Is online indecency without physical contact a crime in China?

Yes. Under Article 9 of the 2023 SPC/SPP interpretation on rape and indecency against minors (Fa Shi [2023] No. 3), coercing or inducing a minor via video chat or by sending photos or videos to expose private parts or perform obscene acts is punished as indecent assault or indecency with a child under Article 237 of the Criminal Law.

What is the difference between indecent assault and indecency with a child in China?

The victim's age. Where the victim is under 14, it is indecency with a child, and consent or the absence of force is irrelevant. Where the victim is 14 or older, it is indecent assault, which requires the conduct to be against the victim's true will, by violence, coercion or other means.

Does a 15- or 16-year-old's consent or payment of money prevent criminal liability in China?

Not necessarily. Article 31 of the 2023 opinions on sexual offences against minors requires the true will of a victim aged 14 or over to be judged comprehensively from age, condition, conduct, the relationship and the circumstances, not solely from an express statement. Courts have treated red envelopes, pocket money and gifts as means of inducement, and any later threat to expose images makes indecent assault clear.

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Online ("Remote") Indecency Involving Minors in Chinese Criminal Law — A Case Research Report

Assumed facts: the actor, using money as bait, induces a girl aged 15 to under 17 to take nude photos and videos of herself on WeChat and send them for him to view; no violence, no verbal threats, no offline contact, no distribution. Core issue: whether this can be prosecuted as indecent assault under Article 237(1) of the Criminal Law, and whether "paid, voluntary" can prevent it from being a crime. This report draws case rules from People's Court Case Database cases, guiding and typical cases and published judgments, for use as comparables.

Core rules: Criminal Law Art. 237 · Fa Shi [2023] No. 3 · 2023 four-agency opinions Case types: remote indecency / nude chat / soliciting images online Search completed 2026-09-09 16 cases (including 9 full texts)

English edition of Wang Xin’s Chinese research report 隔空猥亵与网络猥亵未成年人 · 类案检索分析报告. Case numbers are kept in their original Chinese form so they can be searched and verified; the full-text judgments they link to are in Chinese.

The 30-second answer

Where the victim is 14 or older, the offence of indecency with a child cannot be applied merely because she is a minor; the question is whether indecent assault or another offence is made out.
The absence of physical contact, violence or face-to-face coercion does not automatically exclude indecent assault; the key is whether online control or inducement reached the level of acting against her true will.
Payment may be used by the defence to argue consent, but may also be evidence that the actor induced, controlled and exploited the minor's vulnerability; the whole chat history must be assessed.
Proof of age, the original chat devices, transfers, control of accounts and how the images were produced are central to classification and proof.

Scope and exceptions as set out in the text · page structure updated 2026-09-19 · statute check dates in the text

1. Conclusions at a glance

A bright age line: 15–16 = indecency with a child is excluded. "Child" means under 14 (settled practice), so the only route to conviction here is indecent assault (the up-to-five-years tier), and there is only one issue: was it against the victim's true will?

The prosecution's tools are complete and recent. Article 9 of Fa Shi [2023] No. 3 expressly writes "coercion and inducement" into the online remote-indecency provision; Article 31 of the 2023 four-agency opinions rejects "acquittal based on consent alone" — for victims aged 14 or over, true will must be judged comprehensively from age, understanding, the relationship and how events unfolded.

Paying money does not prevent a crime. In the database case of Li Mou, the victim was 15 years 10 months; he promised RMB 3,000 for a nude chat (never paid), and after a later coercive stage was convicted of indecent assault and sentenced to three years. In typical cases, red envelopes, pocket money and ordering takeaway food have all been treated as means of inducement.

There is no published effective precedent for the pure "paid + voluntary + no threat + no distribution" combination — the most contestable point. Few judgments in cases involving minors are published, and no conviction or acquittal on this combination can be found; in the Li Mou database case the first paid nude chat was not treated on its own as a basis for conviction, which rested on the later coercion.

The red line: what happens "next" once images are kept decides which offences stack up. Any "threat to expose" → indecent assault is clear; reselling or forwarding → adds producing, selling or distributing obscene materials for profit; arranging to meet offline → risk of rape (compare Sui Mouyu, ten years for several offences, and Zhu Moumou, fifteen years six months).

