1.2 Definitions of domestic violence within Chines...
1.2 Definitions of domestic violence within Chinese literature
The term 'domestic violence' has been borrowed from the West (Han,2004).For thousands of years,Chinese people called this violence occurring in the home a quarrel or a fight and thought of this violence as a domestic 'private' matter (Tong,2000).From feudalism to socialism (the early 20th century),a marriage and family issue might be focused mainly on abolition of 'feudal marriage','marriage by purchase','elimination of concubinage',and establishment of freedom of marriage choices as a fundamental principle,e.g.freedom of marriage and divorce,and of the equal right between men and women in the home (Davin,1976;Meijer,1971;Hershatter,2007;Xie,2001).In other words,the previous efforts of both government and academics and practitioners achieved at liberation of women's legal rights in marriage (Davin,1976;Hershatter,2007;Zhang &Ye,1989).
However,the issues of how women lived in the home and of what experiences they had there might be neglected specifically.Within this context,Chinese people did not tend to think that 'fuqi dajia' (couple-fighting) or 'fuqi chaojia' (couplequarrelling),specifically 'laogong da laopo' (wife-beating) or 'nanren da nüren'(women-beating) was domestic violence when an adult (usually a husband) physically or psychologically assaulted another (usually a wife) in the home (Huang,2002).As Hester (2004) points out,these Chinese terms centred on biological and individualistic notions of violence against women but not on a gender-based definition.Violence occurring in the home or between family members tended not to be seen as behaviour infringing upon human rights.The traditional concept'laogong da laopo shi tianjing diyi' ('it is only right and proper that husband batter his wife') is deeply rooted in the Chinese context,which will be discussed in more detail later.Chinese people also located 'domestic violence' in private life and the community did not intervene in it (Tian,2002) because they thought that a victim(usually a wife) and a perpetrator (usually a husband) would be on good terms again after couple-fighting or couple-quarrelling.As the old Chinese saying has it(Wei,2000),'if a husband and wife quarrel at the head of bed,then they will be on good terms again in the end of bed' (chuangtou dajia,chuangwei he) (here the sexual activity between them is emphasised)[2].Because of this reason,no outsider would wish to be involved in such private matter.
By and throughout the 1990s,particularly after the 1995 UN Women's Conference in Beijing,some Chinese academics gradually became familiar with the foreign term:domestic violence and initiated researching into domestic violence as an old phenomenon occurring in the home or between wives and husbands.Importantly,some academics and practitioners have started to explain domestic violence with a gender perspective and to focus on women's lives in the home.Owing to their efforts,the term is becoming more common in China and is increasingly being substituted for traditional concepts and sayings of the Chinese people (Milwertz,2003).Particularly,the public is becoming aware of domestic violence in the 21st century (Guo,2002;Liu,2003) and concerned with it.Therefore,let us look more closely at the definitions the Chinese academics and practitioners have provided so far within a Chinese context.
1.2.1 What is 'domestic violence'?
Lan and Jin (2002) and Xu (2004) point out that domestic violence can be defined both broadly and narrowly.Broadly speaking,domestic violence can include physically violent behaviour to any family members,including couples,parents and children,siblings,and the older generation.Narrowly speaking,it is generally taken to mean violence against women by their male partners,that is,between husbands and wives,and is defined by the infringement of wives' personal rights by their husbands,whether by force or by threats.Such behavior makes victims suffer bodily and psychological harm.
This definition focuses mainly on the relationship between victims and perpetrators,whether such relationships are conjugal or 'blood ties'.In particular,this definition also centres on the infringement of wives' personal rights by husbands' violence as well as violent harm.
Guo (2000) states that:
[Domestic violence] means that one uses threats of physical coercion to another (family member) and infringes the family member's rights,which leads to injury of the member in body and psychology.According to violent means used by perpetrators,domestic violence may be divided into three types:physical violence,psychological violence and sexual abuse.
(Guo,2000:7)
Guo defines the term 'domestic violence' in a broad way and includes both a wide range of family relationships and a wide range of violent forms.
