A Nanjing women’s rights organisation has helped bring to light the extent of domestic violence in China, through the publication of a white paper on the prevention and suppression of domestic violence.
The conclusion, long suspected, but rarely confirmed in actual statistics, reveals that almost 30 percent of families in China endure problems with domestic violence.
The numbers have been brought into the public domain after the Nanjing Women’s Federation revealed the efforts of the Nanjing Police at tackling the problem. From January to October of this year, Nanjing’s police solved 2,772 domestic violence cases and issued 151 warnings against abusers.
The white paper also specified the instances in which the police may issue written warnings to abusers, namely upon their refusal to stop the abuse after the police’s intervention.
While it is encouraging that the Nanjing Police have taken the lead in tackling the issue, the white paper makes no mention of action that the police can take in cases where warnings are continually ignored by abusers. Neither has it been reported as to what constitutes “solving” a domestic violence case.
Such are indications that the issue of domestic violence in China is somewhat taboo.
The Nanjinger can confirm that the revealing of statistics as to the extent of domestic violence is extremely rare, yet there is no shortage of circumstantial evidence.
One foreign reader anonymously told this publication that upon marrying a local girl, her mother voiced her concerns, asking, “But what about when he beats you?”
There are 270 million families in China. The All-China Women’s Federation has estimated that 100,000 families fall apart each year on account of physical abuse at home.
The website helpguide.org points out that domestic violence and abuse does not discriminate, occurring within all age ranges, ethnic backgrounds, economic levels, heterosexual relationships and in same-sex partnerships. While women are more often the victims, so too do men experience abuse, largely of the verbal and emotional variety.