2. Legal framework (provisions in force, checked word for word)

Sources: Criminal Law (2023 amendment, effective 2024-03-01), Fa Shi [2023] No. 3, and the 2023 Opinions of the SPC, SPP, MPS and MOJ. Note: the 2013 Opinions on Punishing Sexual Offences against Minors (Fa Fa [2013] No. 12) have been repealed and should no longer be cited.

Criminal Law of the PRC (2023 amendment), Article 237 (translation) [Indecent assault and insult] Whoever, by violence, coercion or other means, commits indecent assault against another person or insults a woman shall be sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment or criminal detention.
Whoever commits the crime in the preceding paragraph with a gathered crowd or in public, or with other egregious circumstances, shall be sentenced to five years' or more imprisonment.
[Indecency with a child] Whoever commits indecency with a child shall be sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment; in any of the following situations, to five years' or more: (1) indecency with several children or several times; (2) indecency with a child with a gathered crowd, or in public with egregious circumstances; (3) causing injury or other serious consequences to the child; (4) using egregious means or with other egregious circumstances.

Practice (not statutory text): "child" means under 14, as consistently stated in practice (the database cases of Shang Mou and Yang Moumou both apply this). Inference: where the victim is 14 or older, the only route is indecent assault under paragraph 1, which requires "forcing by violence, coercion or other means" — i.e. indecency against the victim's true will. Whether "consent" was genuine, and whether it was exploited, decides the case.

Fa Shi [2023] No. 3, Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Rape and Indecency against Minors, Article 9 (effective 2023-06-01; translation) Coercing or inducing a minor, through online video chat or sending videos or photos, to expose private parts of the body or perform obscene acts, where this meets Article 237 of the Criminal Law, shall be convicted and punished as indecent assault or indecency with a child.
Where a minor is coerced or induced to do so by live streaming, and this also meets Articles 237 and 365, constituting indecent assault, indecency with a child and organising obscene performances, the heavier provision applies.

Reading: Article 9 puts "coercion" and "inducement" side by side, but its condition is "where this meets Article 237" — for a victim aged 14 or over, one must still return to paragraph 1 and ask whether there was "force (against her will)"; for a victim under 14 it is directly indecency with a child, whatever the consent. "Inducement" is not automatically "force", and this is where the dispute lies.

Fa Shi [2023] No. 3, Article 8 (aggravating "egregious means / circumstances" for indecency with a child; applies only to victims under 14) Indecency with a child in any of the following situations shall be found to be "egregious means or other egregious circumstances" under Article 237(3)(4): … (3) making videos, photos or other images of the indecency or of the victim's private parts and using them to coerce the victim into indecency, or causing the images to be distributed to many people so that the victim's identity is exposed; …

Note: where the victim is under 14, recording or spreading images exposes the suspect to five years or more; for victims aged 14 or over this aggravating provision does not apply directly, but "keeping images + coercion / distribution" is still assessed under Article 237(1) and related offences.

SPC, SPP, MPS and MOJ Opinions on Handling Criminal Cases of Sexual Offences against Minors (effective 2023-06-01; Article 40 repeals the 2013 Opinions) — key provisions Article 2: severe punishment according to law; the best interests of the minor; two-way protection.
Article 10: for adult suspects and defendants in sexual offences against minors, non-custodial measures shall be applied strictly.
Article 31: "The true will of a minor victim aged fourteen or over shall not be judged solely on an express objection or consent; it shall be judged comprehensively in light of the victim's age, physical condition, conduct before and after the offence, the relationship between the parties, the environment and the course of events."

Article 31 = the prosecution's core provision. It is designed precisely to defeat a "she consented, it was a paid transaction" defence: even if the records show express consent, whether that consent was genuine or exploited must still be judged from her age, understanding and the relationship. The defence, conversely, must use the complete records to show full knowledge, equal bargaining, no false identity or deceptive motive, and genuine consent.

Related offences (depending on distribution, profit or later threats) Criminal Law Art. 363(1): producing, copying, publishing, selling or distributing obscene materials for profit — up to three years' imprisonment, criminal detention or public surveillance and a fine; if serious, three to ten years and a fine.
Art. 364: distributing obscene materials, if serious — up to two years, criminal detention or public surveillance; distributing obscene materials to minors under eighteen is punished more heavily.

