Guo Jingming [File photo]

Guo Jingming, one of the best-selling young writers in China has recently found himself embroiled in charges of sexual harassment. The accuser, Li Feng, is Guo's peer who is also quite well known in literary circles, guancha.cn reported on Monday.

In a post on his Weibo account published on Monday, Li Feng claimed that he had been sexually harassed by Guo Jingming and called on netizens from all walks of life to join in discussing this matter with him.

Li titled his post "To Guo Jingming and to all people." At the beginning of the post, Li claimed that he loved to write and hoped to publish his own novels. He recalled that, although he had heard about Guo's plagiarism case long ago, he still signed up with Guo's company.

Li said that, after his first book "The Autumn Boy" was published, he was invited to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to attend the book-signing event. It happened that a novel by Guo Jingming was published simultaneously, so they went to the signing activity together.

According to Li, he originally shared a room with a staff member, but Guo said that he didn't want to stay alone and invited Li to share a room with him. "There were groundless talks about his sexual orientation on the internet at that time, and since he had never admitted it, I was not sure about it," Li said.

"There were two beds in the room, and we each had one. On the night of that day, he came to my bed and put his hand on my body. I grabbed his wrist, and he smiled awkwardly and went back to his bed," Li said.

"The first day passed with no more trouble, and I thought my move would make him understand my attitude. Unexpectedly, he still didn't give up the second day. This time he even asked me to have oral sex with him, and that was extremely disgusting," Li said.

"Then I refused to share a room with him since the third day," Li said.

Li asserted that Guo had constituted sexual harassment and sexual abuse against him. "I consulted a lawyer who said that homosexual sex crimes are still virgin ground in China's current laws, and such crimes are difficult to obtain evidence," Li said.

"Guo Jingming's world is a promiscuous world. He has often sexually harassed and sexually assaulted the male writers who have signed up with his company and the male employees in his company. As far as I know, there are at least five people, and I'm not sure if there's more," Li said in his post.

Li cited an example. "There was an impressive-looking man in the company who had a girlfriend and a happy life. However, after the same kind of incident, the man had to quit his job," Li said, adding "I feel sorry for him."

"I hope that friends from all walks of life can join in my discussion on how to deal with this kind of matters. Thank you all," Li said.

Li's post immediately triggered uproar online. Shortly afterwards, Guo Jingming responded to Li's revelations in a post in his Weibo account, claiming that Li's revelations were totally fabricated and he has already handed over the case to his lawyer.

Guo's post has been shared 4,642 times with over 20,000 comments and likes 14 minutes after it was published on the internet.

Li Feng [File photo]

More about Guo Jingming

Guo Jingming, born in Zigong City of Sichuan Province on June 6, 1983, is one of the best-selling writers in China. His representative novels include "City of Fantasies," "Tiny Times," "Legend of Ravaging Dynasties" and "Rush to the Dead Summer." Guo is also a screenwriter and film director. He wrote and directed "Tiny Times" series which were based on his own novels.

At the same time, Guo is the chairman and general manager of Shanghai Zui Culture Development Co., Ltd. established by himself in July 2010. By virtue of his successful career and handsome appearance, Guo has won thousands of fans on the internet.

On the other hand, Guo's stellar career has been dogged by controversy. In 2006, he lost a lawsuit filed by an author who accused him of plagiarism and he was ordered to pay the author 200,000 yuan (US$32,258) in compensation.

Guo's attitude to plagiarism was positive. He said that people criticized him because they never read his book, so he would not pay any attentions to their false judgments.

More about Li Feng

Li Feng, born in Hunan Province on Aug. 31, 1988, is also one of the best-selling writers in China. He signed up with the Shanghai Zui Culture Development Company established by Guo Jingming.

Li published his online serial novel "The Kanas Monster" at the age of 19. He rose to fame in 2010 when he published "The Autumn Boy." His other literary works include "Take Me Out" (2010), "Shellfish" (2011), "The Next • Taipei" (2012) and "Holy Place" (2015).