Yang Huanying was sentenced to death with a reprieve for her intentional homicide of her husband.

"Had I not undergone the torments by my husband, who soaked me with pots of cold water in the freezing weather, I would not have come up with the idea of taking revenge," Yang said.

Being the victim of domestic violence, Yang had been continuously beaten by her husband who threatened to torture her.

"I hated him so much that I decided to treat him eye for eye for all the sufferings he inflicted on me," Yang said.

The tragic story of Yang has not been the exception in many other families' situations as women in particular are very vulnerable to domestic violence which accounts for almost one quarter of China's families nationwide.

The first anti-domestic violence law in China will take effect on March 1, 2016, after the approval at the 18th Plenum of the 12th Standing Committee of National People's Congress on Dec. 27 last year. The law will not only protect those in wedlock but also the people in cohabitation.

"Beatings have been traditionally believed to generate obedient sons and docile wives, which is in stark contrast to modern economic and social development," said Li Mingshun, deputy director of the Marriage and Family Research Institute of the China Law Society.

"We still need to promote anadvanced culture to encourage awareness of human rights, legal governance and social equality from which a consensus on anti-domestic violence can be reached," Li said.

According to Li, the new law can be highlighted in three points. First, it broke the social taboo to enable law enforcement in each family, making families no longer insular and separate from social progress.

Second, it creates a comprehensive system complete with a reporting and warning mechanism, provision of emergency havens, deprivation of custodial rights and protection of personal security, multipling the countermeasures of domestic violence.

Third, the law sets a red line for family members who have no right to infringe or tramp on the legal rights of others under the same roof.

Li Hongtao, a professor from China Women's University, said the domestic violence which was mistaken as private issues were usually exclusive to external interference and would ultimately be handed over to the All China Women's Federation, an organization with little power to take action.

However, after the ratification of the laws, domestic violence can no longer be neglected as the protection of women's rights and interests has been stipulated in legal provisions, Li concluded.

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