Shocking security camera footage: A crazy husband repeatedly stabs his wife with a kitchen knife.

China: Only 10% of cases recognized as domestic violence

Underlying cases like this one—where a marital dispute escalated to a fatal outcome—are the long-standing issue of domestic violence in Chinese society. Surveys by organizations such as the All-China Women’s Federation indicate that 24.7% of married women have experienced domestic violence—ranging from verbal abuse and physical beatings to restrictions on their freedom of movement—and that 38.4% of couples resort to some form of violence during conflicts. In response to this reality, China passed an Anti-Domestic Violence Law in December 2015, which officially came into effect in March 2016.

However, the enactment of the law and its actual effectiveness on the ground appear to be two different matters. Monitoring reports covering the roughly two years following its implementation indicate that there were 533 incidents of domestic violence resulting in death, with a total of 635 fatalities. Furthermore, data from a Beijing court suggests that only about 10.3% of cases between 2014 and 2016 were officially recognized as domestic violence, highlighting a significant gap between the legal framework and its judicial application.