May 21, 2018, 05:18 PM 
A 'relationship expert' in China has earned the ire of the Chinese Internet with her controversial remarks.
Better to be a comfort woman than be dead
In an article that was widely circulated on the Chinese Internet last week, one particular quote from Yang Bingyang, or Ayawawa, about Chinese comfort women stood out.
In an attempt to explain why women have more "gender advantages" than men, Yang asked the young women averaging the age of 20-something in her class to imagine themselves as Chinese comfort women during World War 2.
She said:
"Do you really think the comfort women are to be pitied? Have you thought of how much more miserable the men were during that period of time?
They were killed, but at least the women managed to survive."
She added that as long as women made use of their "female advantages", they can still reap the benefits even at times of war.
Questionable advice
Some of her questionable advice include telling women not to marry someone from a rural background, and to use their 'female advantages' to marry a 'successful' man before they turn 28.
In addition, if they want to get married, they have to know how to sweet-talk men and cannot be too 'competitive' with them.
She also disparaged an attendee's appearance before the entire class, asking the class to rate her -- she received an average score of 3.5 out of 10 -- and telling her that her looks are not good enough for her to sport a short haircut.
She even said that the 24-year-old divorcee cannot even measure up to an older 28-year-old woman who is still single.
Each of her student paid RMB16,800 (~S$3,500) to attend her class.
Screenshot via Weibo
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Got called out on the Internet
The article drew widespread criticisms online, including a scathing response from Chinese Women Newspaper.
They wrote (translation via SupChina):
"Because of this article, we are reminded that even in a country where gender equality is a basic national policy, there are toxic theories like this and lessons that try to degrade women into dust."
Several netizens also joined in the online bashing.
Screenshot via Weibo
Translation: So many people have been censored. Why not censor this?
Screenshot via Weibo
Translation: She's not ignorant. She's just really evil. The ignorant ones are her fans.
Screenshot via Weibo
Translation: Women have put in so many years of effort and sacrifice fighting for gender equality, only for this kind of person to destroy it in a second. The dignity of all Chinese women have been belittled.
Screenshot via Weibo
Translation: Can we just let her die out on the internet?
Screenshot via Weibo
Translation: There really are too many dumb fans in China who lose their common sense when it comes to supporting their idol. 'Comfort women' are a piece of history that still hurts, and is not a tool for you to gain support from your fans. There's no need to say more, just execute her by shooting. This is what foreign minister Wang Yi was referring to when he said "the failure of all Chinese".
Apologised for her "stupid mistake"
According to SupChina, Yang apologised on her Weibo page on Friday, May 18, calling her comment an "inexcusable mistake".
However, the apology has since been taken down.
She said (translation via SupChina):
“I was not aware that all human beings are victims of wars, regardless of gender.
I’ve been blogging about relationships for a long time and I knew little about politics and military affairs.
That’s why I made such a stupid mistake."
She also announced that she will take a break from social media for a month to “learn internet regulations, conduct self-criticism, and foster correct worldviews.”
Comfort women issue still remains unresolved today
'Comfort women' is a euphemism for Asian women who were forced to work in wartime brothels during the Second World War.
The issue remains a sensitive and unresolved one today between Japan and many other Asian countries, such as China, South Korea, and the Philippines.
Although many 'comfort women' who are still living today are well into their 80s and 90s, young activists have taken up their cause, continuing to exert pressure on their own governments, as well as Tokyo, to acknowledge their plight.
Tokyo has denied the sufferings of the comfort women, telling a United Nations (UN) committee that an official "fact-finding study" conducted in the 1990s had failed to find any evidence that women had been forcefully taken away by the Japanese military or the government.
Japan has also been criticised for retracting or contradicting past apologies made by its lawmakers, making their stance uncertain to the victims.
For instance, Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine with other Japanese lawmakers on the same day after he released an apology.
Two years later, he also denied the Imperial Japanese military had forced women into sexual slavery during the war.
The constant demands of apology from other Asian countries have also led Japanese lawmakers to wonder "how many times must Japan apologise for it to be enough?"
However, leaving the emotive aspect aside, some experts say that the 'comfort women' issue is used by both the Chinese and South Korean governments as a convenient tool to exact political leverage against Japan, as well as to satisfy their domestic audiences.
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