Note: having a minor take images of herself and then reselling or forwarding them is treated in practice as "producing + selling / distributing obscene materials" (Sui Mouyu sold nude videos at RMB 5 each and was convicted of producing, selling and distributing obscene materials for profit). Merely keeping them for oneself with no forwarding does not trigger these two offences; "buying" on its own is not a separate crime, but instigating or directing a minor's self-recording is absorbed into the indecency assessment.

3. Cases

Badges: database = People's Court Case Database · typical = released by the SPC / SPP etc. · procuratorate = released by the procuratorate · judgment = published judgment. Click a case for the full-text page (in Chinese).

Group A · victims under 14

Indecency with a child · consent irrelevant · for comparison

Not directly applicable here, but the baseline that "under 14 is always a crime", and including two restrained holdings useful on sentencing.

Shang Mou, indecency with a child

Database case

Hefei Intermediate court, Anhui · upheld on appealJudgment 2022-11-29Full text ↗

Victims aged 13 and 11; after meeting them on QQ he asked for photos and videos of them touching sensitive parts of their bodies for him to view, knowing they were girls under 14.

Holding: indecency with a child does not require violence or coercion; "apparent willingness is in substance the actor exploiting the child's immature development and lack of ability to tell right from wrong", so it is still a crime. First instance ((2022) 皖0191刑初415号) two years; upheld on appeal.

Indecency with a child · two years

Yang Moumou, indecency with a child

Database case

Urumqi Intermediate court, Xinjiang · appealJudgment 2023-02-10Full text ↗

Victim aged 11; induced to send nude photos and videos exposing private parts and to nude video chat; later threatened to publish the private images to force a meeting.

Holding: in remote indecency with a child, whether the child was willing, whether actual harm resulted and whether there was force do not affect the offence. First instance ((2022) 新0109刑初98号) three years eight months; appeal withdrawn with leave.

Indecency with a child · three years eight months

Chai Moudian, indecency with a child

Database case · Guangdong

Nansha District court, Guangzhou · effective at first instanceJudgment 2023-03-07Full text ↗

Victims aged 11 and 12; posing as a teenage boy he formed online romances and asked for nude photos and videos, and when refused threatened exposure, telling their parents, or rape; one victim sent images at least once, the other at least nine times.

Holding (valuable on sentencing): remote indecency "is more complex; whether it is a crime and whether aggravating circumstances apply must be decided prudently, and it should not be criminalised across the board"; "indecency with children several times" cannot be applied mechanically by counting incidents to reach the five-year tier; repeated soliciting can be assessed as part of the basic offence without double aggravation. The prosecution sought seven years six months; the court imposed four years six months.

Indecency with a child · four years six months (below the prosecution's recommendation)

Sui Mouyu: indecency with a child, rape, extortion, and producing, selling and distributing obscene materials for profit

Database case

Laoshan District court, Qingdao · effective at first instanceJudgment 2022-08-11Full text ↗

Victim under 14; on WeChat he sent obscene texts and 25 obscene videos, and by verbal threats forced her to take 3 nude photos and 4 videos; then, threatening to spread them, raped her twice offline and extorted RMB 840; he sold the nude videos at RMB 5 each to more than 10 people (RMB 50 profit).

Holding: the offences are divided by stage and punished cumulatively — threatening to obtain images → indecency with a child; demanding money afterwards → extortion; reselling videos → producing, selling and distributing obscene materials for profit. A textbook example of electronic evidence and stacked offences in "WeChat image soliciting + threats".

Several offences · ten years in total

Qiao Moumou, indecency with a child via nude video chat

Typical case

SPC "typical cases of using the internet to infringe minors' rights", no. 5Release text (facts and holding as summarised in this card)

Posing as a biology teacher, he induced several girls under 14 into nude chats in the name of "video lessons" — pure inducement, no coercion.

Holding: nude chat without direct contact is indecency; for children, "deception" alone is enough for a crime, with no need for force.

