The Diplomat
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What happens when a viewer mistakes virtual gifts for a claim on someone’s life? A Chinese livestreamer faced months of stalking, harassment and alleged physical attacks after rejecting a wealthy viewer’s advances.
The Danger of Being a Female Livestreamer in China
Author: Lina Ma
On the morning of October 15, 2025, a livestreamer known as Sisi stepped out of her apartment in Yongzhou, China, with her young daughter. On the shoe rack outside her door sat an unfamiliar package. When she picked it up, it exploded.
The blast burned Sisi’s face, neck and arms. Her daughter escaped serious injury, though part of her hair and backpack were singed. Police arrested a former viewer, then 27-year-old Liu Mouqiang, later that day. According to the indictment reported by Chinese media, the package was the fourth in a series of attacks prosecutors say Liu carried out against Sisi.
Before the bombing, Sisi had repeatedly rejected Liu, returned the money she received from his gifts, and taken him to court over his harassment. His pursuit continued across livestreams, social media accounts, and physical locations.
The case exposes the risks women creators face. Sometimes a viewer treats paid attention as a personal claim on the livestreamer’s life.
Liu first encountered Sisi through her livestreams. Sisi told The Beijing News that he had spent a little more than 1,000 yuan (around $150) on gifts for her. He later complained that he had reached “Level 28” through virtual gifting and was being treated “worse than a tourist.” Sisi explained that the level reflected his cumulative spending across multiple creators.
Liu eventually found Sisi offline and began pursuing her. According to Sisi, he offered 160,000 yuan if she agreed to marry him. She repeatedly rejected his advances. As she distanced herself, Liu left a revealing comment on her social media: “Female livestreamers all belong to the top donor.” He later created new accounts and posted insulting and manipulated content about her. Chinese media documented the messages and Sisi’s account of his marriage proposal.
Liu’s behavior reflects a dangerous logic in creator economies: spending can foster a sense of ownership. Livestreaming rewards creators for cultivating familiarity, attention, and interaction. For women creators, that commercial intimacy can collide with misogynistic expectations that male financial or emotional investment deserves female attention in return. Rejection can then become a trigger for retaliation.
Sisi transferred Liu 600 yuan, hoping he would stop pursuing her. The online harassment continued. According to detailed reporting on the case, the sum covered the roughly 500 yuan she had received after the platform took its share of his gifts, plus about 100 yuan he had spent on a meal.
On June 4, 2025, the Qiyang People’s Court registered Sisi’s civil lawsuit over Liu’s harassment. A subsequent court-mediated agreement required him to delete defamatory material, publicly apologize, and pay her 3,000 yuan in compensation. The legal process, however, carried its own hidden risk. According to reporting based on the investigation, the mediation materials contained Sisi’s home address, which Liu later used to locate her apartment.
Her livestreams provided additional information about her movements. Sisi told reporters that Liu had previously found locations where she was streaming and had used backgrounds visible in her broadcasts to track down her family’s business.
Prosecutors say Liu’s retaliation escalated over several months. In May 2025, he planted an explosive device above the entrance to Sisi’s parents’ shop and remotely detonated it after seeing through her livestream that she was there. In August, he placed a metal spike beneath her car tire. In October, he sprayed a corrosive liquid into her home. Eleven days later, prosecutors say, he left the disguised explosive package outside her apartment. The indictment describes all four attacks.
In March 2026, prosecutors charged Liu with endangering public safety by dangerous means. The case went to trial in June. At trial, Liu argued that the case involved a personal relationship dispute, an account Sisi rejected. The court said it would announce its verdict at a later date.
Liu’s claim that female livestreamers “belong to the top donor” laid bare the entitlement behind his increasingly aggressive actions. He believed spending money on virtual gifts was grounds for demanding a relationship. He continued to pursue Sisi after she rejected him and returned the money she had received. Her efforts to end contact were followed by continued harassment and, prosecutors allege, repeated attacks.
Sisi’s experience also exposes the limits of China’s legal remedies for online abuse. By the time Sisi’s civil case reached mediation, Liu had already staged on bomb attack, although she had yet to learn who was responsible. The settlement addressed his defamatory posts, but the harassment continued. Worse, the mediation materials gave him her home address, which he used to stage yet another attack. Seeking legal redress inadvertently led her harasser right to her doorstep – literally.
Credits: TCA, LLC.