Violence in the home is rarely discussed publicly in China, making the debate somewhat of a breakthrough in a socially conservative country. It became a hot topic after the divorce of a high profile English teacher Li Yang, who mesmerized millions in China with his Crazy English program, and his American wife Kim Lee. Lee had accused Li of repeatedly beating her, and even posted photos to Sina’s Weibo microblogging service.

Despite being quite high profile at the time, many Chinese people are unclear if domestic violence is morally or legally wrong. The draft legislation makes clear that violence between married couples would not be tolerated. To drive the point home, state-run newspaper Global Times reported it this way:

If you are in a poor mood with which you vent upon your son or wife/husband by beating them, or unintentionally hit them, or if you want to demonstrate your authority within the family by oppressing your child and spouse through economic and mental means, then you are in violation of (this law)!

The bill appears to have hit a bottleneck due to problems on how to define “domestic violence”. Some rights groups claim the definition doesn’t go far enough, and should include couples who live together but aren’t married, as well as same sex couples. They also say domestic violence should include sexual or economic abuse.

Presiding judge Yang Wanming said that domestic violence is on the rise, and is a threat to social harmony. A women’s association in China said in 2005 that about 30 percent of China’s 270 million families experience domestic violence.

Eighty countries have specific anti-domestic violence laws on the books. Until families can be safe and receive the protection they need, victims looking for help in China can always call the China Women’s Hotline at 12338.

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Only in late November of last year did the national government introduce legislation that defines domestic violence and gives unambiguous information on how restraining orders work. The law was hailed as a major step forward by officials and some advocates of domestic violence legislation, but some saw the flaws, such as the Wall Street Journal, which reported that the law does not apply to unmarried couples.

That same month state media reported that 40 percent of Chinese women who were married or in a relationship had experienced domestic violence, and that’s just those who reported it. Several studies have indicated that domestic violence is widely underreported around the world (for instance, this one published in the Oxford University Press says that among women, a worldwide average of only 7 percent report their cases to authorities).

Shenzhen Economic Daily quoted a local lawyer, Guo Xuan Ling, as saying that domestic violence is very common and that there are lots of gaps in the legislative process and a lack of legal remedies for these situations, which causes a gap in timely assistance and protection to victims. The same report says that in 2009 in Shenzhen, more than 7,200 families split up. Twenty percent were because of violence in the family and 50 percent due to extramarital affairs.

The pollsters interviewed men and women above the age of 18 living in Shenzhen with and without permanent residency in May 2014. The university estimates that because the elderly and children were not included in the study, the rates could be as high as 80 percent – not even accounting for endemic underreporting.

The study found that 40 to 50 percent of couples verbally abuse their partners, while 4 to 10 percent reported experiencing forced sexual behavior, such as a man refusing to wear a condom, and 4 to 5 percent reported being forced into sex altogether through threats and violence.

China’s Supreme People’s Court is expected to introduce legislation that more clearly defines procedures for dealing with domestic violence cases in the first half of this year. Until then, violence is likely being carried out far more than reports indicate; more than half of Shenzhen’s children are learning how to behave from parents who are abusing each other, and the city that trumpets its rating as the least polluted among major Chinese cities has above average rates of a crime that causes more psychological damage than can ever be measured.

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Women attending one of the Women’s Virtue Classes

Dongguan has cancelled a class that taught women to tolerate domestic violence after critics said the class was chauvinistic and twisted traditional Chinese culture, New Express Daily reported.

The controversial “Women’s Virtue Class” that targeted women from teenage girls to women in their 70s had asked its students to strictly adhere to its four basic principles: never fight back when beaten, never talk back when verbally assaulted, take it as it as and never file for divorce.

The class came to light after a women’s organization went undercover at the school, Tencent reported. Song Yuping, a student that took the class, said she was taught a woman can suffer from headaches, arthritis, heart disease and thrombosis if she does not care for her father-in-law and husband. Conversely, absolute obedience to a husband can eventually cure lung cancer and albinism.

Following an investigation into the program by local authorities, Dongguan’s propaganda department announced the class has been officially shut down. An investigation found “its teaching curriculum was against social morals, and its class was run without a legal license,” the report said.

The Mengzheng Chinese Study Academy ran the women’s virtue class annually in 12 separate sessions, each of which was filled with 50 students. In addition to Dongguan, similar classes were taught in Beijing as well as Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi and Hainan provinces, Chinese National Radio reported earlier.

Most of the teaching materials were loosely based on Confucius classics. The popular class suggested “some modern women are desperate and hopeless when facing a family crisis. They can’t solve their immediate problems, and instead turn to those brainwashing women’s virtues to hypnotize themselves (for temporary relief)”, Jiang Jingjing, a commentator told Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily.

