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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Department of Applied Social Sciences Conceptions of Physical Child Abuse in China : Listening to Children and Their Parents on Parental Child Battering in Beijing QIAO Dongping A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December, 2007 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it reproduces no material previously published or written, nor material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. (Signed) QIAO Dongping (Name of Student) To my daughter and my younger sister ABSTRACT Child abuse is an internationally concerned social problem as well as the focus of child welfare in the West. In mainland China, however, it has received little attention from the academics. There have been very few efforts on examining the applicability of the Western concept of “child abuse” to the context of China. The understanding and definition of child abuse in the socio-cultural context of China, therefore, has remained a blank spot. Being an explorative study, this study attempts to fill in such a void, which is based on the experiences of the one-child families in urban Beijing. Using the qualitative methods, the author conducted two rounds of in-depth interviews with 20 parent-child pairs and three focus group discussions with another 20 children in 2004 and 2005. The study explores, from a socio-cultural perspective, how Chinese children and their parents understand physical child abuse by focusing on parental child battering, and tries to make sense of the similarities and differences in the views of children and their parents/adults in the socio-cultural context of China. This study uses an analytical framework of parent-child relationship in the context of Chinese culture, starting with the analysis of affection and power relations between parents and child, and tries to understand the views of children and parents in Beijing on parental child battering and child abuse. The study finds that the informants’ understanding of child abuse differs markedly from the definitions of i child abuse in Europe and America. They tend to regard as child abuse only those violent acts which have obviously malicious intentions, are unreasonable, occur very frequently and cause serious harm on the child either physically or/and psychologically. They generally do not regard child battering by “biological parents” as child abuse. This manifests their “affectional construction” of child abuse and the Chinese cultural characteristics of “family-centeredness” and “relation-orientation”. The finding that children’s views are more similar than different from their parents reflects both a strong cultural identification and an internalization of parents’ values by their children. On the other hand, the different views of children from their parents in the understanding of child abuse manifest an increase in the children’s awareness of their rights and the influence of globalization. The understanding and definition of child abuse is the basis for intervention in the child abuse problem. Therefore, it affects the protection of children’s rights. It is hoped that the findings of this study can contribute to mutual understanding and dialogue between China and the West on the issues of child abuse and child protection. Although the Western concept of “child abuse” may not be completely relevant to China, its implications on protecting children should not be ignored, and violations of children’s rights to a violence-free life in the family should be taken seriously. In this regard, children’s attitudes and views on these issues should be given due attention. Finally, based on the principle of “the best interests of the children”, this study also discusses the implications of the findings on the protection of children’s rights on the ideological, policy and social work intervention levels, ii and advocates that parents/adults respect children’s rights and dignity as a person and stop all forms of violence against the children. iii PUBLICATIONS ARISING FROM THE THESIS 1. Qiao, D.P., & Chan, Y.C. (2005). Child Abuse in China : A yet-to-be-acknowledged “social problem” in the Chinese Mainland. Child and Family Social Work, 10, 21-27. 2. Qiao, D.P., & Chan, Y.C. (2008). Myths of Child Abuse in China: Findings based on a qualitative study in Beijing. China Journal of Social Work, 3. (Accepted) iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has never occurred in my mind that the years of my doctoral studies have been so long and difficult，full of not only the hardworking hours pertaining typically to academic research but also unexpected pains and sufferings. During this period, I lost two close relatives who are the most important people in my life - my only daughter and only younger sister. Since they passed away, I have spent days often buried in tears, and my painful miss of them has run through each line of my dissertation. This is the major reason that I devote this dissertation to them. In preparing this thesis, I have received the valuable support of many persons. This study could not have been completed without their support. Here, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all of them. First of all, I am indebted to Dr. CHAN Yuk-chung, my chief supervisor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. My sincere thanks are to him for his precious advice, stimulation, concern as well as patience in guiding me through the whole process of the study. His conscientiousness, rigor, patience, and tolerance have impressed me deeply. I’m especially grateful to him for revising the English of my dissertation, and often feel guilty of making him spend many days to do this laborious work even when he was not well. In a word, without his encouragement and support, it is impossible for me to complete this dissertation in English. v Second, I must thank many other professors and students in the Department of Applied Social Sciences，who have helped me in various ways. Prof. YUEN TSANG Woon-ki, Dean of the Department, has always encouraged me to write the dissertation in English; Dr. CHAN Kam-wah raised many valuable suggestions for me to revise my dissertation; attendance in Dr. HO Kwok-leung’s course in social science theories benefited me a lot in writing this dissertation; Dr. KU Hok-bun’s course in qualitative research greatly inspired my research and his suggestions proved to be valuable in my fieldwork; Dr. TAM Yeuk-mui also impressed me greatly for her patience as I attended her course in quantitative research methods; and finally the concern shown by Dr. SUNG CHAN Po-lin in my most painful days following the loss of my daughter is always a warm memory. My classmates including Xiang Rong, Liu Xiaochun, Zhang Heqing, Wu Yongyi, Li Jin, and Mi Xiaoxiong, all helped me a lot or made valuable suggestions in my dissertation. My sincere thanks should be given to the children and their parents who participated in this research, as well as my friends who helped finding the informants needed. Without their cooperation and active participation, it is impossible for me to complete the research. Particularly the child-informants have influenced me with their own ways of thinking, which motivated me to reflect deeply on my adults’ views, attitudes and behavior on children. They also inspire me to continue further research on child related topics in the future. Last but not the least, my special thanks should be extended to my family members. My husband encouraged me to pursue this doctoral study in Hong Kong. My old mother, who lived far away from Beijing, came to take care of my daughter vi at my home in Beijing during my absence from home. My younger sister was always concerned with me in many ways which I can never forget. In 2004 when she was seriously ill, she did not inform me of her illness because she did not want it to interfere with my study in Hong Kong. In the last month of her life in the hospital when I was with her, I witnessed the whole process of her enduring the pains of cancer. From this, I got the courage to complete my doctoral studies. Here, I like to mention specially my clever and lovely daughter, who has contributed greatly to my research. She was 10 years old when I started my doctoral study in Hong Kong, but she supported my decision. She was a child who has the ability to think independently and was capable of making her own decisions. Her ideas and ways of thinking stimulated me a lot. She made me understand that children are not something to be looked down upon. She used to discuss with me issues of children, helped me understand their world and language, teach me how to interview children, including what kinds of presents to give them and what clothes I should wear for the interviewing. When I finished the bulk of my dissertation and was about to return home to be a companion to her soon, however, she left this world all of a sudden, and at the age of 14. This has left me with so much regret and pain that will accompany me throughout my life. My love for her will last forever, and for this I will continually devote my concern with children in my future work. vii CONTENTS Certificate of Originality Dedication Abstract i Publications Arising From The Thesis iv Acknowledgements v Content viii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Child Abuse : Is It a Problem of China ? 1 Research

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