Actor Wang Xuebing didn't know what "domestic violence" meant until he played the role of a policeman, An Mu, in the TV drama series "Dont Talk with Strangers," the first TV drama in China about domestic violence.
In the drama, Wang witnesses his brother change from a jealous husband into a brute who batters his wife and eventually tries to kill her. He also learned about the pain and suffering his sister-in-law had gone through before going to court to protect her rights and dignity.
Wang has been designated Ambassador Against Domestic Violence in China by the China Law Society, and the series, screened in Yinchuan, Nanjing, Hangzhou and a few other cities around the country, has been well-received by viewers.
However, critics questioned director Zhang Jiandong's handling of protagonist Mei Xiangnan, whom they feel he has portrayed as being too cool-headed.
"I feel that Mei should give people who suffer from domestic violence the message that fear of losing face or searching for their own shortcomings is not the way to deal with domestic violence," said Zhang.
In the drama series, An Jiahe, Mei Xiangnan's husband, is a well-trained medical doctor.
Some viewers doubt the credibility of portraying a well-educated doctor as a wife beater.
But members of the China Law Society and the All China Women's Federation said they've found in their surveys that domestic violence occurs in families that span all educational backgrounds.
Staff working at the Maple Women's Psychological Counseling Centre and the Maple Women's Hotline in Beijing have received complaints from women whose husbands were public servants, doctors, teachers and cultural workers with degrees ranging from bachelor to doctorate.
(China Daily December 12, 2001)