Indecency with a child

Similar cases in brief: Liu Mousheng (Raoping, Guangdong; age 8; induced to take photos and videos touching private parts; one year eight months) · Cai Moumou (age 11; after an online romance asked for intimate photos and videos; one year five months) · Wang Mou "child star recruitment" nude chat case (ages 10–12; pure deception) · Wan Mou (2025, Changning, Shanghai; pure inducement to send intimate photos; Article 9(1) of Fa Shi [2023] No. 3 applied; one year six months, full text ↗)

Group B · victims aged 14 to under 18 · online, remote

Indecent assault · directly comparable

This group anchors classification and sentencing here. Note: every effective judgment in this group involves "coercion / threats"; among published samples there is no conviction for "purely paid, consensual, with no coercion", nor any acquittal (see section 7).

Li Mou, indecent assault ★ closest facts

Database case

Panzhihua Intermediate court, Sichuan · upheld on appealJudgment 2021-01-18Full text ↗

The victim, Liu Moumou, born August 2004, was 15 years 10 months old. (1) She refused his WeChat invitation to a nude chat; Li promised to pay RMB 3,000; after asking a friend she agreed and chatted nude for over 30 minutes; he never paid. (2) Threatening to spread the nude images he had, he forced another nude chat. (3) When she refused again he proposed "thirty nude chats or one sexual encounter in Shanghai and I'll delete the videos"; she agreed and chatted nude that night.

Holding: (1) forcing another to expose private parts or perform obscene acts in an online video chat is "indecency" under Article 237 even without physical contact; (2) taking nude photos and videos and then threatening to publish them to coerce further nude chats is indecent assault, punished more heavily where the victim is a minor. The reasoning grounds the conviction in "after obtaining nude photos and videos, using them to coerce obscene acts for him to view"; the first "paid nude chat" is not separately treated as a basis for conviction in the database text.

Indecent assault · three years

Zhang Moumou, indecent assault

Database case

Daxing District court, Beijing · effective at first instanceJudgment 2021-12-31Full text ↗

The victim, Zhou Moumou, was 16; Zhang threatened her with a video of her private parts he held, forcing her into an online nude chat and to masturbate for him to watch; when he demanded more the next day and she refused, the case came to light.

Holding: although remote indecency involves no physical contact, "using coercion to exert mental compulsion on a minor victim … meets the elements of indecent assault"; offences against minors are punished severely in physical and online space alike. A single completed act is a crime, with a custodial sentence.

Indecent assault · one year four months

Wang Moumou, indecency with a child and indecent assault

SPP typical case

Jiangyin, Jiangsu · "punishing cybercrime" typical cases, no. 5Judgment 2023-04-23Full release ↗

Posing as a teenage girl on social apps he befriended young users and, by enticement and threats, asked for photos of private parts; 25 victims: 24 under 14 (indecency with a child) + 1 under 16 (indecent assault); over 200 photos and 20 videos found on his phone.

Holding (SPP wording): "inducing many minors to send nude photos online, exposing private parts for him to view, meets Article 237 and shall be punished as indecent assault or indecency with a child" — the two offences split by the victims' ages. Enticement and threats were used together; no "pure inducement" instance can be isolated.

Several offences · eight years six months

Zhu Moumou, rape, indecency with a child and indecent assault

SPP typical case

Pinggu, Beijing · "comprehensive online protection of minors" typical cases, no. 3Release text (facts and holding as summarised in this card)

By inducement and coercion he had 8 minors take nude or intimate photos and indecent videos and send them; threatening to spread them he forced offline meetings and sexual intercourse; he also coerced adult women.

Holding: indecency with a child for those under 14 and indecent assault for those 14 or over; "zero tolerance" and thorough prosecution of sexual offences against minors that mix online and offline conduct.

Several offences · fifteen years six months

Wang Moumou, rape, indecency with a child, indecent assault and group licentiousness

Database case · death penalty

Shandong High court · appeal (death sentence approved by the SPC)Judgment 2023-04-07Release text (holding as summarised in this card)

Using friendship, tutoring, red envelopes and introductions to celebrities to win the trust of girls and teenagers, he obtained nude photos and videos and then threatened to publish them, raping 3 girls under 14 six times and 2 teenage girls three times offline, and indecently assaulting 3 teenage girls.

Holding: "Committing sexual offences after winning minors' trust by sending red envelopes and the like has wider and greater harm and shall be severely punished" — "giving money / red envelopes" as a means of winning trust is singled out for severity.

