The Intermediate People’s Court of Nanjing, Jiangsu has issued 31 protection orders out of a total of 55 applications, reported China News. Out of those issued orders, 20 were requested by wives and seven were requested by parents.

Under the law, anyone who suffers from or faces the threat of domestic violence can apply for a personal protection order at a local court, which must rule upon the request within 72 hours of first being filed.

If a protection order is granted, the court has the authority to stop an abuser from harassing, stalking or contacting the applicant and his or her close relatives by ordering the abuser to move out of the home or other measures. Orders can last a maximum of six months, but can be extended by the courts.

Violators can face fines of 1,000 yuan and 15 days in jail as well as criminal charges in serious offences.

Even though the anti-domestic violence law is broad enough to cover both unmarried and married couples, it makes no mention of victims of sexual violence, marital rape, or economic control. Furthermore, people in gay and lesbian relationships are not covered by the law despite experiencing higher incidences of violence.

Guo Linmao, a legislative official from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s legal affairs commission, said in a news conference he had never heard of domestic abuse happening in gay relationships.

Public feedback towards the first draft of the law received more than 42,000 comments from almost 9,000 people, making it one of most publicly discussed Chinese laws ever.

National surveys say up to a quarter of women in China have experienced violence within their marriages, while the China Law Society says a third of Chinese families have experienced some form of domestic violence.

But even with the protections offered by the state, experts are saying that societal attitudes are still lagging when it comes to domestic violence, a taboo topic in China. Despite the law’s passing, many Chinese still aren’t willing to confront the issue of domestic violence, said Hou Zhimin of the Maple Women’s Psychological Counseling Center in Beijing.

“Many people still don’t think a husband abusing his wife is a big problem,” said Hou. “Usually, after the victims are abused, they go back to parents’ house. But the response they get there is that they’re not doing their job, that they’re lazy, that it’s their fault. It’s not the man’s fault.”

Compounding the problem further is that services and organizations essential towards protecting victims of domestic violence simply don’t exist in China. According to Hou, China does not have any women’s shelters to house battered wives.

Four months after it helped pass the law, the Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center was shut down by government officials because its work on domestic cases was deemed to be too “sensitive”.

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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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Dongguan Mayor Yuan Baocheng, courtesy of Google Images

The ancient expression 养子防老 （yangzifanglao） means “Raise a son to protect yourself in old age.” This expression encapsulates nicely a culture in which children are expected to support their parents in old age and may explain some of the thinking that has gone into the policy.

The man must be at least 49 and the woman must be at least 60 for a couple to qualify. Dongguan Mayor Yuan Baocheng said that the new measure, along with existing social security and health insurance policies, will provide a safety net for the ageing couples.

The post Dongguan to give 1,000 yuan a month to parents who lost only-children appeared first on The Nanfang.

Guangzhou Daily asked 19 couples aged 35-50 who had had secret divorces why they did it. The main reasons were:

1. They did not know how to tell their kids.
2. They worry about the impact on their children’s development.
3. They still have hopes of getting back together.
4. Living conditions are sill better for married couples.

Mr Lin and his ex-wife are both civil servants. They got divorced three years ago and Lin moved out. Because their son was only five years old, they told him that daddy had to work far away from home and could only come back on weekends. They divorced due to irreconcilable differences, but still spend weekends together for the sake of their son. However, they are aware that he will find out soon.

70% of those interviewed entrusted their grandparents, relatives or friends to tell the kids about the divorces. A few even turned to school teachers.

Ms. He, a Grade 5 teacher at a primary school in Liwan District. Last week, Ms He received a letter from a girl student who had just found a divorce agreement inside an envelope. She then phoned the girl’s father.

The girl’s father confessed that he would need help from teachers, as they knew more about how to deal with kids than he did.

Assisting divorced families has become a main task for primary school and middle school teachers in Guangzhou. A principal in Yuexiu District told reporters that every year, around three or four sets of parents confide in him that they have been divorced and they don’t want their child to know.

Professor Liu Shuqian, deputy head of Guangdong Province Institute of Family Education and secretary of the Party committee of Guangzhou University, says we are living in a diversified society so we should adopt an open mind to a diversified family patterns.

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Apparently iPads are now so popular in China that even people’s ancestors want some—in paper, at least; Shenzhen Special Zone Daily (SSZD) is just one of many media outlets that have reported on this new spiritual trend, noting that ‘Qingming sections’ carrying the faux gadgets and other fashionable worshipping supplies have started popping up through the PRD in supermarkets, street markets and even shops dealing in Buddhist goods.

It’s also worth noting that one explanation for these advancements in “technology” are driven in part by a growing awareness of China’s cultural heritage in recent years. People now pay more attention to their ancestors than was given up until just a few years ago, with the result that novel paper items for burning during Qingming appear constantly.

More traditional offering items include paper money, paper designer clothes, well-known brands printed on high-quality paper, even miniature paper posh villas, dim sum desserts and mah jong sets meant for use in the afterlife.

The iPhone 4S, SMD writes is one of the most popular items this year and quickly disappeared off shelves. Not only do they look convincing with the amount of detail put in to crafting them, but the devices also include authentic looking packaging, with chargers, headphones, USB cables and Apple-style wireless keyboards included.

Buying/burning these kinds of fashionable paper electronics for ancestors, people say, is a way to let them stay up to date with advancements in society.

Also new is the practice of tomb sweeping online—just as effective without all the carbon emissions. No word though if your ancestors will receive a notification on their new handheld device once you finish paying your virtual respects.

The post Qingming goes hi-tech with iPhones and online tomb sweeping appeared first on The Nanfang.

As a result, media such as Southern Daily have written, although a large demand for ayis still exists, far too many ayis came back from their time off for Lunar New Year unable to find jobs which match their expected salary.

