroad and being to a degree oblivious of local news, Beijing often feels like it is incredibly safe. However, it is important to remember that, unfortunately, especially as a woman, you must take extra precautions to be safe when taking a sanlunche (or any form of transport, really) alone.

A female victim of a male sanlunche driver who has allegedly carried out a number of similar attacks in the Gulou area, tells us that "[The driver] got right in my way as I was leaving Temple Bar, and let me bargain down really fast. He kept asking if I had a boyfriend, and I was sober, so I was on guard, but that freaked me out.

When I told him to let me out, he pulled into a side alley instead. I opened the door and he grabbed me around my neck until I pushed him off. I shoved him off and ran for the house and made it home safe, but he tried to follow me and he parked outside my apartment complex."

After this incident, the driver picked up our source's friend, "I texted her about it and she was like, "yeah, me too, then the guy licked my face when I tried calling to get out. She was also sober when she left, [and] she's OK. But he probably just went right back."

The driver rides a metallic sanlunche, silver not green, of double width, with a metallic object dangling from the mirror. The second girl that was assaulted states that he had bad skin, potentially pockmarks. He was wearing a khaki hip-length army jacket with a hood.

Have you had a similar experience? Feel free to contact us so that we can further inform the wider expat community of any notable details.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com

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Photo: life.dbw.cn