Death penalty (executed)

Chen Moumou, indecency with a child, rape and indecent assault

SPP + ACFTU + All-China Women's Federation typical case

Changtai, Zhangzhou, Fujian · judgment 2023-02-24Release text (facts and holding as summarised in this card)

Using a false identity, romance and small red envelopes, he induced 9 minors (including girls under 14) to send nude photos / indecent videos; when 4 did not want to continue he threatened to spread the photos; he had sexual intercourse offline with 5. Article 9(1) of Fa Shi [2023] No. 3 was applied directly.

Holding: "For sexual gratification, using inducement or coercion to make minors nude-chat online or take nude photos and videos … has the same social harm as indecency involving actual contact." The case discloses that the police initially considered that "merely asking online for nude chat videos, with no offline contact and no harmful result, is not a crime", and filed the case only after procuratorial supervision — showing real disagreement at the investigation stage over whether remote conduct is criminal, and a correction towards severity.

Rape 12 years 6 months + indecency with a child 5 years + indecent assault 1 year → fifteen years

Luo Mou: rape, indecency with a child, indecent assault, and producing, copying, selling and distributing obscene materials for profit

Typical case

Sichuan courts' typical cases on protecting minors (II), no. 1Release text (facts and holding as summarised in this card)

By ordering takeaway, giving pocket money and buying gifts he enticed (in some cases also threatened) 12 victims to send nude photos and videos — 11 under 14 and 1 aged 16; he then uploaded the images to an overseas Telegram group and sold them via password red envelopes of RMB 88/188/288, making RMB 9,540.

Holding: "enticing with pocket money" was assessed as a means of indecency; uploading and selling for profit was a separate offence of producing, copying, selling and distributing obscene materials for profit, punished cumulatively. The part involving the 16-year-old was treated as indecent assault.

Several offences · heavy sentence

Liu Chenglong, indecent assault

Published judgment

Shunyi District court, Beijing · first instanceJudgment 2021-07-30Full text ↗

Used threats to commit indecency against an (adult) woman via online video; despite compensation and forgiveness and a guilty plea, no suspended sentence.

Relevance: threat-based online indecency is also a crime against adults; a minor victim is an aggravating factor, not an element. It also shows courts' conservative attitude to suspended sentences in such cases.

Indecent assault · one year two months

Group C · other points

Notes

(1) A signal of restraint in sentencing: Chai Moudian (group A) is a database case that expressly says "remote indecency should not be criminalised across the board, and repetition should not be mechanically aggravated"; (2) two-way protection: if the actor was also a minor at the time, item 3 of Article 2 of the 2023 opinions requires two-way protection, and lighter or mitigated punishment can be sought under Article 17 of the Criminal Law; (3) the actors in database cases of this kind are mostly adult men, and there is no published effective judgment acquitting on the ground of "the victim's consent".

4. The rules

Remote conduct is "indecency": nude chat, soliciting images and directing self-recording are indecent acts in criminal law (Art. 9 of Fa Shi [2023] No. 3; the holdings in Li Mou and Zhang Moumou; the SPP's Wang Moumou case).
The age divide is rigid: under 14 → indecency with a child, consent irrelevant, coercion irrelevant; 14 or over → indecent assault, requiring conduct against true will. For a 15–16-year-old, the "against her will" argument must be made.
"Consent" is not a get-out-of-jail card: Article 31 of the 2023 opinions requires a comprehensive judgment of the true will of victims aged 14 or over from age, understanding, the relationship and the course of events — exploiting immaturity, deceiving about identity or motive, or manipulating with money may all lead to a finding that "consent" was not genuine.
Three ways "payment" is assessed: for under-14s it never prevents a crime (red envelopes and pocket money are common bait); for those 14 or over it is neither an automatic defence (Li Mou) nor an independent element, but feeds the argument on "inducement + will not genuine"; reselling or forwarding purchased images additionally triggers Articles 363/364.
Keeping images amplifies the risk: once there is a "threat to spread images", indecent assault is made out (Li Mou, Zhang Moumou); a further step to offline harm, extortion or resale adds rape, extortion or obscene-materials-for-profit, punished cumulatively (Sui Mouyu, Zhu Moumou, the Shandong Wang Moumou case).
Sentencing (basic tier up to five years): threat-based online cases range from one year two months to three years (Liu Chenglong 1y2m, Zhang Moumou 1y4m, Li Mou 3y); multiple victims, repetition and cumulative offences add more; the database guidance signals prudence and no mechanical aggravation for remote indecency (Chai Moudian).

