[1] Although the Republic of China acknowledged that domestic violence was a problem in the 1930s,[2] it has only become a visible issue in the past few decades due to economic and social changes in the 1980s.
[7] In particular, the Three Obediences and Four Virtues call for the wife to obey her father, husband, and son while maintaining a modest and moral lifestyle.
[8] As the household was the man's domain, any violence he committed against his wife was generally seen as his family's private matter and subsequently disregarded.
[8] In the early 20th century, wife-beating was still a regularly occurring practice and deemed to be an acceptable tool to assert male dominance.
[14] A large factor for this change was China's involvement in various United Nations conferences geared towards women and family issues in the 1990s.
As no studies were available to compare these numbers to prior to the 1980s, it was difficult to make qualitative assessments on the varying results; however, researchers were doubtful that these figures were an accurate representation of the scale of domestic violence in China.
[19] Even though domestic violence had been implicitly and then officially illegal, in reality there were no mechanisms through which abused women could seek legal reparations in the 20th century.
[20] In a judicial interpretation of the law, the Supreme People's Court legally defined domestic violence as "behavior towards a family member that results in injurious consequences physically, emotionally, or in other ways by 'beating, tying up, injuring, forcibly restricting one's personal freedom, or by other means.
[26] The civil code requires Chinese couples filing for consensual divorce to wait 30 days in order to rethink their decision to apply.
Prominent Chinese feminist Li Tingting believes that the law has the potential to harm women's rights, as the rate of determination of domestic violence in divorce cases is low in judicial practice.
[26] Additionally, users online on platforms such as Weibo also expressed frustration with the government's involvement in private interpersonal relationships, using the hashtag "oppose the divorce cool-off period".
[29] In 2022, China's highest court issued guidelines[30] that make it easier for domestic violence victims to obtain personal protection orders.
[31] The guidelines broadens the definition of domestic violence to include additional conduct such as stalking, harassment, and verbal abuse; it also lowers the threshold for proof.
[32] These incidents continue despite laws against domestic violence due to deeply rooted patriarchal norms in Chinese society.
[37] With respect to children, domestic violence in China is a largely ignored issue due to the nebulous distinction between discipline and child abuse.
[9] A study of Hong Kong minors in May 1998 found that 52.9% of Chinese families experienced instances of minor violence (throwing objects, pushing, slapping) against children, and 46.1% of Chinese families experienced instances of severe violence (kicking, punching, threatening or beating with a weapon).
These trends largely reflect the interconnected relationship between abuse and discipline in Chinese families—parents generally see sons and single children as the future of the household and are consequently more strict with their upbringing.