China Activists Demand Clarity on Domestic Violence Law Blog # 1

              In Beijing China, a women named Li Yan is being sentenced for murdering her husband Tan Yong after he had continuously domestically abused her. Before the couple was even married Tan admitted to Li that he had beaten his last three wives but promised to change and that things would be different this time around. However, soon after they were married the abuse started. According to Li Yan's brother, Mr. Li, "he stubbed out cigarettes on her face and legs. He would take her hair and hit her head against the wall. He locked her on the balcony for hours in the winter." Mr. Li believed that the abuse was going on for more than a year. 

            The abuse all came to an end when Mrs. Li beat Mr. Tan with the barrel of his air gun during an argument. Evidently after Mrs. Li beat him to death she cut him up into many pieces and boiled some of the parts. After confessing to a neighbor who then called the authorities, she admitted that she wasn't in her right mind. 

            According to Mr. Li, he says that his sister tried to get help from the authorities four months before she killed her husband. She went to the police, her neighborhood committee, the women's association (who then told her to go to the police.) Mr. Li said that "She was sent from place to place and didn't know what to do."

           Although this case started an outcry among Chinese legal experts and feminists, this type of situation is more common than some would think. Women's jails are full with women who have injured or killed their abusive husbands. According  to the Anti-Domestic Violence Network, women account for 60 percent of inmates in one jail in Anshan.

        In the particular case, Ms. Li will most likely be executed due to Chinese law. Mr, Li said "We all hoped the court would recognize the torture she suffered in those years, but it didn't."
       In my opinion, this case should have been more looked at upon authorities then it was. If Mrs. Li would have been told where to go to get help the outcome may have been different. In the article it mentions that Mr. Tan had beaten his last 3 previous wives. You would think by now, he would have been caught and locked up. Reading this article made me have a better out look as to where women stand in China. Obviously men have the upper hand and women are looked down upon. I feel that if this case happened in America and if authorities had known about it, the husband would have had a better chance to have been locked up before the wife killed him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/world/asia/chinese-courts-turn-a-blind-eye-to-abuse.html?ref=women

2:05 PM, 2/1/13

Alice Gunning