Fighting domestic violence

As many as one-third of Chinese families experience some form of domestic violence, Meng Jing reports

Sun Peiyun, director of Tieying Hospital, has witnessed a change of attitude about domestic violence in the past decade.The hospital, located in Fengtai district, is the first in China equipped with a rescue program specially designed for victims of domestic violence victims. About 200 women that were hurt, either mentally or physically, by their partners have received treatment and help from the hospital since 2000. "In the early days of our program, most women didn't want to talk about the cause of their wounds," Sun said.

Though all 438 staff members in her hospital have received special training to deal with domestic violence, few victims admit a problem even when the signs are obvious.