Photos: Wen Wei Po

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Li Yang became a Buddhist at the Shaolin Temple located in Dengfeng, Henan Province where he was bestowed his new Buddhist name, Yan Yi.

As part of his conversion, Li announced his intention to help the temple learn English to better help them connect with the outside world, and donated 10,000 English books.

Long known as the charismatic leader of Crazy English, a company that encouraged its English students to actively “lose face” in order to conquer this foreign language, Li gained infamy when his Amercian wife and Crazy English co-founder Kim Lee posted pictures online in 2011 that exposed her as a victim of domestic abuse, something Li vehemently denied until he finally admitted it online.

Among many quotable statements Li made to the press about beating his wife, he said he did it because he believed “a man’s career is more important than his family,” and he needed to “educate” her, something that would be supported by the Chinese Communist government.

Li’s conversion to Buddhism isn’t the first time he has publicly changed religions. When Kim Lee was actively trying to divorce him, Li refused to sign the divorce papers, citing his conversion to the Muslim religion in November of 2011.

Kim Lee was eventually granted a divorce, winning a US $1.9 million settlement and becoming a role model for battered women in China.

Photo: jiangsu.china, sohu, dict.cn

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Another question has been vexing China recently, namely: “Which cities’ husbands are more subservient to their wives, Shanghai or Chengdu?” Sichuan Online decided to turn the question into an actual survey that has stoked controversy among Chengdu husbands who are not satisfied with the results.

While details of how the survey was done remain unclear, the results show that 36.8% of respondents said Shanghai while only 31.6% believe Chengdu men are more subservient.

However, Chengdu husbands are apparently not satisfied with their position at #2, despite their apparently familiarity with it. Comments criticizing the survey results include:

Simply can not accept this. We’ve been at it neck and neck with Shanghai men, and we’ve given all of our earnings over (to our wives).
This clearly destroys the image of the Chengdu husband! Could it be?
This is definitely a trick!

A ranking of cities by how afraid husbands are of their wives begins with Shanghai, and is followed by Chengdu, Wuhan and Chaozhou. But one Chengdu male said they are simply misunderstood:

This isn’t called ‘being afraid of one’s wife’, but ‘loving one’s wife’.

The meek behaviour among men around their wives or girlfriends comes from the phrase “burning ear”. It is used to describe when a wife punishes her husband by twisting his ear, but the husband remains too afraid to use physical force against his wife so quietly accepts his punishment.

There were other questions as part of the survey, too. One was: “Are Chengdu husbands willing to allow themselves to be coerced by their wives with the public fully knowing the extent of their emasculation?” Twenty-six percent answered “yes”, 15.8% said “no”, while 57.9% said husbands are willing to be coerced by their wives, but only in private.

When asked why this is a particular phenomenon in Chengdu, 20.8% of respondents said that “Chengdu women have a spicy attitude”, 20.8% said “Chengdu men are mild and amenable”, while 29.2% stated, “This is a modern trend.”

If this is a modern trend, we wonder where people get the idea that domestic abuse within a marriage is acceptable, or even humorous.

He’s holding a yellow rose and saying, “I love frying pans.”

Photos: meilishuo, media.163， news.tigercity

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The man in white dragged his wife by the hair for dozens of meters.

On June 27, a man in Baiyun District of Guangzhou was seen beating and stomping on his wife’s stomach in public and dragging her by the hair for dozens of meters in broad daylight in front of their son,  Guangdong TV reported on June 29.

The violence went on for more than 10 minutes. While the man was dragging the woman along the road, the woman was carrying her son on her back. This caused the boy to sustain bruises and bleeding to his scalp according to witnesses quoted in the report, but this did not stop the man from laying his hands on his son, the witness said.

Although the man’s mother arrived and tried to stop the beating, the man continued to beat the woman with the intent to “beat her to death,” another witness told the TV station.

It was not immediately known what caused the violent beating, but a neighbour said it was a “family matter”. We have noticed increasing reports on domestic violence in Guangzhou driving up divorce rates and child abuse in the city. Despite bystanders recording the beating on their phones, it appears no one offered to help.

Photos: Guangdong TV

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Three out of every four children in China have been abused, according to this infographic published by People’s Daily Online.

If that sounds like an incredible ratio, this infographic also provides detailed statistics on precisely which cruel acts are construed as child abuse. For example, a child hitting a child — that’s child abuse. Same goes for corporal punishment and also something curiously described as “forcing them to hand over their money”.

