Man has been violently abused by his wife for 20 years, the man asks the court for help

The man surnamed Li from Beihai city, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China, last month applied to the court to issue a protection order from his wife Bai who had repeatedly abused her.

Local media reported that Li was worried for his safety after being beaten by Bai for a long time.

Li said he and Bai have been married since 1997 and the two experienced a “toxic relationship”.

The Chinese man shared that for the past 20 years, he was constantly monitored and attacked by Bai. He was even bitten by his wife once.

He recently decided to report the incident to the police because he couldn’t stand the daily grind of violence.

After reviewing the evidence and medical examination records provided by Li, the police advised him to file a lawsuit.

The same day Li filed the application, the court issued a protective order for him. For his part, Bai refused to recognize the ruling and appealed. However, her appeal was rejected by the court because it failed to provide reasonable evidence.

This story, after being posted on social media, sparked a wave of debate about domestic violence, especially the rights of male victims, which is rarely discussed in China.

“Why are people trying to incite controversy between men and women? Once domestic violence occurs, gender should not be the subject of discussion.” one commenter.

“I want to hear the wife’s opinion“, said another Weibo account.

One person claiming to be a teacher suggested: “I strongly support the establishment of a commission to protect the legal rights of married men in China.”

However, there are also no opinions to blame the man, suspecting him of adultery and being “punished” by his wife.

“Does he ever cheat on his wife. Women are generally quite tolerant. He must have made a lot of mistakes.”a point of view.

According to a lawyer from a law firm in Guangzhou, male violence is rarely discussed in China because of gender stereotypes and domestic violence.

“The proportion of women with domestic violence is much smaller than in cases of violence by men, but not zero”he said.

In 2016, China passed the Domestic Violence Prevention Law, which stipulates that all citizens have the right to apply for a personal safety protection order from the court. According to the Chinese Civil Code, domestic violence is a legal reason for divorce.

Statistics from the China Women’s Federation and the National Bureau of Statistics in 2018 showed that 22.9% of women and 19.9% ​​of men in China had experienced domestic violence.

In 2021, the Center for Health Sciences of Peking University published the results of a survey on domestic violence in 7 provinces with 2,810 families. Accordingly, 26.1% of women admitted to violence against their husbands while 27.8% of men said they had to live in situations of being abused by their wives.