Wang (1998),in contrast,states that:
[Domestic violence] indicates mainly that the assaults of a man upon his wife.Parents' abuse of children or children's abuse of their parents is also domestic violence.However,a husband usually perpetrates violence against his wife very severely.It [domestic violence] includes four aspects of behaviours:psychological abuse,sexual abuse,restriction of personal freedom and control of finance except for physical violence.
(Gao,et al.,1998:4)
Wang's definition thus emphasises mainly marital violence.Her definition is not gender neutral but gender-specific.It focuses directly on violence against women or wives and also implies that the phenomenon of marital violence is greater than violence against others in the family (Wu,2003;Yi,2000).At the same time,her definition specifically discusses different types of domestic violence.Domestic violence involves not only the physical level but also other levels such as the psychological or sexual level.
Huang (2002) defines domestic violence as follows:
[Domestic violence] means that a perpetrator,with battery,tying up,murder,control of personnel freedom and other means,causes physical or psychological injury to his or her family members.A perpetrator violates the family member continuously and frequently,which constitutes abuse.
(Huang,2002:5)
Huang's definition focuses on the violent and psychological forms and impacts of domestic violence used by perpetrators.At the same time,Huang differentiates'domestic violence' from 'abuse' - abuse is when violence is continuous and frequent while domestic violence is one off.From the definition,we can see that 'perpetrators' and 'victims' are family members.The definition focuses more on physical violence and on consequences of domestic violence on victims,which reflects in both body and psychology,but is gender neutral.
Zhu (2003) states that domestic violence means that one family member,with violence or threats of coercion,and humiliation,infringes the personal rights of other family members.The rights deal with physical,psychological and sexual rights.Violence is constructed as a behaviour which causes injury.
From her definition,we can see that she firstly emphasises this violence occurring in family relationship then lists the forms of this violence focusing on a psychological level.In particular,she also explains the infringement of the personal rights of victims in relation to physical,psychological and sexual ones.Domestic violence harms victims.
After examining Chinese definitions of domestic violence,we can see that Chinese academics define the term domestic violence broadly.The relationship between perpetrators and victims are located mainly amongst family members.There are various types of domestic violence,including physical,psychological and sexual violence.Some definitions such as Guo (2000),Lan and Jin (2002),Xu (2004) and Zhu (2003) specially argue that domestic violence used by one to another links to infringing the personal rights of family members,particularly of wives.These definitions also emphasise the impact of domestic violence on victims.
Through looking at these definitions,we can see that 'domestic violence' has become public and not only private in China (Chen 2005) because this violence is discussed openly.Particularly,the item:'Domestic violence should be prohibited in families' has been stipulated for the first time in China Marriage Law in 2001(NPC,2001[3]),which fully indicates that the law seeks to protect those who suffer domestic violence.This response in both research and law is very different from the previous years.For example,in the Cultural Revolution,'collective' or 'organisation' was more important than 'individuals' (Hershatter,2007) so that if victims (women) reported violence or abuse,they might have been blamed by the head of Danwei[4] or a staff engaged in women's work or in resident community when they suffered domestic violence by their husbands.Victims were usually asked whether they made their husbands angry because of their mistakes,and were persuaded more to think about their family and to understand their husbands (Zhang &Ye,1989).This did not take their experiences seriously and did not analyse the essence of domestic violence.
In the early 1980s,few cases of violence against women were reported by the Chinese media.This open report of such violence therefore could not be acceptable and recognised within the context of the planned-economy because of the emphasis of normative family roles for women (Hershatter,2007).This lack of attention to violence against women may be caused by 'Confucian ideology',which may be seen as a traditional core to the people's attitude (Pan,1987).The Confucian ideology teaches that 'to be a woman means to submit' (Chen,1916:5),which actually teaches people that there is a 'natural' gender power difference between men and women.Therefore,domestic violence seems to be a part of people's daily lives (Tong,2001).Because of this,this issue of domestic violence could not be paid attention to in China for many,many years.