5. Classification analysis (three scenarios, by where the evidence points)

The following is practical analysis, not statutory text; which scenario applies depends on the actual content of the chat records and payment records.

Risk of conviction · high

Scenario 1 · false identity or deceptive motive

Posing as a peer in a romance, or falsely claiming to be selecting models / doing health checks / teaching, with money only as bait, so the victim gives "mistaken consent" because of deception. Prosecution route: "inducement" under Art. 9 of Fa Shi [2023] No. 3 + "other means" under Art. 237, with Art. 31 of the 2023 opinions for a comprehensive assessment of will. Compare: the under-16 victim in the Jiangyin Wang Moumou case, and the 16-year-old victim in Luo Mou.

Possible defence points: no coercive statements at all, the victim's age and understanding, motive was gain rather than being deceived.

Most disputed · this is where the argument lies

Scenario 2 · genuine acquaintance, open price, fully informed and willing

The parties genuinely knew each other or were in an online relationship, the victim clearly understood what she was sending and the consequences, price → payment → sending, with no identity deception, no "or else", no threats after keeping images, no distribution. In legal theory the "force (against her will)" element of Art. 237 is hard to satisfy directly, and there is no published conviction for "purely paid consent + 14 or over" (nor any acquittal; see section 7). That the first paid nude chat in Li Mou was not separately treated as a basis for conviction can serve as a supporting argument.

Risk warning: the authorities take a conservative view of a 15–16-year-old's "consent" to disposing of nude images (Art. 31 of the opinions exists for this); buying a minor's self-made images is easily assessed as directing their "production"; the investigation stage is strict (Art. 10 of the opinions), and arrest and conviction are two different things.

Risk of conviction · high

Scenario 3 · inducement followed by pressure / threats

Inducement first, then, when refused, pressure such as "I'll tell your family / teacher / expose you / come to your home", or asking for new photos or videos after keeping images. This follows the Li Mou and Zhang Moumou track: indecent assault is basically made out, with an expected sentence of about one and a half to three years (the aggravation for a minor victim offset by a guilty plea, restitution and forgiveness). Resale, distribution or demands for money add Articles 363/364 and extortion.

The defence then shifts to: the number of offences (avoiding double counting), sentencing factors (surrender / confession / guilty plea / first offence / restitution and forgiveness), and whether images actually leaked, to exclude Articles 363/364.

6. Procedure and contested evidence

Procedure

Cases of sexual offences against minors are heard in private; under Art. 16 of the 2023 opinions judgments may not disclose the minor's identity or details of the offence, and very few are published, so case research relies mainly on database and typical cases.
Art. 10 of the 2023 opinions: non-custodial measures are applied strictly to adult suspects, so bail is hard to obtain; prepare material on the lack of need for detention early.
"One-stop" evidence gathering and audio-video recording of interviews (Arts. 23 and 24 of the opinions); checking the victim's statements against the recordings is an entry point for procedural defence.
There are clear rules for reviewing the lawfulness of electronic evidence collection (who collected it, records and lists, witnesses, video); recovered data needs a complete image and verification.

Contested evidence

Documentary proof of age: confirm the exact age at the time; the age-14 line must be nailed down.
Completeness and recovery of chat records: deletion ≠ erasure, and records can be recovered from an image; the scope and completeness of recovery directly affect whether the "process of agreement" can be proved.
Payment records: how the time, amount and notes of transfers correspond to the sending of images — showing a "transaction for consideration" rather than a "relationship of control"; payment records are kept on the server, so deleting phone records changes nothing.
The suspect's subjective awareness of her age and the context of their dealings.
Where the images went: kept only by the suspect, not distributed, forwarded or uploaded — to exclude Articles 363/364 and aggravating circumstances.

