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Chinese Lawmakers Debate on Marriage Law Amendments
The draft amendments to the existing marriage law Monday, December 25, ran the gauntlet of China's top legislature.
Members of the legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, enthusiastically disputed hot issues concerning the law, which is now under major revision.
The members and other participants took part in the specially organized joint conference of six law-reviewing panels at the Great Hall of the People.
Such a form of legislative discussion is reserved by law for in- depth debates on issues of common concern of the public. It has never been used since 1988. In most cases, some 150 lawmakers were divided into six groups to review draft laws and decisions.
A total of 14 legislators spoke Monday on those issues including bigamy, taking concubines and family violence.
Li Peng, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, limited each of the legislators time to 15 minutes because too many legislators wanted to express themselves.
"I'd like to speak first," Zhu Xiangyuan, member of the NPC Standing Committee, raised his hand just after the floor was open.
He charged bigamy and taking concubines upon the feudal tradition in the history of the nation. "The outdated concept of androcentrism and men's superiority to women has yet to be rooted out," he said.
Imparity between men and women results in forced and paid marriages, bigamy, domestic violence, in which women are always sufferers. And in traditional Chinese culture, men are often on a stronger position.
Zhu forcefully supported that children could inherit either of their parents surnames, but not only their fathers.
The revised law must introduce more concepts on sex equality in families, Zhu said.
Chang Shana, member of the NPC Standing Committee, said that the amendments should help curb the current rampant activities of bigamy or raising concubine, which is regarded by Chang as social evils eroding stability.
The amended law must continue to safeguard the legitimate family system on the basis of monogamy, said she, who supports to widen the scope of the crime of bigamy.
However, many other legislators argued that the existing scope of bigamy and its punishment stipulated by the current law are appropriate.
Liu Heng, member of the NPC Standing Committee, said that the law should severely punish bigamists and those who illegally live in name of spouses. But the behavior of raising concubine, which is hardly told from adultery, should not be disciplined by the law.
Zhao Di, on behalf of the other four women legislators Li Shuzheng, Li Mingyu, Wang Jiaqiu and Nie Li, proposed that judicial authorities should explicitly explain relative law articles.
They suggested that the activities of bigamy or concubinage which leads to birth of children must be punished by the judiciary; Party members or officials who have promiscuous sex should be disciplined by Party regulations; and extramarital affairs among common people should be curbed by ethical codes.
Family violence has been on the rise in China, and was also an topic of heated discussion at the legislative meeting.
"Sufficient legal means should be provided for in the fight against domestic violence," said Mao Zhaixi, member of the NPC Standing Committee.
Today, people usually resort to neighborhood communities to mediate such disputes involving domestic violence, but the rights and interests of victims mainly fail to be protected, he said, adding some of the failures cause victims to react violently and lead to crimes.
The latest draft amendments stipulates that neighborhood committees shall "mediate" when reporting on case of domestic violence.
Shu Huaide, another legislator, said that they should take measures to "stop" them, instead of just mediating.
The public should be encouraged to tip police departments on domestic violence, Shu proposed.
In the three-hour debate, lawmakers also related extensively to issues of "invalid marriage," revocable marriage and how to split family property at time of divorce.
At the end of each speech, there were a lot of lawmakers who raised their hands to request the chance to speak.
Li Peng concluded the meeting by saying that the purpose of the in-depth and wide-range discussions of the draft amendments have been achieved, and the meeting today laid a good foundation for further reform to the form of legislative debate in the future.
Qiao Xiaoyang, vice-chairman of the NPC Law Committee, said today's meeting served as a process in improving the legislation.
The draft amendments to the Marriage Law entered the legislature for first hearing two months ago. Various symposiums and hearings were also held before today's meeting to collect opinions of related departments and scholars.
The draft will also be publicized soon for review by the general public, he said.
"All these efforts are to guarantee the democratic and scientific legislation in the country," he said.
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