https://mothership.sg/2026/04/woman-china-allegedly-strip-searched-stop-man-smoking/

Woman, 29, in China allegedly strip-searched & mistreated by police after trying to stop man from smoking at non-smoking area

The police said that the safety check was conducted by a female officer in an enclosed area.

Xueting Wu

April 27, 2026, 06:50 PM

A woman living in Shenzhen, China, has taken to social media to claim that she was strip-searched and mistreated by the police after she tried to stop a man from smoking in a non-smoking area of a bus stop.

According to the woman's Weibo posts, she first approached the man politely on Apr. 24, but the exchange quickly escalated, and both sides decided to make a police report.

The 29-year-old woman, surnamed Wang, claimed she was strip-searched at the police station and might be detained for five days on suspicion of insulting the man.

Her further allegations of police mistreatment have sparked controversy online, prompting the police to respond.

In a statement widely cited by Chinese media, the local police confirmed the incident at the bus stop.

They explained that as part of the investigations, officers conducted searches on both parties for safety, as required by regulations.

What happened at the bus stop

Wang alleged that the man, a 33-year-old surnamed Chen, raised his voice at her after she asked him politely not to smoke.

As he continued scolding her, she poured her drink on the man's hand to put out the cigarette, and the man responded by throwing the rest of the drink on her face and body.

Wang included a photo of her hand supposedly splattered with the drink.

To settle the dispute, they both went to the police station to give a statement.

Image via HK01

Accusations about the police

According to Wang, she was asked to undress in the police station so that she could be searched.

She said she was searched in a space that would definitely be visible to everyone, men and women, from the front desk.

Several other women at the station were also strip-searched in the same way, Wang added.

She also claimed the officers confiscated her phone, asked her to remove her glasses even though she was significantly short-sighted, and did not allow her to close the door while she used the toilet.

Public security

When Wang asked if she was being detained, the officers allegedly replied that it could be considered a public security order, and added that anyone involved in a dispute would be handled similarly.

She then pointed out that she was the one who made a police report, and the officers allegedly told her the man accused her of starting the argument.

"I did not intend to throw the drink at him. I only wanted to put out the cigarette at the bus stop," she said to the police.

In reply, the officers allegedly said, "What can we do? I smoke too."

According to Wang, they also added that the bus stop did not count as an indoor environment and thus did not count as a non-smoking area.

Wang's Weibo account, where she posted these claims, has since been deactivated.

The police's response

An investigation team from the Guangming district of Shenzhen issued a statement on Apr. 25, describing the altercation involving Chen's drink at the bus stop.

The officers were alerted and arrived at the scene, where they saw Wang and Chen refusing to back down from the argument.

According to the statement, the search of Wang at the station was conducted by a female officer in a separate, enclosed area.

After some mediation by the police, Wang and Chen reached a settlement and agreed not to pursue further legal action against each other.

It was also verified that Chen was smoking at the bus stop, which violated the local anti-smoking regulations, and thus the authorities have fined the man and ordered him to correct his behaviour.

According to HK01, Wang told reporters that Chen later admitted that the bus stop was within the non-smoking area. He apologised to her, and she was willing to forgive him.

Top images from HK01