7. Search limits and limitations

(1) Sexual offences against minors are heard in private and few judgments are published, so the usable sample comes mainly from People's Court Case Database cases and SPC / SPP typical cases, which carry more authority than ordinary judgments;
(2) for "purely paid + purely voluntary + 14 or over + no threat + no distribution", no effective conviction, acquittal or non-prosecution decision was found in public sources — such facts mostly stop at the investigation / non-prosecution stage (not public), so this report cannot give a definite probability of outcome, only an assessment of the rules and tendencies;
(3) search date 2026-09; all provisions checked word for word against public statute databases as the current versions (Criminal Law 2023 amendment, Fa Shi [2023] No. 3, the 2023 four-agency opinions); judgments before 2023-06-01 applied the old rules, with the same conviction rules as now;
(4) some database cases do not disclose the case number (e.g. Li Mou); the full-text page reproduces the database text and says so — it is not the original judgment.

8. Appendix: index of all cases and notes on the texts

Case	Court / publisher	Type	Case number / identifier	Full text	Note
Li Mou, indecent assault	Panzhihua Intermediate court, Sichuan	Database case	Not disclosed	gekong-li ↗	Database text (not the original judgment)
Zhang Moumou, indecent assault	Daxing District court, Beijing	Database case	(2021)京0115刑初1665号	gekong-zhang ↗	Database text
Shang Mou, indecency with a child	Hefei Intermediate court, Anhui	Database case	(2022)皖01刑终844号	gekong-shang ↗	Database text
Yang Moumou, indecency with a child	Urumqi Intermediate court, Xinjiang	Database case	(2023)新01刑终9号	gekong-yang ↗	Database text
Chai Moudian, indecency with a child	Nansha District court, Guangzhou	Database case	(2022)粤0115刑初602号	gekong-chai ↗	Database text
Sui Mouyu (four offences)	Laoshan District court, Qingdao	Database case	(2022)鲁0212刑初368号	gekong-sui ↗	Database text
Wang Moumou, indecency with a child and indecent assault	SPP (Jiangyin, Jiangsu)	Typical case	—	gekong-wang ↗	Typical-case release
Wan Mou, indecency with a child	Changning District court, Shanghai	Published judgment	(2025)沪0105刑初20号	gekong-wan ↗	Release / judgment text
Liu Chenglong, indecent assault	Shunyi District court, Beijing	Published judgment	(2021)京0113刑初551号	gekong-liu ↗	Full judgment
Zhu Moumou, rape, indecency with a child and indecent assault	SPP (Pinggu, Beijing)	Typical case	—	—	Facts and holding in the group B card
Chen Moumou, indecency with a child, rape and indecent assault	SPP and others (Changtai, Fujian)	Typical case	—	—	Facts and holding in the group B card
Luo Mou (including obscene materials for profit)	Sichuan High court	Typical case	—	—	Facts and holding in the group B card
Wang Moumou, rape, indecency with a child, indecent assault and group licentiousness	Shandong High court (death sentence approved)	Database case	—	—	Facts and holding in the group B card
Qiao Moumou, indecency with a child via nude video chat	SPC	Typical case	—	—	Facts and holding in the group A card
Liu Mousheng, indecency with a child (Raoping, Guangdong)	Court system release	Typical case	—	—	See group A in brief
Cai Moumou, indecency with a child	Court system release	Typical case	—	—	See group A in brief

Sources: published court judgments, the People's Court Case Database and public statute databases. Database texts and typical-case releases are in the format published by the courts / database; cite them as such. All document numbers have been checked.

Quick answers

Is online indecency without physical contact a crime in China?: Yes. Under Article 9 of the 2023 SPC/SPP interpretation on rape and indecency against minors (Fa Shi [2023] No. 3), coercing or inducing a minor via video chat or by sending photos or videos to expose private parts or perform obscene acts is punished as indecent assault or indecency with a child under Article 237 of the Criminal Law.
What is the difference between indecent assault and indecency with a child in China?: The victim's age. Where the victim is under 14, it is indecency with a child, and consent or the absence of force is irrelevant. Where the victim is 14 or older, it is indecent assault, which requires the conduct to be against the victim's true will, by violence, coercion or other means.
Does a 15- or 16-year-old's consent or payment of money prevent criminal liability in China?: Not necessarily. Article 31 of the 2023 opinions on sexual offences against minors requires the true will of a victim aged 14 or over to be judged comprehensively from age, condition, conduct, the relationship and the circumstances, not solely from an express statement. Courts have treated red envelopes, pocket money and gifts as means of inducement, and any later threat to expose images makes indecent assault clear.

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