At 8:30 p.m. on December 24, 1946, Shen Chong, a 19-year-old Peking University girl who went out to watch a movie, was abducted by American soldiers Pearson and Pritchard under the embassy wall and was brutally trampled. After hearing Shen Chong's cry for help, worker Meng Zhaojie failed to rescue him twice, so he had to call the police to the Seventh Branch of the Beiping Police Station for help.

When the police arrived at the scene of the incident, Pritchard had already fled, the police took Pearson and Shen Chong back to the police station, and sent Shen Chong to the hospital for examination, determining the fact that they had been raped.
The next day, the yaguang news agency, a private newspaper, disclosed the incident. Police Chief Tang Yongxian immediately and urgently informed the major newspapers in Peiping: Regarding the press release issued by Yaguang News Agency, a certain university girl was raped by US soldiers, and it is hoped that it will be published slowly, and this matter has been negotiated by the authorities and the US side.
After Shen Chong's fame, her great-grandfather was Shen Baozhen, a heavy minister and governor of Liangjiang in the late Qing Dynasty, and her father was Shen Shao, the director of the Ministry of Communications. Besides, she was just a 19-year-old girl. Director Tang said that he took into account the "face relationship", which was indeed reasonable.
However, the problem is that according to the Regulations on the Handling of Criminal Cases involving U.S. Military Personnel in China signed on June 9, 1943, U.S. servicemen who commit crimes in China have no right to deal with them and should be returned to the United States for handling. If things are not disclosed, then it is likely to be over. As a result, many newspapers did not comply with the will of the police.
On December 26, newspapers such as World Journal, Peking Daily, Xinsheng Bao, and Xinmin Bao all reported on the incident. The news was also posted on the democracy wall of Peking University, and the news spread throughout the universities in Beiping, and protests began to be held from all walks of life.
In the face of public opinion pressure, the first reaction of the authorities was not to put on a tough posture to negotiate with the US side, but to fabricate facts to excuse the US soldiers. For example, the Central News Agency said that "Shen Chong's like a non-good family woman", "it is necessary to investigate whether the US military knows Ms. Shen", "Ms. Shen and the US military seem to have a trading relationship" and other false news. After Shen Chong's identity as a famous person, her identity is very clear, but these media blatantly open their eyes and talk nonsense.
On December 27, the Central News Agency again released false information: after the inspection, it was only judged that he had been coerced by rape and there was no obvious sign of rape. He Siyuan, mayor of Beiping, also made a public statement: According to the test results, the hymen has not yet ruptured very much. The phrase "not yet very broken" is really puzzling, and the meaning of excusing the US military is clear. In addition, there are fabricated statements such as "Shen Chong's seduction of the US military" and so on.
At that time, Hu Shi, president of Peking University, was attending a conference in Nanjing. After learning of this, when he met with reporters in Nanjing, he said: This is still necessary, how can it be so! Why not march against the protests! The crowd is angry and hard to offend, and the will of the people is upheld.
On December 30, Hu Shi returned to Beiping with the task of calming the students' anger. Hu Shi issued a statement saying:
Professors at Peking University and him are very angry about this matter, meetings and marches are all indispensable, but it is inappropriate to delay their studies by striking classes... This unfortunate incident is a legal issue, and the demand for the WITHDRAWAL of the US military from China is a political issue, and the two cannot be discussed together.
The students questioned Hu Shi: The rape of women by the US troops stationed in China is not the same, it has happened in many cities, and the US military has been driving military vehicles to crush Chinese compatriots.
Hu Shi was embarrassed for a moment and had to avoid answering. He is actually emotionally supportive of the students, but he has to say something against his heart, after all, he supports the authorities and trusts the United States. However, Hu Shi still took on the responsibility of a principal. He openly stated that he and Peking University were the guardians of Shen Chong's classmates and wanted to seek justice for Shen Chong. To this end, he specially invited a professor from the Law Department of Peking University to be Shen Chong's lawyer. On the day of the official trial, Hu Shi also appeared at the scene despite dissuasion.
On January 22, 1947, the presiding judge of the U.S. military court announced that Pearson should be convicted of rape. Hu Shi was very happy at the time, thinking that this was enough to show the justice of the United States. However, Hu Shi was not happy for long. Because Pearson still has to be sent back to China for a final trial, the trials made in China do not count.
In early March, Pearson returned to the United States with the first U.S. troops when they withdrew. On June 17, the Associated Press released the news that the Attorney General of the U.S. Military Tribunal announced that Pearson's charges could not be established and that the defendant could be reinstated after approval by the Secretary of the Navy.
When Hu Shi learned of this news, he found that he had been fooled by the Americans. Hu Shi repeatedly advised Ambassador Stuart Layden in China, and once said this: You must make the US government realize that the judgment of the US judges in the Pearson case is the focus of China's national attention. I categorically refute the Associated Press's claim that Pearson's conviction was the result of demonstrations in the country.
But by this time Pearson had returned to China, and Hu Shi's words had no effect at all. Two months later, US Secretary of the Navy Forrest officially announced that Pearson's incriminating evidence was not conclusive, and it seemed that the girl had been with Pearson for 3 hours in the open space next to the traffic artery, and that the girl had claimed to have been raped the next day, and according to the results of the Examination of Chinese and American doctors, there was no sign of being trampled.
Hu Shi was also scolded by many as hypocritical, believing that he did not think about the students at all, and that his approach was "fox sympathy". Xiao Xin believes that Hu Shi really wants to seek justice for Shen Chong, but he trusts too much in the so-called judicial justice in the United States, but his identity is not only a teacher and professor. In fact, after the United States overturned pearson's case, the person who reacted most fiercely was Hu Shi. From this, we can also see his sincerity.
Nowadays, many people doubt the authenticity of the Shen Chong's incident, saying that this is an incident planned by so-and-so. In fact, as long as you think about it with your knees, you know that such a big event and involving so many people can be planned by so-and-so at that time? If the matter is not true, will Hu Shi categorically refute the US overturned case? Hu Shi's position is very clear.