It may be that abuse on children is defined in China in broad terms, the same way knife attacks are now inextricably linked to terrorism. Whatever the case, here’s the proof that explains * how 75% of all Chinese children have been abused:

Analysis of Violent Abuse and Infringement of Rights of (Chinese) Children

74.8% of children (under 16 years old) have been abused

Physical Abuse

Using bare hands to strike them
Using sticks, brooms, or belts to hit them
Constricting their movements
Suffocation, burning, pricking

Mental Abuse

Humiliating and making them feel bad, stupid, or worthless
Forcing them to hand over their money
Telling them that you wished they were never born, or telling them to die
Threatening to abandon them, or forcing them to leave home
Having them witness serious fights and disputes done by family members or friends close to the family
Threatening them with serious injury or death

Sexual Abuse

Verbal sexual harassment
Sexual harasser directly exposing their genitals
Being touched in a private area
Making them touch the private area of another person
Attempted unconsentual sexual intercourse
Unconsentual sexual intercourse

Rate of Abuse in Children (Under 16 Years of Age)

Physical Abuse
Males 64.2%
Females 45.1%

Mental Abuse
Males 65.7%
Females 55.4%

Sexual Abuse
Males and Females 25.6%

Using bare hands to strike them:
Males 54.6%, Females 32.6%
Using sticks, brooms, or belts to hit them:
Males 39%, Females 28.5%
Constricting their movements:
Males 4.3%, Females 2.4%
Suffocation, burning, pricking:
Males 4.3%, Females 2.4%

Humiliating and making them feel bad, stupid, or worthless:
Males 55.9%, Females 29.9%
Forcing them to hand over their money:
Males 24.6%, Females 6.2%
Telling them that you wished they were never born, or telling them to die:
10.5% Both sexes
Threatening to abandon them, or forcing them to leave home:
Males 13.6%, Females 10.5%
Having them witness serious fights and disputes done by family members or friends close to the family:
Males 7.5%, Females 2.4%
Threatening them with serious injury or death:
Males 7.5%, Females 2.4%

Verbal sexual harassment:
Males 12.2%, Females 13.8%
Sexual harasser directly exposing their genitals:
Males 6.5%, Females 11.9%
Being touched in a private area:
Males 9.7%, Females 13.5%
Making them touch the private area of another person:
Males 1.9%, Females 2.7%
Attempted unconsentual sexual intercourse:
Males 1.3%, Females 3.3%
Unconsentual sexual intercourse:
Males 1.7%, Females 2.1%

The home is where MOST abuse occurs

Home Abuse
Hit with bare hands: 26.6%
Hit with an object: 26.2%
Humiliated and shamed: 5.6%
Witness to domestic violence: 19.3%

The school is another major place where abuse occurs, namely corporal punishment from teachers and bullying from other students

Abuse from Teachers
Hit with bare hands: 15%
Hit with an object: 7%
Humiliated and shamed: 12.9%

Abuse from other students
Hit with bare hands: 12.5%
Hit with an object: 3.5%
Humilated and shamed: 18.2%
Sexual harassment and infringement: 12.9%

Ages at which violent behavior has a clear influence upon abused children during their childhood

0:
Males 9%, Females 1.2%
1-2:
Males 14.7%, Females 3.1%
3-4
Males 18.9%, Females 5.8%
5-6
Males 29.9%, Females 7.4%
>7
Males 38.5%, Females 17.2%

* UPDATE: We neglected to mention this: we couldn’t find any reasoning or justification that backs up the huge figure of “75% of all children in China have been abused.”

Photos: Guangzhou Public Security Bureau via Weibo

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[This story may have content that some readers may find disturbing]

On May 14, photos of a ten year-old boy from Heyuan, Guangdong showed bruising and scars all across his body from being physically abused by his step-mother surfaced.

On the very same day, a published survey revealed only 37.5% of its Guangzhou respondents believe beating a child constitutes domestic violence.

We’re not sure which news to be more shocked at, so we’re going to talk about them both.

Binbin’s abuse was reported by a homeroom teacher that saw a bruise on his face. For years, Binbin had been beaten by his stepmother once or twice a week, first with fists and then with clothes hangers. Despite the abuse, authorities could only force the step-mother to take classes, and having failed that, they could take criminal action against her.

Meanwhile, for the past four years, an average of 500 domestic abuse cases have been reported each year in the province, many not unlike Binbin’s case, according to a survey done by Sun Yat-sen University and the Women’s Federation of Guangzhou. Despite the abuse, there are only available six shelters in the province that offer protection, and they have only provided assistance to 17 women and children over the last two years.

Here is what Feng Yuan, co-founder of the Anti-Domestic Violence Network, told the Global Times:

There is no legal framework for public institutions like schools and hospitals to report child abuse…The nation has yet to deprive a single abusive parent of guardianship or to exercise national guardianship to guarantee the best interests of children.

