人身保护令 (renshen baohu ling): Restraining orders

China has made a great breakthrough in drafting a law on domestic violence. For a long time domestic violence has been a complicated social issue in China because in traditional Chinese culture people tend to regard family conflicts as embarrassing private affairs that outsiders should not be involved in.

However, as the public's awareness of the law has developed in recent years, more and more people have called for appropriate domestic violence legislation to protect those members of families that are victims of abuse.

According to the draft law, anyone who is the victim of domestic violence and those threatened by domestic violence can file for a restraining order, and the court must grant the applicant a restraining order or deny their request within 48 hours.

Once the restraining order is granted, the person cited in the restraining order has to comply by the order of the court; not doing so will constitute a violation of the order. The person who has obtained the order can then request that the order be enforced. Any violations of a restraining order will be subject to a fine of up to 1,000 yuan ($156.5) or detention of up to 15 days. A restraining order will be effective for six months.