New Delhi, July 13 -- To get a flavour of how some university-educated male influencers in China think, log on to Zhihu, a social-media platform, and find the account of someone who calls himself Peng Huitang. Mr Peng has 50,000 followers and regularly spews vitriol at modern women. "Young women brainwashed by feminist thinking became increasingly man-hating, which then evolved into the idea that men are born owing women something," he rants.

Another man, who goes by the name Ying Yueyong, in a post viewed 4m times on Bilibili, a video platform, issued "a rallying cry to men to no longer remain silent in the face of years of bullying and to rise up in resistance". He slips in some of the nationalism popular with such influencers: "Extrem...