Domestic Violence in China: In Search of Legal and Social Responses

Abstract

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN CHINA: IN SEARCH OF LEGAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSES Yuhong Zhao* INTRODUCTION The status of Chinese women has changed dramatically since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.1 However, they still have a long way to go to reach a condition of ultimate freedom and true equality in society. Violence against women is manifested by torture, rape, persecution and violence by intimate partners. Home, traditionally seen as a safe haven, has become a war zone for many women, even during times of peace. Although violence against women is illegal, or at least in theory carries the possibility of some legal sanction, the violence still continues. Domestic violence is an issue that has long been ignored by the government and wrongly perceived by Chinese society as acceptable until very recently. It was not until the 1990s that increasing attention started to be paid to the nature, severity and magnitude of the epidemic of domestic violence in China. At the international level, violence against women is finally being seen as a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of women as well as an impairment or nullification of their enjoy- ment of those rights and freedoms. 2 It is an obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace as recognized in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Lecturer in Law, City University of Hong Kong. BA and LLB (Peking Uni- versity), MSL (Vermont Law School), PhD (City University of Hong Kong). The author would like to acknowledge her gratitude to the City University of Hong Kong for providing a small-scale research grant to conduct research on the subject. 1. The most recent comprehensive review of women's status in China was con- ducted by the Women's Studies Institute of the All China Women's Federation. See A REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL STATUS OF WOMEN IN CHINA (Tao Chunfang & Jiang Yongping eds., 1995). 2. See UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, U.N. GAOR, 48th Sess., Agenda Item 111, U.N. Doc. A/Res/48/104 (1994) [hereinafter DEVAW].