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Family violence occurs in about 30 percent of China's 270 million households and about 90 percent of the abusers are male, according to a survey reported by a recent edition of the China Consumer Journal.
The results of another survey conducted in Zhejiang, Hunan and Gansu provinces indicate that about 12.1 percent of husbands kick their wives when they have disputes, 9.7 percent beat them with some kind of instrument and 5.8 percent force them to have sex, said the paper.
In one example cited, a man in Nanning City of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was sentenced to seven years in prison recently for binding his wife's hands with iron chains for seven years.
When police received reports from neighbors and found the woman, who was cheated into marriage in 1995, she was already mad and unable to look after herself.
According to another report carried on Sina.com, one of China's leading websites, family violence stands as the primary reason females commit crimes.
A survey conducted in a women's prison in Nantong City of Jiangsu Province shows that among the 513 prisoners who responded, some 237 confirmed violence existed in their families, and some 125 believed family violence directly led to their crimes, says the report.
Wang Li, a 39-year-old woman, vented her rage towards her husband after repeated beatings and abuse by killing their five-year-old son. She killed the boy with her own hands with the simple purpose of depriving the husband of any offspring.
According to the All-China Women's Federation, its sub-organizations at all levels throughout the country receive large numbers of complaints of family violence each year, including assault, burning with cigarettes and pouring sulfuric acid, said the paper.
China's hotline for women reported that in 2002 calls reporting family violence were on the rise, and so were the number of victims with higher education.
Some 40 percent of the victims who phoned to file their complaints were above a junior college educational level, and 10 of them were even graduate students.
Some 59 percent of the victims were independent professionals like civil servants, secretaries and medical and educational workers. Almost all victims were between 21 and 45 years old.
However, the paper said, not all victims are willing to report their sufferings in families due to traditional belief that conflicts between couples are merely domestic affairs, which should not be made publicly known.
Qin Min, for instance, would rather endure the curses and beatings from her husband than report it to the women's federation or resort to law to safeguard her interests.
"It's disreputable to make things like this known to the public, and my son would have to live in the shadow of any possible divorce deriving from this," said Qin.
Mo Miaoling, an official who has long-engaged in the protection of female rights, suggested the key to this problem is to renew women's minds and enable them to bravely stand out to protect themselves with law.
However, she also pointed out that, by resorting to law, the most likely result is divorce, which is always what the women want. Therefore, she suggested, the government should provide a variety of choices for women while they protect themselves from family abuse.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2003)
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