For the ayis, so far it’s looking very much like a seller’s market.

Auntie Yang, one ayi interviewed by New Express, says that after 8 years in an ayi company in Guangzhou, she’s got no shortage of offers from interested employers, but that she won’t settle for anything less than 2,000 RMB a month and for the moment is holding out for a wage closer to 2,200 RMB.

After comparing notes with other ayi agencies around Guangzhou, New Express writes that a proper ayi in Tianhe district will now set you back about 2,200 RMB a month—2,500 RMB if you require babysitting—and that the ayi bottom line in Liwan district and other older areas of town now ranges from RMB 1,600-2,000.

On the employer end, one suggestion has been to offer more training courses to churn out more professional ayis, ensuring that business norms and standards are what people end up paying for, as opposed to, for example, a living wage.

“There are now both stranded nannies and employers,” says Chen Ting, president of the Guangdong Housekeeping Services Association, “it’s really a strange phenomenon.”

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Thus, demands have grown prevalent in Hong Kong for a cap on the number of women from mainland China allowed to give birth there. From the mainland perspective, people are worried that giving birth in Hong Kong will gradually become a privilege of the fuerdai—second generation rich—and their counterparts, guanerdai, the offspring of officials.

In response, Zhang Feng, the Family Planning commissioner of Guangdong, has said that he agrees with calls for Hong Kong to limit the number of mainland births in the SAR. Speaking to New Express over the weekend, Zhang added that violations of the one-child policy involving births in Hong Kong should be fined, if such cases can be verified, the same as if they had taken place within mainland China.

Meanwhile, RTHK has reported that violations in Hong Kong of China’s one-child policy will result in a fine “up to six times the per capita disposable income of residents’ hometowns.”

Both Macau and Hong Kong are exempt from China’s one-child policy.

Seeing as how many families in China now just pay the fine for birthing beyond their quota, would such a move make any difference in freeing up maternity ward beds in Hong Kong hospitals?

Miss Yu, a mainland mother residing in Guangzhou, told New Express that she just had a daughter this year and plans to have a son born in Hong Kong sometime in the near future, but adds that the introduction of entry caps on the Hong Kong side would leave her a bit helpless.

“I’d rather see Hong Kong just totally shut the door to mainland mothers,” Yu said, “than see so many people fighting so hard over just one spot. Brokerage fees will soar and in the end it will just become an exclusive privilege available only to the rich and powerful.”

Zhang also supports the notion of limiting the number of mainland China parents allowed to give birth in Hong Kong: “I think Hong Kong should have applied a limit to mainland births long ago.”

“People think having excess babies in Hong Kong won’t result in a fine, but as long as the one-child policy is violated, a fine will always be applied.”

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And now, writes Information Times yesterday, a 3-month-old baby has been killed by his young mother in Guangzhou’s Luogang district during a recent quarrel with her boyfriend.

The sad tale dates back to June last year, when 22-year-old Jiang and the baby’s 25-year old father, Mo, had recently relocated from Hunan Province to Yonghe borough in Luogang district. Relationship problems led to an intense argument on June 9, one which ended when an infuriated Jiang took their 3-month-old son and throwing him onto the floor.

The couple then tried to cover up the murder by claiming that their son died after falling off the bed, and moved to Shenzhen shortly after.

On January 6 this year, government sources tipped off Information Times reporters that Mo, no longer able to cope with the guilt, had turned himself in to police in Shenzhen, confessing to his role in covering up the murder. Jiang was arrested and the two were transfered to custody of Luogang police the same night.

But, the story is not over: a third key suspect has appeared. He, Mo’s uncle, quickly started packing his things after hearing of the arrests and was intercepted by Guangzhou police as he prepared to flee the city. Following a series of interrogations, He confessed that it was he who instructed the young couple on what to say to avoid responsibility for their son’s death, making him an accomplice to the murder. The trio have been detained and now face criminal charges.

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At around 11 pm this past Friday night, neighbors of the girl (Xiao Qing, an alias) noticed a fire had broken out in her step-grandmother, Hou, and Xiao Qing’s home. They rushed over, knocking at the door to alert the women, receiving no response.

Area residents later told media of, after breaking down the door, finding a trail of blood 3 meters long leading into the kitchen, several indications that the blaze originated in the grandmother’s bedroom, and loose change scattered about. Firemen were able to extinguish the flames after two hours, they say, and carried out a woman’s corpse, that of grandmother Hou, which displayed signs of having been hacked up with a knife. Xiao Qing was not seen at any point that night after the fire was discovered.

Blaming the victim

According to one neighbor interviewed by SMD, Mr. Wang, “[Xiao Qing] is introverted but polite. Even though we’re neighbors, we rarely speak.” Residents of the neighborhood suspect that Hou was killed by Xiao Qing after she refused to give her granddaughter some pocket money. “It wouldn’t have happened,” Wang says, “if she had just given her the money.”

Police detained Xiao Qing after finding her on a nearby street at 3 am on Saturday, January 29. She confessed to the crime, saying she was scolded by her grandma which led to a quarrel. Police say Xiao Qing has confessed to first strangling her grandmother and slicing her throat. Then, in fear that the murder would be discovered, she apparently dragged her grandmother’s body into the kitchen, set the fire (which didn’t spread to other rooms) and ran away.

TVS traveled to the village where this happened for interviews with neighbors and footage from the scene:

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Southern Daily reports that yesterday, the first post-Chunjie day back to work for many of us, still saw 650,000 people arrive in Guangdong, more than 500,000 of those in Guangzhou alone. Here are some photos from Southern Group reporters sent out capture the opening moments of many people’s PRD year of the Dragon.

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