Here’s a fact for you: 100% of me is disgusted, outraged, and saddened, but perhaps not in that order. 

Photos: Southern Metropolis Report via Weibo

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[This article contains content and images that some readers may find unsettling or offensive]

“Knife attack at train station” isn’t something you’d think you’d be hearing again so soon especially with a public frayed with anxiety, and yet it did so recently at Shenzhen North Railway Station.

At around 8am on April 13, a woman walking into Entrance A of Shenzhen North Railway Station was stabbed in the abdomen by a man wielding a knife, who would later turn the blade upon himself, Nandu reported. Named Zhang, the man was despondent that the victim, his wife, was transferring to Shanghai to work for two months, said a source belonging to the woman’s family. The woman had been working at Foxconn and was the sole breadwinner for the family that includes their seven year-old son.

In the wake of the deadly knife attacks in Kunming that killed 33 people, we’ve seen a focus on strengthening homeland security in China. The beginning of April saw an increased police presence at Yinhe Park that was described as “the most heavily-guarded Qingming Festival in history. Furthermore, public security in nearby Guangzhou is planned to be strengthened next month with increased patrols by armed police.

However, one the heroes that would save the victim from further injury, Ma Xingwang, 40, described a situation that was not reflective of this renewed vigor for security:

After he got up, he picked up his knife to chase after me. We ran several circles around the plaza. As he wasn’t able to catch me, he finally stopped and just glared at me, so I just glared back at him.

That sounds pretty absurd, but let’s add the additional details of this story as told by Ma in successive order by which they are “mind-blowing”:

1. This occurred at Shenzhen North Railway Station during rush hour
2. The plaza is packed full of people
3. Not one person helped Ma during this time
4. Station security guards stood to the side and watched as they arrived *
5. The entire attack lasted for ten minutes before Ma’s brother was able to trip the attacker from behind, and finally subdue him

Yes, ten minutes. Ten minutes. There was no police response or help from the dozens of people watching for ten whole minutes. Besides missing his train, Ma and his brother could have done several other things for ten minutes besides being chased by a violent attacker armed with a knife: boil two eggs, have a quick nap, order their meal from KFC with a line of ten people waiting behind them, anything at all.

If we are critical at the inaction of others, it remains that bystanders affect the ultimate outcome: they can all attest to the heroism of the Ma brothers because they watched it all happen.

* From the report:

One security guard stated that he rushed to the plaza when he heard a report that people were fighting during his patrol at around 8am. The security guard stated that there were many spectators at the scene, but no one was willing to get too close.

Photos: Shanghai Online, iFeng, Huagu

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Xiao Bao, image courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily

2 year-old Xiao Bao (alias) was taken to hospital last week with severe burns on his head, scars across his face and a 5cm wound on his left arm. His father admitted responsibility for the injuries but said “he was just educating” the boy, Nandu Daily reports.

Xiao Bao’s 7 year-old sister Rong Rong (alias) told doctors that their father often beat her and Xiao Bao, especially while drunk. Police in Shunde are now investigating their father, Mr. Luo.

On January 2, Mr. Luo took the boy to hospital claiming that two days earlier the toddler had suffered burns while being given a bath and the wounds may now be infected. The doctor who treated Xiao Bao doubted this story, claiming that the burns on his head could only be made by boiling water. The doctor also wanted to know why Xiao Bao had so many other injuries.

On Wednesday (Jan.8), a reporter from the paper went to Foshan No. 1 Hospital and spoke to Rong Rong, who was sitting at her brother’s bed side. Rong Rong explained that, after having a row with her father, her mother walked out several months ago.

For over a year now, Mr. Luo has been beating getting drunk and hitting Rong Rong and Xiao Bao, saying they are too naughty. He has even been known to refuse to feed them if they are bad, the family claims. Neither child had eaten meat in months. Rong Rong’s face has traces of a cigarette burn and the father is accused of threatening to disown the children if they tell any strangers about his behaviour.

Mr. Luo tearfully confessed to the paper that he would scold and hit his children. But he claimed he never hit them hard enough to injure them and he only did it to “educate”. He claimed to feel remorse for his actions and also claims to get sleepy rather than violent when he is drunk.

In answer to the accusation that he never fed his children meat, he said there were two reasons. Firstly, he was quite poor, and secondly, the family did not much like meat anyway, they prefer fish.

As well as having a dysfunctional marriage, Luo is also 1000 yuan behind on his rent, according to his landlady. The landlady also says she often hears the children screaming after he has gone home drunk. Once, she knocked on the door after hearing particularly piercing screams. When confronted, Luo asserted that he had just given the child a smacked bottom.

Luo is now under investigation. It ain’t looking good for him.

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