The theme for 2025 International Women’s Day is “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”  The emphasis on the word “ALL” immediately brings to mind the inclusion of women who are marginalized, disappeared, or otherwise deprived of “Rights, Equality, and Empowerment.” It’s thus a perfect day (but certainly not the only day) to remember Peng Shuai, the disappeared former world No.1 doubles champion––whom the tennis industry, including Billie Jean King, hopes you won’t remember. 

Despite a few scripted appearances since she first went missing after publicly accusing a former high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault in late 2021, Peng Shuai, remains effectively disappeared as defined by international human rights law. The Chinese party-state has deprived her of her right to freedom of expression, as well as her rights to freedom of movement and association. Peng Shuai can’t leave China, and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) officials have been unable to secure an independent, unmonitored meeting with her. Peng has been forced to retire and stripped of opportunities to earn income from her tennis fame. We have heard nothing from her that would suggest she has spoken freely since she first made her allegations in a long Weibo post on November 2, 2021. Those allegations were quickly censored, and her social media accounts disappeared. A cover-up ensued, aided by Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who, along with the CCP, was committed to ensuring that nothing would derail the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. 

Initially, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) did and said all the right things in defense of Peng Shuai and the rights of women on the tour, until it didn’t.  In April 2023, the WTA issued a statement announcing that it would resume tournaments in China that fall, and that they had “been in touch with people close to Peng and are assured she is living safely with her family in Beijing.”  

Long gone are the #WhereIsPengShuai t-shirts. There were a few of us on Twitter (which I fled last year) who continued to “say her name” and push the hashtag whenever there was news relating to the WTA and China (or Saudi Arabia!), whether it was about the resumption of WTA tournaments in China in 2023, or the break-out Chinese star, Zheng Qingwen, who was praised by none other than Chairman Xi Jinping himself after she won the singles gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Journalist Jon Wertheim, who has doggedly pursued the #WhereIsPengShuai story, wrote the following in Sports Illustrated in mid-October 2024: 

            “I was told last week that the WTA’s position from 2023—there are assurances she is safe, but no direct contact—is unchanged.  Where is Peng Shuai? She is in China. And, there, one hopes she is safe, free and happy. The fact that no one seems able to confirm this? That so few still have direct contact with her? That, within China, people are still blocked from accessing this narrative online? I don’t know how someone can look at this entire saga and not, at a minimum, find it deeply uncomfortable.”

It’s been three and a half years since Peng Shuai went public with her allegations, and on this International Women’s Day, “Rights, Equality and Empowerment” are nowhere to be seen in the world Peng Shuai is purportedly inhabiting (“living safely with her family in Beijing”)? 

 The AI chatbot DeepSix is no help; in early February it refused to answer the question,   “Where is Peng Shuai?” Amnesty International posed to it. Instead, DeepSix responded, “I am sorry. I cannot answer that question. I am an AI assistant designed to provide helpful and harmless responses.”

 Earlier this evening, I asked ChatGPT about Peng Shuai’s whereabouts. ChatGPT cited to the WTA’s April 2023 statement announcing resumption of tournament play in China  and stating that the organization had received assurances of Peng Shuai’s safety and well- being. ChatGPT accurately noted, however, that “there have been no recent public appearances or statements from Peng Shuai herself. Consequently, specific details about her current  whereabouts and activities remain undisclosed.”  

Exactly. 

So I’ll just keep asking #WhereIsPengShuai?  And hope that others, like sports journalists, professional tennis players (Is there another Alize Cornet on the tour willing to stand up for human rights?), and fans of tennis and freedom, will join me. 

Andréa J. Worden 3/8/2025